Blair Station

1980 Ogilvie Rd. (Gloucester Centre)

Currently, cars are king around Blair. The city has zoned much of the land for more intensive mixed-use development, but its plan concedes that only 20 percent of the available land will likely be developed within the next 20 years.

However, if history and recent proposals are any guide, intensification may happen more quickly. The Transitway itself was a catalyst back in the day: Gloucester Centre opened in 1988, a year before the station. In the decade or so that followed, a cinema multiplex and six office buildings were built nearby.

Looking into the future, RioCan is proposing to construct a 30-storey residential tower right next to the LRT station and at least 10 other residential, retail, and office buildings on its Silver City property. That office space might not materialize, though, since vacancy rates in east Ottawa are 2.5 percentage points higher than the city average, according to Colliers International.

What is opening soon is as far from transit-oriented development as you can imagine. Costco is setting up shop on the old Shoppers City East property, right across Blair Road from the LRT, surrounded by a sea of almost 800 parking spaces. (Shoppers lugging home giant flats of tomato sauce and dog food aren’t likely to take the LRT.)

For those who want to live away from Costco but near the LRT, don’t forget the Pineview area on the south side of the Queensway. An existing pedestrian bridge will connect the ’hood to the new station.