31-storey plan called ‘a wall against water’
Montreal firm wants to build along Rideau
A Montreal developer’s proposed 31-storey building in east Sandy Hill overlooking the Rideau River would be the first of a new generation of towers in the area.
The local councillor called the plan the latest brick in a wall of buildings blocking off the view of the river.
Rio Vista Apartments Inc. already owns a luxury apartment just east of the proposed new tower at 400 Stewart St. That tower rises 25 storeys from the nearby riverbank but only 21 storeys from street level.
The new 226-unit building — Rio Vista’s application calls it an “apartment,” though in planning jargon that can mean condominiums or rental units — would look 10 floors taller than its nearest neighbour, already one of the tallest buildings in the area.
They’d be joined by an underground garage, six storeys deep, to form one complex. The hundreds of extra parking spots would doubtless lead to more traffic in Sandy Hill, but it would be divided between Stewart and Daly Avenue on the property’s north side, thanks to two entrances and exists.
“I’m not happy with it,” said Coun. Mathieu Fleury.
“We’re building a wall against the water.” There’s no path along the riverbank there, no practical access to the Rideau, and this’ll make things worse, he said. He’s glad to see plans to build on a surface parking lot, but not just anything will do.
“There could be a nice (building) within the existing development rules,” he said, which max out at about 12 storeys. “Thirty-one storeys is massive, no matter how you look at it.”
The new glassy spire would be more like the modern condos in Centretown and Hintonburg than its heavier-looking concrete neighbours from the 1960s and ’70s.
Rio Vista’s application says politely: “Aside from providing a more contemporary architecture and built form, the proposal will also provide a better relationship with the existing slab buildings, by allowing many advantages (i.e. improved light, air and views).”
But that comes at a cost, mainly in allowing Rio Vista to build a tower nearly three times as high as the zoning on the property allows.
It also means giving up the prospect of a small park on the property, which is officially in the city’s plans but has never happened. Rio Vista says it’s waited for more than 10 years for the city to make an offer and it’s never come, so it’s time to get on with a development.
The city generally favours putting tall buildings up against natural edges, like major roads, rail tracks and rivers, where they have fewer neighbours. That makes sites like this one, on a dead end and next to the Rideau, an attractive spot. Developers’ interest in sites like this has also grown as parking lots and rundown buildings in the downtown core have been snapped up and built on: there’s already a proposal for 24- and 27-storey buildings just across the river in Vanier.
The steep slope up from the Rideau on its west bank will make the 31-storey building look even taller, Fleury said. There appears to be nothing special about the site that warrants the extra height. It’s not close to a transit station, and not in a redevelopment district. It is in a residential area two blocks south of Rideau Street, right next to Sandy Hill houses.
The application is new so there is no date set for planning committee to consider it.