A Toronto-based developer looking to convert vacant office buildings into co-living communities in cities across Canada has its first project planned for Ottawa’s downtown core. Founded in 2023, Toboggan Flats aims to make housing more affordable for young professionals in downtowns across the country, while also helping residents create community. Last week, Robert Barnard, CEO […]
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A Toronto-based developer looking to convert vacant office buildings into co-living communities in cities across Canada has its first project planned for Ottawa’s downtown core.
Founded in 2023, Toboggan Flats aims to make housing more affordable for young professionals in downtowns across the country, while also helping residents create community.
Last week, Robert Barnard, CEO and founder, posted on LinkedIn that his company had found a building in downtown Ottawa that could fit 390 affordable co-living rental units.
While he couldn’t yet reveal details on the location of the building, Barnard told OBJ on Wednesday that it’s a vacant office building in what he believes is a great location to boost the downtown economy.
“The nice thing about co-living conversions is that the size of the floorplate is less of a concern for us than it would be for what I would call a traditional conversion into basic one- and two-bedroom apartments. We’re actually okay with open space, because we’ll use it for our amenities and our community,” Barnard explained.
The Ottawa project, dubbed “TF Site No. 1,” would have private units with shared spaces such as bathrooms, kitchens, a laundry and library, gym, yoga studio, cinema suite, co-working space and café. Single units, at about 175 square feet, would cost $1,300 a month and double units, at 250 square feet, would be $2,300 a month.
Barnard estimates Toboggan Flats Ottawa could be move-in ready by winter 2028.
“We’ve chosen to look for vacant office buildings to turn that into housing, which allows us to create housing a lot faster than us building from scratch,” Barnard said. “Once we’ve acquired the building, which is in process, we should be about a two-year development.”
He said Toboggan Flats continues to assess other vacant office buildings through a process his team developed with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
“We’ve built an assessment tool that takes any building, looks at the floorplan of that building, and does a rapid assessment of how many co-living units we could fit. We’ve got a financial model that assesses the financial viability of (the building as a co-living space),” he said, adding that the firm looked at things such as window exposure and elevator placement.
In a blog post on the Toboggan Flats website last year, Barnard assessed the opportunities presented by vacant Hudson’s Bay buildings across the country, which he suggested could hold “thousands” of co-living units.
While Barnard told OBJ the blog post was merely a “thought experiment,” he said it did lead to some meetings on the topic.
Toboggan Flats is working with partners on the Ottawa project, including the Canadian Urban Institute and Ottawa’s Windmill Development Group, which will take an adviser role.
“From the very beginning, they have had an interest in learning about co-living (and) in assessing the kinds of buildings with us. They have a really strong environmental background and sustainability approach to buildings and converting an office building is a very strong environment model … We wanted to bring in the best development partners that we could find to ensure that when we find the right building, it’s going to be developed properly and last a long time,” Barnard said.
In his recent LinkedIn post, Barnard said the project is estimated to cost about $80 million. Toboggan Flats will be looking for investors, as well as contractors, to bring it to life, but also support from businesses and other organizations.
“Absenteeism is a challenge with a lot of companies … Anyone who’s an employer (and) who’s looking to decrease absenteeism and attrition wants to get their employees living generally close to work. That’s one of the things that will help their financials,” he said, adding that co-living spaces could be an alternative for out-of-town employees who would otherwise stay at a hotel.
Plus, he said, adding more people in the core helps Ottawa’s plan to revitalize its downtown.
“If more people live in downtown Ottawa, they contribute to the local economy. They’re spending more. They’re bringing the vibrancy, and especially if you can bring the younger generation, not just the students, they bring new ideas. They will help regenerate the economy that’s been really affected by COVID,” he said.
Barnard said Toboggan Flats has also chosen to look at co-living spaces rather than standard apartments to inspire more interaction between community members.
“Co-living is taking the best elements of student housing and the best elements of apartment rental housing and putting it together so that people can afford to live downtown. It can reduce loneliness,” Barnard said.
