Lofty Riverside [1335 Bank St] | 86m | 26f | Proposed

[waterloowarrior]

http://app01.ottawa.ca/postingplans/...appId=__APV7ZZ

Cassone Construction Ltd. is proposing to develop a 16-storey mixed-use building with 97.5 m2 (1,050 ft2) of at grade retail space, and 100 residential units. The proposal is a single phased mixed-use development.

A total of 71 parking spaces over 5 levels is provided, along with 74 internal bicycle spaces. Two levels of parking are below grade and three parking
levels are at and above grade. A light weight metal architectural screen has been incorporated into the design to mask the at grade and above grade parking levels from street view.

[lrt's friend]

That was the site of my cousin's garage 1964-2003

[kevinbottawa]

I like the location; has lots of potential. There are a few other sites in that area that should be built up in the future- the empty lot across the street, Harveys, the Mongolian restaurant, the Italian suit store.

What other projects has Cassone Construction done in the city? Their website is down.

[Norman Bates]

This site has the potential to be something really good!

[roger1818]

Originally Posted by kevinbottawa

I like the location; has lots of potential. There are a few other sites in that area that should be built up in the future- the empty lot across the street, Harveys, the Mongolian restaurant, the Italian suit store.

It's too bad they couldn't combine the lot with the Harvey's lot to give them more room to make something better. Three levels of parking at or above ground level seems rather strange to me. Probably the result of a combination of such a small lot and proximity to the river.

[Uhuniau]

Not a bad little project, by the looks of it. If only that design philosophy could be extended further south on Bank, and brought to other "Arterials". Ottawa needs more main street frontage.

[JHikka]

Looks like a good project which should improve that area quite a bit.

[Beedok]

Would be nice to see that area intensify. Roads area little too wide for my liking, but it can be fixed up.

[Harley613]

This is just great. It's a bridge away from a desirable neighborhood, it should sell well.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Not a bad little project, by the looks of it. If only that design philosophy could be extended further south on Bank, and brought to other "Arterials". Ottawa needs more main street frontage.

Give it time.

[Ottawa Champ]

There are two sites just south of Bank and Heron (one currently under construction) that will have main street frontage as well.

[Harley613]

Originally Posted by Ottawa Champ

There are two sites just south of Bank and Heron (one currently under construction) that will have main street frontage as well.

Nice. This area is due for a Shopper's Drug Mart, a Shawarma Shop and a Starbucks :p

[eltodesukane]

This whole area should (ideally) be a park on the edge of Rideau River.
https://www.google.com/maps/@45.3885.../data=!3m1!1e3

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

This whole area should (ideally) be a park on the edge of Rideau River.

God No...

A little more space between Riverside Drive westbound and the river would be nice, but the space between Riverside Drive should NOT be more park. It needs to be what the City and this development is turning it into, which is a continuation of the Bank Street mainstreet. If it gets turned in to a park we lose the connective tissue that makes walking between Billings and Old Ottawa South tolerable (and a lot of people do this to get to the Transitway, get groceries at Billings, etc...). It also extends the mainstreet south towards a redeveloping Heron / Bank area.

My only concern is that area is sitting on the Rideau floodplain... so flood mitigation measures should be taken in to account in new developments.

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by Multi-modal

God No...

A little more space between Riverside Drive westbound and the river would be nice, but the space between Riverside Drive should NOT be more park. It needs to be what the City and this development is turning it into, which is a continuation of the Bank Street mainstreet. If it gets turned in to a park we lose the connective tissue that makes walking between Billings and Old Ottawa South tolerable (and a lot of people do this to get to the Transitway, get groceries at Billings, etc...). It also extends the mainstreet south towards a redeveloping Heron / Bank area.

My only concern is that area is sitting on the Rideau floodplain... so flood mitigation measures should be taken in to account in new developments.

Agreed, Bank Street should be built up into traditional main street design...

Its always struck me how inefficient and wasteful this entire highway interchange is. Delete the north, westbound drivelanes of riverside and move them to the south intersection. making this intersection traditional, four direction travel, turn lanes, the whole 9 yards. It would help the disaster that is the north intersection with the bridge, and keep people from being killed, at the very least. At best it reorganizes the intersection, removing one more bastardly red light from Bank Street. It also simplifies access to billings, to turning, to the buildings surrounding the interchange, and will free up loads of new parkland to the east and west of the intersection.

1960's freeway design was a terrible idea in this instance.

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by AndyMEng

Agreed, Bank Street should be built up into traditional main street design...

Its always struck me how inefficient and wasteful this entire highway interchange is. Delete the north, westbound drivelanes of riverside and move them to the south intersection. making this intersection traditional, four direction travel, turn lanes, the whole 9 yards. It would help the disaster that is the north intersection with the bridge, and keep people from being killed, at the very least. At best it reorganizes the intersection, removing one more bastardly red light from Bank Street. It also simplifies access to billings, to turning, to the buildings surrounding the interchange, and will free up loads of new parkland to the east and west of the intersection.

1960's freeway design was a terrible idea in this instance.

I actually disagree with this... You underestimate how big this theoretical intersection would be. Bank Street would need to be 6 lanes wide to accomodate the NBL and SBL turn lanes (plus NBR lane and a SBR lane). There would probably need to be double left tun lanes on Riverside, and at least 2, maybe 3 lanes in each direction on Riverside... total of at least 7-8 lanes. Essentially you'd get another Riverside and Industrial, maybe worse. That might be better in terms of safety, but in my opinion that would be worse for pedestrians than the current setup.

The existing intersection(s) is very efficient... its just too bad the westbound direction isn't 10m further away from the river, and it could probably use a westbound right-turn lane that runs at a separate signal from the pathway crossing.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by eltodesukane

this whole area should (ideally) be a park on the edge of rideau river.

lol

[AndyMEng]

Originally Posted by Multi-modal

I actually disagree with this... You underestimate how big this theoretical intersection would be. Bank Street would need to be 6 lanes wide to accomodate the NBL and SBL turn lanes (plus NBR lane and a SBR lane). There would probably need to be double left tun lanes on Riverside, and at least 2, maybe 3 lanes in each direction on Riverside... total of at least 7-8 lanes. Essentially you'd get another Riverside and Industrial, maybe worse. That might be better in terms of safety, but in my opinion that would be worse for pedestrians than the current setup.

The existing intersection(s) is very efficient... its just too bad the westbound direction isn't 10m further away from the river, and it could probably use a westbound right-turn lane that runs at a separate signal from the pathway crossing.

What if riverside 'thru' traffic were in a short tunnel? The south side of Bank at the south intersection is already a monster and could probably squeeze the extra lanes. We're talking road diet here anyways, so perhaps an advance left hand turn, or something like Bank and Gladstone (inside lane is left hand turn). The volume of traffic able to flow into Sunnyside is reduced anyways, so there's not much point in the giant Bank Street behemoth here. I know this is always a pinch point during rush hour, but maybe soon the Nicholas extension will be on the table. The benefit of the left hand turn lane, is that only a single lane would extend onto the bridge, thus creating new segregated bike lanes!

[Multi-modal]

Originally Posted by AndyMEng

What if riverside 'thru' traffic were in a short tunnel? The south side of Bank at the south intersection is already a monster and could probably squeeze the extra lanes. We're talking road diet here anyways, so perhaps an advance left hand turn, or something like Bank and Gladstone (inside lane is left hand turn). The volume of traffic able to flow into Sunnyside is reduced anyways, so there's not much point in the giant Bank Street behemoth here. I know this is always a pinch point during rush hour, but maybe soon the Nicholas extension will be on the table. The benefit of the left hand turn lane, is that only a single lane would extend onto the bridge, thus creating new segregated bike lanes!

A signalized roundabout is always the answer

In all seriousness, Bank through old Ottawa South works by restricting parking to make the road have 2 lanes northbound during the AM rush, and 2 lanes southbound during the PM rush. It would be difficult to make the bridge 3 lanes without a reversible lane to mimic the way Bank works north of the River.... and a reversible lane would be difficult to implement here.

You can say "road diet", but you can only have so many road diets before something gives...

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

Give it time.

There's no shortage of time. There is a shortage of developers who are willing to build more urban-ly, and rather lukewarm committments on the part of the city to its own supposed planning philosophies.

We won't get more main-streetage until attitudes, policies, and practices change. In the mean time, that abundance of time has generally just delivered more suburban-style crap, even in what could have been good urban locations.

But yes, this one is a step in the right direction.