Next LeBreton towers focused on apartments, not amenities

Claridge Homes wants to change the order in which it builds the towers in its latest LeBreton Flats development, but community members call the move a "bait and switch" that will leave the areawithout amenities such as a grocery store for years longer.

The company has been the one active builder in the LeBreton area so farand owns parcels of land east of Booth Street separatefromtheNational Capital Commission's latest master plan for redeveloping the prime site.

City council approved Claridge'sEast Flats development in July 2018 that called forfive towers ranging from 25 to 45 storeys built over phases, starting with parcelson the east side of Booth that couldhouse two floors of shops and amenities.

• 11 Albert Street buildings, including a 65-storey tower, approved by council
• 'East Flats' plan still too tall, neighbours complain

In an application that goes before the city's planning committee Thursday, Claridgehas askedto first build 590 apartments in25-storey and 30-storey towers on a side street closer to the buildings it constructed several years ago.

The change would still allow for a daycare and some commercial space, but the focus would beon housing. It would also include $2 million for construction of a city park.

"The faster we are able to bring more people down into LeBreton Flats, the sooner those businesses can be in there [on Booth Street] and be sustainable," saidNeil Malhotra, Claridge'schief financial officer, adding the key is to have enough population to support businesses.

Since Claridge received that cityapproval in 2018, the pandemic has also changed shopping and work patterns anddramatically affected retailers' plans for commercial space, he said.

Uncertainty in the commercial real estate markethad earlier led the NCC to also delay putting out to tenderone of its own parcelsbeside the future central library.

'Ever-dangled' grocery storestill elusive

The Dalhousie Community Association, which encompasses theLeBreton Flats area, Chinatown and Little Italy, is disappointed City of Ottawa staff recommended Claridgebe allowed to first construct thetowers tucked inside the development.

President Catherine Bouchersaid it supported the 2018 plan to build shops and the "ever-dangled"grocery store near the Pimisi light rail station, creating a "vibrant" Booth Street.

She also rejects Malhotra'sargument about bringing more people to the community before shops move in.

"Our ward is inundated with new residential, thousands of units, and very little added retail or other amenities, or any significant public realm. It feels a little bit like a bait and switch," she said.

Malhotra said the towers and promised amenitiesalong Booth Street will still come "when the time is right."

The company has attracted grocery stores to its developments in the past, as Malhotra pointed to agrocery store in a downtown Claridge building on Metcalfe Street, and to its plans to keep a grocery chain as part of a 26-storey tower it's building onRideau Street where a Metro store was torn down.