Hilton wants 17-storey, 224-room Hampton Inn in By Ward Market
Hundreds of more hotel rooms could being added to Ottawa’s central area, once criticized for not having enough guest accommodations for a bustling tourist city.
Bayview Ottawa Holdings, a hotel development and management company, is proposing to build at 17-storey hotel at 116 York St. in the ByWard Market.
The hotel would be branded as a Hampton Inn by Hilton, according to a planning application submitted to the city.
The 224-room hotel would take the place of a surface parking lot. The hotel would have 63 underground parking spots for hotel guests; the company believes most guests will arrive by means other than personal vehicles, such as ride-ordering businesses or transit.
The company will need to get council’s permission for the hotel since the proposed height exceeds zoning and the property is in a heritage conservation district. There are different height maximums for the property, but current zoning at the tallest points is around 21.5 metres and 50 metres. The company wants the maximum to be 59.6 metres in both areas.
After construction of the new convention centre, now called the Shaw Centre, there was a concern that the city didn’t have enough hotel capacity to handle major events, especially heading into the action-packed 2017 celebration year for Canada’s 150th birthday.
But in recent years, new hotels have been constructed in the downtown area, including Le Germain Hotels’ accommodations in the new Arts Court complex and on Slater Street. New hotels also have opened outside of the core.
Development plans by big hotel companies apparently aren’t scuttled by alternative accommodation platforms like Airbnb.
Claridge Homes also has plans to add a 19-storey, 136-unit tower to the Andaz hotel, which is operated by Hyatt and directly next door to the Bayview Ottawa Holdings property.
The Bayview application is on track to be considered by council’s planning committee in November.