The city’s $2.1-billion light rail project is on time and on budget, Mayor Jim Watson said Tuesday, adding that all three underground downtown LRT stations will be integrated into private buildings to help improve traffic and pedestrian flow.
As previously reported by OBJ, the Confederation Line’s Parliament station will be built with a direct entrance to the Sun Life Financial Centre at Bank and Queen streets. The station’s east entrance will be integrated into a building owned by Morguard at 155 Queen St.
The west entrance to the Lyon station will be directly connected to an upcoming Claridge Homes project at Queen and Lyon streets, while the east entrance will be integrated into the Place de Ville complex.
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The Rideau station, meanwhile, will be built into the Rideau Centre.
The Sun Life Financial Centre’s director of leasing, Dave Pridham, told OBJ last month that the integrated Parliament station is part of a multimillion-dollar renovation project at the downtown office tower.
As part of the renovations, the building’s Bank Street entrance and Albert Street atrium are undergoing a complete makeover in an effort to freshen their appearance and attract new tenants.
The centre’s landlord, Bentall Kennedy, believes the new look, which was designed by Montreal-based NEUF architects, will make the buildings more sought-after in the rental marketplace.
“It’s not just an LRT station,” Mr. Pridham told OBJ in an interview in April. “That’s a big part of it, but we’re doing this for our tenants moving forward. We really like the atrium design. It’s a much brighter, lighter environment than is there currently.”
The 2.5-kilometre downtown LRT tunnel is now 60 per cent excavated, Mr. Watson told the audience during the Mayor’s Breakfast event at City Hall. The breakfast is a joint venture between OBJ and the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce
