Ottawa’s planning committee has approved Montreal-based developer Canderel’s proposal to build a new eight-storey Amica retirement residence at 890 and 900 Bank St. in the Glebe.
The property on the west side of the street at Thornton Ave., will also feature ground-floor commercial space.
There was a two-hour debate at Ottawa City Hall which, according to the Ottawa Business Journal, featured two recurring themes that typically emerge whenever a tall building is proposed in an established neighbourhood: concerns about height and parking.
Some residents and councillors argued that the redevelopment of Lansdowne Park had set a precedence for taller buildings in the area – contrary to promises made when that development was under consideration – and that more large buildings would be proposed for Bank Street, changing the Glebe’s neighbourhood character
“It is, in fact, the steady march of a non-traditional mainstream type of mass that we feared would happen,” said Capital ward councillor David Chernushenko. “That’s what this project represents to me.”
The developer’s consultant FoTenn said in planning documents that the new building would serve as “an ideal transition” from the mid- and high-rise apartments constructed as part of the Lansdowne Park redevelopment
