A development application filed with the City of Ottawa proposes replacing a block of low-rise commercial and industrial buildings in Hintonburg — including the original Happy Goat Coffee Co. location — with two residential towers of 31 and 33 storeys containing 543 apartments.
The application covers 75 Breezehill Ave. and 35 Laurel St., a site that sits less than 300 metres from the future Corso Italia Station on the Trillium Line. Plans show two six-storey podiums topped by the towers, with ground-floor commercial space at street level.
The proposal also includes two publicly accessible plazas, landscaped walkways and a 619-square-metre public park that would be conveyed to the City. According to Kitchissippi, which first reported the application, the park design calls for gathering areas, outdoor games, fitness equipment and accessible seating.
Towers far taller than current zoning allows
The project would require an amendment to the West Downtown Core Secondary Plan, which currently allows buildings up to 18 storeys on the property.
In a Planning Rationale filed with the application, the developers' consultants argue that policy has changed substantially since that plan was adopted, citing the housing shortage and a push by all three levels of government to concentrate residential growth near rapid transit rather than on greenfield land at the urban edge.
"There has been a major paradigm shift at all three levels of government," the report states.
The consultants also argue the property is a logical place for taller buildings because it is buffered from nearby homes by existing industrial lands and the Trillium rail corridor, and because several high-rise projects — including Gladstone Village and CLV Group's Corso Italia development — have already been approved in the surrounding area.
Family-sized units and neighbourhood design
Of the 543 apartments, 223 would have two or three bedrooms — a larger share of family-sized housing than many recent downtown projects. The plans also call for 272 vehicle parking spaces, 681 bicycle parking spaces and more than 3,800 square metres of shared indoor and outdoor amenity space.
An Urban Design Brief filed with the application says the six-storey podiums would use brown-red brick inspired by nearby Devonshire Public School, which the document describes as "an important material indicator" for the project's architectural character.
A changing corner of Hintonburg
The site was once part of Hintonburg's light-industrial district, and its buildings have gradually been converted to new uses. Happy Goat Coffee opened at the location in 2011, and neighbouring properties now house artists' studios and creative workspaces.
Planning documents note the site is expected to benefit from future multi-use pathways along the rail corridor, which would improve walking and cycling links between Little Italy, Hintonburg and LeBreton Flats.
The application is now under review by City of Ottawa staff. Residents will have a chance to comment before the proposal goes to the Planning and Housing Committee in November.
