Timbercreek unveils 'blueprint' for Heron Gate, adding 5 million square feet
Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: July 10, 2019
The developer of Ottawa’s Heron Gate has plans that could quadruple the neighbourhood’s population, adding five million square feet in 55 new buildings to the property, including townhouses, 16 low- and medium-rise buildings and a central highrise that could soar 40 storeys.
The proposal from Timbercreek envisions a 20- to 25-year plan for its 20-hectare property near the intersection of Walkley and Heron Roads, where it controversially evicted residents and demolished more than 230 aging townhouse in what critics labelled a “hyper-gentrification.”
Timbercreek’s vice-president of real estate investment management, Paul Popovici, cautioned the proposal, which was submitted to the city in April, is still in the very early stages.
“This is a blueprint for the next 25 years-plus over how this community is going to develop,” Popovici said in a phone interview from Toronto.
“We’re really excited about it. It’s a way of seeing a long-term vision for the community. We are long-term community builders. We’re not developers who buy today and sell tomorrow.”
In total, the complex would have 5,600 units, a mix of rental and condos, some with up to four bedrooms. It’s a lot of people to put in an area that will still be more than 1.5 kilometres away from Walkley Station on the city’s planned Trillium South LRT line. But Popovici says he’s not worried.
“In terms of the transit that’s there now, it’s certainly sufficient to cover what’s going to come in the next three, five or 10 years,” he said. “And as transit expands, so will this community.”
Alta Vista ward Coun. Jean Cloutier has his own concerns about the development, including the density, the height of the towers and the “social contract” to provide affordable housing and the park space and recreational facilities that will make it “a vibrant, safe and inviting place for all the residents to live.”
Timbercreek has assured that up to 20 per cent of the units will be considered “affordable housing,” he said.
“We are still very early in the process,” Cloutier said. “This will not be coming to committee or council until spring of 2020.”
At least seven community meetings have been held on the development since 2017 and Cloutier says he’s committed to holding more in the fall. Timbercreek has been very responsive to input, he said, but Cloutier does have some concerns about the proposal, including the height of the towers.
“It is for a lot an awful lot of density on that triangular piece of property,” he said. “For those people who attended these meetings, it’s not a huge surprise. But let me just state, 40 (storeys) is pretty high for that area.
“We have some work to do.”
Popovici stressed that the high tower is still just a concept and a long way from getting city approval.
“Don’t get hung up on the 40-storey number. We’re still very early in the process,” he said.
“But one of the benefits of height is it gives you room on the ground to have the amenities that people enjoy: Like parks, like playgrounds, like paths. That’s one of the benefits of having height instead of the sort of urban sprawl that’s been so unsuccessful in other American cities.”
Heron Gate is the largest housing project to date for Timbercreek, which manages more than 23,000 residential units across Canada. The company has taken steps to soothe its relationships with the community, announcing in February that there would be no more demolitions of occupied units and that anyone displaced will be offered a new home in one of the company’s new builds in the community.
And while the tall, high-density proposal for Heron Gate has worried some critics, who liken it to communities like Toronto’s troubled St. James Town, the comparison isn’t fair, Popovici said.
“St. James was developed 40 or 50 years ago. There’s been a lot of lessons learned from those towers that were surrounded by nothing.,” he said. The biggest difference is that Timbercreek is in for the long haul, he said.
“It’s in our own interest to make sure that the community thrives and that its healthy and vibrant because we want to be here 30 years from now.”
https://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/timbercreek-unveils-blue-print-for-heron-gate
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