Ottawa’s new tallest building will be built at the corner of Preston and Carling.
In December, the city’s planning committee approved an amendment to the Official Plan for a 50-storey Claridge building to be constructed at 829 Carling Avenue. It will include 503 residential units and be located less than 100 metres from the Dow’s Lake O-Train station, and across the street from the soon-to-be-built new Civic Hospital campus.
The new tower will also be located across the street from Claridge’s Icon Building — Ottawa’s current tallest building at 45 storeys — which opened in 2022.
“The building contains a mix of unit types, including studios, one-, two-, and three-bedroom units,” a city staff report read. “On the ground floor, 300 square metres of commercial space will front onto Preston Street, reinforcing the Mainstreet Corridor character and providing active street frontage, while the main residential and office entrance will be accessed from Carling Avenue.”
In 2021, Claridge originally planned to build a 60-storey tower but scaled back its plans. That proposal also called for 459 units, fewer than the number that will be built.
When Claridge submitted its original proposal nearly four years ago, Neil Malhotra, its chief financial officer, told the Ottawa Business Journal he didn’t expect significant backlash over the tower’s then-proposed 60-storey height. He noted the city had already opened the door to “super-tall buildings” in the neighbourhood after green-lighting projects such as the Icon and Richcraft’s proposal for a trio of towers as tall as 55 storeys just down the street at 845 Carling Ave.
To address complaints that the first plan included too much parking, Claridge has cut the proposed number of vehicle parking spots to 196 from 385 in the original proposal, while boosting the number of bicycle spaces to 482. Vehicle parking spaces would be located in a six-storey underground garage accessible from Sidney Street.
With files by David Sali and Mia Jensen.