Landmark proposal? Taggart believes new two-tower plan for O’Connor Street reaches ‘iconic’ status

Taggart Realty Management says it believes its rejigged proposal for a pair of mixed-use highrises on O’Connor Street in Centretown meets the city’s “landmark” design requirements, adding it hopes to start construction on the project by 2027. The Ottawa-based real estate developer submitted its revised plan for two towers of 25 and 27 storeys at […]

Taggart Realty Management says it believes its rejigged proposal for a pair of mixed-use highrises on O’Connor Street in Centretown meets the city’s “landmark” design requirements, adding it hopes to start construction on the project by 2027. The Ottawa-based real estate developer submitted its revised plan for two towers of 25 and 27 storeys at 267 O’Connor St. between Gilmour and MacLaren streets earlier this month.  Taggart’s latest proposal calls for 510 rental units as well as 3,000 square metres of ground-floor commercial space, 850 square feet of institutional space, and a four-level underground parking lot with space for 326 vehicles.  The property is currently occupied by a six-storey medical office building and a surface parking lot, which would be torn down to make way for the new development. The proposal is a downsized and redesigned version of the builder’s original proposal for the site that was submitted in late 2020. That plan called for 28- and 30-storey highrises containing a total of 541 rental apartments, 339 underground parking spots and a small amount of retail space.  However, city officials and then-councillor Catherine McKenney expressed concerns about the scale of the proposed development.  In an interview with OBJ in December 2020, McKenney said the site “doesn’t easily lend itself to that degree of height.”  Current zoning rules limit buildings to nine storeys at the O’Connor Street property. Under the city's Central and East Downtown Core Secondary Plan, buildings on streets such as O’Connor and Metcalfe can exceed established height limits if they qualify as “true civic or national landmarks.”  The policy states that developments must make “significant and exceptional contributions to the public realm” through elements such as “iconic architecture” and include a publicly accessible space consisting of at least 40 per cent of the subject area’s property. McKenney questioned whether the original plan’s architecture was distinctive enough to meet the “landmark” criteria required of tall buildings in the neighbourhood.  “What it looks like is important,” McKenney said in 2020. “You have to be able to look at it and know that it stands out.” In addition, the former Somerset ward councillor said an affordable housing component would be “absolutely key” to winning community support for the project.

In an email to OBJ on Monday, Taggart Realty Management president Jeff Parkes said the firm has “consulted at all stages with both the councillor’s office and with community organizations” as it revised its proposal, adding it incorporated many of the community’s concerns into the latest design. Current Somerset Coun. Ariel Troster did not immediately respond to requests for comment from OBJ. Noting that city officials felt the original plan’s “overall density proposed was too high,” Parkes said Taggart has lowered the height of the proposed towers.  While the original design called for two separate buildings, designers UNStudio and Hobin Architecture have added a U-shaped podium that connects the highrises along the eastern edge of the property – among several changes aimed at achieving the “iconic” level of architecture required under the “landmark” building policy. “We believe this design responds extremely well to past comments received and meets the intent of the Landmark policy,” Parkes said. “The building architecture is unique and interesting while also respecting the context of the site being located within the Centretown heritage conservation district.” The new proposal also includes significantly less privately owned public space.  The original plan featured about 16,000 square feet of public space in a mix of greenery, seating and outdoor activity areas – or about 41 per cent of the total property.  Taggart says its revised proposal will include slightly less than 12,000 square feet of “thoughtfully programmed landscape space for public enjoyment” at the corner of O’Connor and Gilmour streets – equivalent to 31 per cent of the total area. However, Parkes said the firm has also committed to setting aside part of the ground-floor commercial space for “culturally or institutionally significant civic use” that could include facilities such as an artists’ studio. “Our intentions are to work with the city and with local community organizations to attract the best fit for this space,” he added. Asked whether the project will include affordable units, Parkes said Taggart has included an affordable component in all of its recent multi-family residential projects, adding it hopes the federal government “continues to expand its investment” in the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s apartment construction loan program.   “This form of real estate financing is critically important for the private sector to bring affordability to the market,” he said. The city has set a target date of June 11 for the planning and housing committee to consider the proposal. Parkes said this will be the “last iteration” of the project, adding Taggart hopes to begin the site plan and design process early next year and start construction “in 2027 or soon thereafter.” This isn’t the first time a developer has floated the idea of building multiple highrises on the O’Connor Street property. A decade ago, Mastercraft Starwood proposed a pair of 27-storey towers for the site in what became the first test of the “landmark” policy. The plan called for two condo buildings, green space and four townhouses, but the proposal never came to fruition. City planners urged councillors to reject the application, contending it fell “significantly short” of qualifying as a significant landmark. The developer challenged the city’s Centretown community design plan at the Ontario Municipal Board, then the provincial body that settled planning disputes.  But Mastercraft Starwood eventually abandoned the proposal and Taggart acquired the property in the spring of 2019.