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Office to Residential Conversions

urbottawa

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331 Cooper st:

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Apparently there is another wave of conversions coming as the Federal has confirmed that many of it's buildings are actually not going to have workers return and will be sold. Of the timing I am not sure.

I wonder if we are getting better at conversions the more that get done in more cities?
 
Will they be converted, or just torn down? Esplanade Laurier is going to be a challenge because of the size of its floorplates. A number of the buildings at Confederation Heights, and the Defence Medical Centre have heritage designations, but it remains to be seen whether they can stand up to arguments about the economics and cries of "it's a housing emergency." I predict the federal government will sell or give the buildings away and then wash their hands of the heritage aspect
 
It will be up to whoever buys the properties. I have trouble understanding how L'Esplanade could be converted. Jackson could get a lightwell, though it's quite old and has gone through a lot, far lower than zoning allows. Feds were looking to demolish it at one point.

The heritage buildings at Confederation Heights could likely be converted fairly easily thanks to their layouts. Same with the Military Hospital.

it will be interesting to see how this all evolves.
 
Wow, I didn't see this one coming! I don't have access to the full article.

KRP Properties converting Kanata North office tower to residential units

David Sali
David Sali

  • June 5, 2024
  • 1:52 PM
  • ET
535 Legget Drive

KRP Properties plans to convert this office tower at 535 Legget Dr. in Kanata North into a rental apartment complex.

KRP Properties plans to convert a 10-storey office building near the Brookstreet Hotel into a residential complex as the firm tries to diversify its portfolio amid the ongoing shift to hybrid work. Kanata’s largest property manager says it has informed tenants of the tower at 535 Legget Dr. that the 140,669-square-foot building will be turned […]
 
Not the most obvious candidate, with a large square floorplate, in an office-park sea of asphalt and a Walk Score of 54. But I guess there's a market for everything.
 
Not the most obvious candidate, with a large square floorplate, in an office-park sea of asphalt and a Walk Score of 54. But I guess there's a market for everything.
Can see a hint of possible floor layouts here (open concept likely) with the size of windows and potential views.
 

New owners Heafey Group, Boless mull residential conversion for Gatineau office tower​

David Sali
David Sali
  • August 19, 2024
  • 3:55 PM
  • ET
Sacre-Coeur Boulevard property


Gatineau-based Heafey Group and construction firm Boless have acquired an office building at 200 Sacre-Coeur Blvd. in Gatineau.

In a move that could add hundreds of housing units to downtown Gatineau, the new owners of a prominent office tower in the city’s core say they are looking at turning the building into a residential complex. Gatineau’s Heafey Group and the owners of construction firm Boless acquired the 15-storey property at 200 Sacre-Coeur Blvd. […]

--Paywalled--

 
I've been pondering the future of L'esplanade Laurier ever since the feds decided to offload it. Articles have claimed it's unsuitable for residential conversion because of the large floorplates. What if the buildings were cut in half and became four residential towers? I'm sure it would be costly, but the maybe the cost would bring a decent ROI, because that would be a whole lot of units in the most central location in the entire city. Tearing them down and building new residential from scratch seems so wasteful.

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Or sort of what your photoshop shows, just slice them to make both towers "H" shaped, adding windows and "corner" units.
 
In this building you can't see the elevator cores in aerial photos, but they seem to be just off from the center of the buildings, so slicing them down the middle would be kind of tricky. There are several possibilities for carving them around the corners and sides to alter the floorplates. Also, moving the windows in a couple of meters and ringing buildings terraces would make the resulting apartments move livable.

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In this building you can't see the elevator cores in aerial photos, but they seem to be just off from the center of the buildings, so slicing them down the middle would be kind of tricky. There are several possibilities for carving them around the corners and sides to alter the floorplates. Also, moving the windows in a couple of meters and ringing buildings terraces would make the resulting apartments move livable.

View attachment 625268
Good point, but also elevator shafts can be rebuilt as part of gut job renovations. A close friend of mine builds them and he's created brand new shafts in older buildings like 151 O'Connor.
 

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