uOttawa Campus Master Plan

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Nice little additions.

Has the university made any progress on redeveloping all of the empty, asbestos-plagued residences lining King Edward?

No.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...sing-1.6959759

https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/sho...5&postcount=18

I don't think it's "asbestos plagued". Don't think that was still used when it was built in 1987. Issues is water seepage/mold.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by OTSkyline

Nice little additions.

Has the university made any progress on redeveloping all of the empty, asbestos-plagued residences lining King Edward?

I posted at the same time as J.OT13 above , so there is some redundancy here.

Asbestos was not the main problem. These buildings were poorly built (defunct Perez Corp.) and allowed water infiltration . That led to mold and they were condemned by the health Dept. The university said a few times that they would soon be demolished, but they were not. I get the impression that they have decided to wait until they are ready to put up a new building there. That is probably a long way off. In the meantime it is costing the university a lot of money to keep them standing, so it does not make a lot of sense to me to not pull them down.

Putting a new residence there would be an obvious choice. uOttawa has been talking to the Montreal developer will build at 2 Robinson Av. about including student residences in their development. I have a gut feeling that decisions about Brooks have been put on hold until they see if they can get a deal at 2 Robinson.

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

This from Global News




https://globalnews.ca/news/10414592/...iversities%20w

Special rules for student accommodation

The province is also proposing to give university-led housing projects special status and exemptions to build student accommodation faster.

Publicly assisted universities will be exempted from the Planning Act, the provincial rules that govern housing construction in Ontario. That means universities could push through projects without the need to request new zoning for the area or certain site plan requirements.

The government said the move would bring universities in line with publicly assisted colleges. The changes would allow projects to sidestep the majority of municipal bureaucracy around homebuilding, potentially saving years of planning consultations and requests.

As housing minister, Calandra said he retains the power to step in if he feels a university is misusing its powers. The aim of the new powers handed to universities was to build student housing, not to allow post-secondary institutions to become real estate developers, he added.

The new rules to sharply boost the provision of student accommodation come as Ontario weighs adding student housing to its definition of new homes.

It came to my attention recently, that uOttawa ,starting with the 130 million dollar FHS that has been built, will spend 4 billion dollars on construction over 20 years. A new athletic facility on Mann avenue, to replace Montpetit Hall , is probably 5 to 10 years away.

[White Pine]

Originally Posted by LeadingEdgeBoomer

This from Global News




https://globalnews.ca/news/10414592/...iversities%20w



It came to my attention recently, that uOttawa ,starting with the 130 million dollar FHS that has been built, will spend 4 billion dollars on construction over 20 years. A new athletic facility on Mann avenue, to replace Montpetit Hall , is probably 5 to 10 years away.

Will this be a problem given the international student situation?

[LeadingEdgeBoomer]

Originally Posted by White Pine

Will this be a problem given the international student situation?

Not directly. University financing is very complicated. It functions with different envelopes and money often can not be transferred from one envelope to another.

Tuition, domestic and international. goes into the operating fund that meets daily expenses, such as paying staff. So does government funding earmarked for operating expenses. uOttawa has a $10 million deficit in its operating funds this year. Queen's has a $45 million dollar deficit. Both universities have endowment funds that are much larger than those deficits but they can not use the endowment funds to offset it.
If I donate $100,000 to endow a perpetual scholarship, that money must legally remain to do as I intended and not used to offset the operating deficit.

Money to build new infrastructure is similar. If I donate 100 million to build the new AMRC ,or a government does, then it must be used for that purpose and not diverted to operating funds. Otherwise I can take it back. Universities have to lobby governments and private interests to get the money for new infrastructure.
Sometimes they can borrow money against future revenue. This is common for students residences where the students are charged rent that can pay down the loan. The AMRC is expected to produce revenue and money has been borrowed.

I am sure it is all much more complicated than I can grasp.