Ottawa-based real estate company says it does not intend to redevelop the property, which it purchased about a dozen years ago, for at least another decade.
A major Ottawa real estate firm has unveiled long-term plans to tear down a historic Centretown office building and replace it with a rental apartment highrise as part of an effort to upgrade its existing office and residential portfolio.In planning documents filed with the city, the Taggart Group says it wants to demolish Legion House at 359 Kent St. – a six-storey office building constructed in the early 1950s that was once the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Legion – and erect a 30-storey residential tower with about 320 rental apartments in its place.Taggart chief operating officer Derek Howe stressed that the proposal is still in its early stages. In an interview with OBJ last week, Howe said the company does not intend to redevelop the property, which it purchased about a dozen years ago, for at least another decade.“Really, this is really a proactive measure coming out of COVID ensuring we’re trying to maximize the value of the asset,” he added.The firm’s latest vision for the site – which also includes heritage homes on adjacent land at 436 and 444 MacLaren St. that are now mostly occupied by commercial tenants – is a rejigged version of a proposal Taggart submitted in September 2021. That plan called for a 34-storey highrise with 405 apartment units where Legion House now stands. Taggart scaled back its original design after residents complained the building would not fit the character of the neighbourhood, which is dominated by two- and three-storey homes, many of which are more than a century old.Current zoning limits building heights to 18 metres at the site, far below the 102-metre height of Taggart’s proposed apartment complex. But Taggart’s plan is being submitted under the City of Ottawa’s “Landmark Building” policy, which allows for buildings of up to 27 storeys in Centretown provided they feature “iconic” architecture.Taggart says it plans to incorporate limestone from the historic Legion House into the podium of its proposed new building at 359 Kent St.The revamped proposal still exceeds that limit, but planning documents say the tower designed by Hobin Architecture would “conform” to guidelines designed to protect views of the Parliamentary Precinct and “not impact the visual integrity of the Parliament Buildings.” The property also sits within an area designated as a heritage conservation district under the Ontario Heritage Act, meaning the city’s built heritage committee will have a say in whether the project gets approved. After consulting last year with community representatives, city heritage staff and groups such as Heritage Ottawa, Taggart decided it would save the limestone cladding from the Legion House’s south and west facades and use it to build the five-storey podium on the proposed highrise.Although Legion House is not a provincially designated heritage site, Taggart says city heritage officials feel the structure has “local significance” because it once served as the Legion’s head office.“It was intended to be a bit of a landmark, anchor point in the downtown core for veterans,” Howe said. Meanwhile, the “civic space” that is also required for a proposal to qualify for “landmark” status – such as a park or other area for public use – has been relocated. The original proposal called for the heritage home at 436 MacLaren St. to be converted into community space, with the Boys and Girls Club of Ottawa discussed as a potential tenant. Under the revised plan, that building will remain office space while a 2,000-square-foot space on the ground floor of the residential highrise facing Kent Street will be devoted to a “community or cultural facility” that will be operated by an independent user.“Given the unknown operating requirements of the user, two alternate spaces are proposed: one in the amenity space along Gilmour Street, and the other in the originally proposed 436 MacLaren house,” the proposal adds.The size of the underground parking lot has also been reduced, from 332 spaces in the original proposal to 216 in the revised plan.Under the city’s landmark buildings policy, the project must undergo a “detailed peer review” that typically includes input from city staff to ensure a building meets the standard of “iconic” architecture. Taggart officials have had two previous meetings with city officials and were scheduled to meet with the city’s urban design review panel again last Friday morning.For now, Taggart says it’s focused on filling Legion House’s empty office space. The class-B, 42,600-square-foot building – whose major tenants include law firm McNally Gervan LLP, Ekos Research Associates and Trinity Development Group – will have a vacancy rate of nearly 35 per cent when an 8,000-square-foot suite officially becomes empty on May 1.“It’s in good shape, and we have good tenants that are there,” Taggart Realty Management president Julie Taggart said.
