News

New construction heralds downtown rejuvenation
By Jim Donnelly

An increase in new buildings with a decidedly corporate look and style has helped freshen up the downtown streetscape.

The sparkling new Telus corporate building under construction at Bank and Slater, along with a handful of other projects, are clear signs of a rejuvenating downtown core, say many local observers.

Jeffrey Dale, president and CEO of the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation (OCRI), said he feels the most refreshing aspect of Telus’ new building is that it’s not a federal government building — it’s corporate office space, similar to what you’d find in larger cities like Toronto and branded with style.

It’s something that’s largely been absent from Ottawa’s core until recently.

“We’re now getting a corporate look and feel to our downtown rather than in the past, where it’s just been government-type buildings,” he said, naming the Adobe Tower and Preston Block at Carling Avenue as another example.

Both developers and architects alike have long-complained of sterile design and plain buildings within Ottawa’s core. According to Dale, that’s changing. He said buildings like these are indicative of thriving economic times in Ottawa’s central business district.

“These are now branded buildings with major, corporate Canadian brand names on them, which is very positive for Ottawa.”

Indeed, even as Colliers International’s fourth quarter commercial building report of 2006 says Ottawa’s downtown commercial office vacancy rate edged up to 4.1 per cent (from 3.6 per cent in Q3), the report says availability won’t be loosening anytime soon with steady federal and corporate demand for new office space downtown.

Locating the building in Ottawa’s core rather than in the tech-heavy west end was a no-brainer for a service-oriented company, says Telus executive VP of corporate affairs, Janet Yale.

“We really wanted to put down roots in the Ottawa community with a state-of-the-art building in the middle of downtown Ottawa,” she said. “(And) since the government is one of our largest customers, we wanted to be able to bring our customers to a state of the art facility and be able to showcase our technology to them.”

Acccording to Montréal’s Broccolini Construction, the structure’s designers and builders, the project is on schedule to finish construction by this July.

“The base building is done and we’re almost finished closing up the building,” says Broccolini business development manager Derek Howe. “The roof is on, the windows are on, and the exterior wall finishes are complete. So we’re now starting all of our interior work.”

The Telus Building, along with Morguard’s 131 Queen, Oxford’s Constitution Square Phase III, Brookfield’s Place de Ville Phase III and Minto’s 180 Kent form the backbone of Ottawa’s ongoing downtown office building construction.

They’re all expected to enter the market this year, though most are pre-leased and aren’t expected to wildly swing vacancy rates.

The new “green” building will consolidate 300 Ottawa-area Telus employees currently spread out through the city, and will feature approx. 105,000 square feet of office space in an eight-storey tower with two floors of underground parking, a fitness centre, conference facilities and outside terraces.

It’s also LEED (Leadership in Engineering and Environmental Design) silver certified, meaning it uses natural light, heating and cooling techniques to reduce its environmental footprint during both construction and operation.

The ground floor will also feature a limited amount of retail space fronting both Bank and Slater streets.

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