Ottawa Construction News staff writer
OTTAWA — A surplus parcel of municipal land in Nepean will be transformed into a 33-unit modular housing community under a new $9.4-million partnership, testing the scalability of factory-built construction for the non-profit sector.
The project, branded Beechcliffe Homes, will rise at 40 Beechcliffe St., near the intersection of Woodroffe Avenue and Knoxdale Road. The initiative brings together the City of Ottawa, the Province of Ontario, and Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa to develop a site that was only declared surplus by city council in April 2025.
For Ottawa’s construction industry, the announcement reinforces a shifting procurement strategy for affordable housing, moving away from traditional stick-built methods toward off-site construction to compress schedules.
Modular escalation
While Habitat for Humanity Greater Ottawa has utilized prefabricated components before—notably during the construction of Titus Landing on the former CFB Rockcliffe airbase in 2021—the Beechcliffe project represents a significant escalation in density and technical complexity.
The 33 townhomes will be constructed using modular methods, where units are manufactured off-site and assembled on the prepared foundation. This approach aims to bypass the skilled labour shortages and weather delays that have plagued traditional residential sites across the province.
“Lessons learned through the construction of these homes will inform the ongoing work the province and its partners are doing to support modular homebuilding,” stated the provincial release, signaling that Beechcliffe could serve as a case study for future “Direct Build” procurements on public land.
Site preparation is already underway, with the first sales applications expected to open in early 2026.
The deal structure
The project’s capital stack relies heavily on unlocking existing funding streams rather than creating new ones.
The City of Ottawa is contributing approximately $6 million to the venture. This includes the value of the land transfer and $3 million in cash drawn directly from the federal-provincial Building Faster Fund—a reward pot the city accessed after meeting its 2023 housing targets.
The Province of Ontario is adding a further $3.4 million to the project.
The land transfer itself illustrates the “use-it-or-lose-it” pressure facing municipalities. The 40 Beechcliffe St. lot was identified as part of the Ontario-Ottawa New Deal signed in March 2024, which mandated the city to identify surplus sites specifically for “attainable, modular homes”.
City records show the property was formally added to the surplus registry following a council motion on April 16, 2025, creating a rapid six-month turnaround from designation to ground-breaking. To expedite the transfer, the city’s Finance and Corporate Services Committee recently moved to waive standard “right of first refusal” requirements under the Expropriations Act.
Industry outlook
The project continues a trend of intensifying infill development on city-owned lots. The 33-unit scope makes Beechcliffe larger than Habitat’s recent Kemptville Korners (15 units) and Leacross Landing in Orléans (16 units), suggesting the non-profit developer is increasing its capacity to manage multi-unit residential contracts.
Under Habitat’s model, the homes will be sold to qualifying families with no down payment, and mortgage payments will be geared to household income.
Further details on the specific modular manufacturer and sub-trade tenders are expected as site servicing advances.
