Plan proposes building one of Ottawa's tallest residential buildings in Barrhaven

One of Ottawa's tallest residential buildings could be built in Barrhaven.

The City of Ottawa has received an application from Kionas Construction to build two high-rises, mixed-use towers with nearly 600 units at the corner of Marketplace Avenue and McGarry Terrace, near Strandherd Drive, and a 440 sq. m. publicly accessible courtyard.

"It is really going to, I would call it a mature uptown feel to the community," Coun. David Hill said Tuesday. 

The proposal, called Marketplace Towers West, calls for a 26 and a 35-storey tower with 592 residential units, comprising of 46 bachelor units, 290 one-bedroom units, 244 two-bedroom units and 12 three-bedroom units.  There will also be a ten-storey link between the two towers and 1,104 square metres of "at-grade commercial space."

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"The 10th floor of the link portion will be dedicated to amenities including a party room, exercise room, golf simulator and an infinity outdoor pool at the roof. With a rooftop terrace and an infinity pool on the 12th floor level," says the design concept report.

There would also be six levels of underground parking with a total of 653 parking spaces.

Some residents expressed concern about the size of the proposed buildings.

"Oh no, I'm not happy about that," Nicole Cousineau said. "This is an area that shouldn't be considered."

Gabriela Martino added, "you got too many tall buildings around here. And number two, it's not feasible for parking."

The Marketplace Towers West project includes plans for two "generous size courtyards," with the largest one open to Marketplace Avenue. (City of Ottawa website)

The application notes the proposed residential buildings will be less than 400 metres from the Marketplace Station, a transfer point for OC Transpo service.

"Proposals like this, you know, fulfill that kind of vision of having significant density on major transit in town centres in the suburbs," Jason Burggraff, executive director of the Greater Ottawa Homebuilders Association, said.

The city says the application is requesting an amendment to the Official Plan and Zoning Bylaw to permit the construction of the tower. Since the Barrhaven Downtown Secondary Plan permits heights up to 30 storeys, the city would need to approve an amendment to permit heights up to 35 storeys.

"This is a transit corridor. If you look over to my right, you've got the Walmart, you've got all sorts of retail and then you've also got the Transitway," says Hill. "You've got bus access in here and you know, to be within the spirit of our Official Plan and with our new Zoning Bylaw that is looking to zone areas like this, this type of application does fit the requirements that are necessary in order to get the density in these transit corridors that we need."

The proposal from Stantec says the 32nd and 33rd floors of the western tower and the 20th and 21st floors of the eastern tower of the Marketplace Towers West will be for amenities. The proposal says the western tower will have a space for a "public restaurant, viewing platform and amenities." (City of Ottawa website)

A 35-storey building would be one of the tallest buildings in Ottawa.  The Claridge Icon in Little Italy is 45 storeys. Trinity Centre near LeBreton Flats is approved for 65 storeys but construction has not started, while one of the two towers at Lansdowne will be 40 storeys.

An 18-storey residential building was constructed in 2019 on McGarry Terrace and two towers of 15 and 17 storeys (150 Marketplace Avenue) are located just east of the proposed buildings in Barrhaven.

Martino is concerned about traffic congestion in the area.

"I'm for development and so forth. We have to take care of our communities and get them the best we can. But it doesn't have to be a monster like a skyscraper," Martino said. "It doesn't have to be that tall, it doesn't have to be humongous."

Hill says he expects the application to be presented to the Planning and Housing Committee in October.

"I've already had a meeting with a number of the local stakeholders here, and I will continue to do that. So over the next few months, I will take individual engagements, and I'll probably do some group engagements as well, to talk through how we can mitigate some of the concerns that go with the density here," Hill said.

"I would suspect we'll see the site plan come in shortly thereafter such that construction would start probably in the winter or spring."

Burggraaf says the city has a plan to build close to 200,000 homes over the next 25 years, with thousands of homes to be built around transit hubs and town centres in the suburbs.

"Kind of a mini downtown, where people don't necessarily have to travel downtown to have the same sort of, urban experience," says Burggraaf. "So, proposals like this, you know, fulfill that kind of vision of having significant density, on major transit in town centres in the suburbs, and realistically as well, the Official Plan in the city overall is kind of counting on projects like this to provide pretty much the kind of the most affordable housing."

According to the application, the project will be built by Stantec and Kionas.   

With files from CTV News Ottawa's Tyler Fleming