The National Capital Commission said Thursday it is in talks with Ottawa real estate firm Avenue 31 and Montreal-based developer Cogir Real Estate to build at least 900 housing units on a portion of LeBreton Flats.
The offer-to-lease agreement means the NCC will now spend the next several months negotiating with the joint venture between Avenue 31 and Cogir on a long-term lease for the four-acre site along Wellington Street across from the Canadian War Museum and the festival grounds.
The two sides are expected to finalize the lease before the end of the year, with construction targeted to begin in late 2025 pending municipal approval.
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In a news conference after the NCC’s board of directors meeting on Thursday, NCC chief executive Tobi Nussbaum said the total price tag for the development project has yet to be determined.
The NCC’s master concept plan for the site, dubbed the Flats District, calls for a minimum of 900 housing units in a mix of condos and rentals. About 15 per cent of the units are expected to have at least three bedrooms to encourage a variety of tenants, including families, to occupy the neighbourhood.
A significant portion of the units will also be required to be “affordable” according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s accepted definition – that is, they must cost less than 30 per cent of a household’s before-tax income.
NCC officials say the general concept would see highrises ranging from 12 to 20 storeys built on the property, covering a total development area of about 840,000 square feet.
Avenue 31 has launched a number of major construction projects in the region in the past few years – the most notable being the one-million-square-foot National Capital Business Park in the city’s east end, which is being developed on 100 acres of land leased from the NCC.
Nussbaum called the project at the industrial site near the corner of Hunt Club Road and Highway 417 a “positive partnership,” adding he expects the two organizations’ collaboration at LeBreton Flats to be just as successful.
“We are very encouraged by both the local experience we have through Avenue 31 and then the extensive national experience that Cogir represents,” he said Thursday afternoon. “It strikes us as a very viable and impressive partnership.”
