Condos seem obvious. It's a huge property, on a trendy main street with a recently renovated streetscape, but several factors could make the property less attractive to developers.
HERITAGE DESIGNATION
The Bethany Hope Centre building may be eligible for heritage designation. A report on the potential heritage status of the centre will likely go before the Ottawa Built Heritage Advisory Committee as early as February and could move on to Planning Committee and City Council by March or April. A heritage designation, if it comes, could limit the kinds of changes a potential developer could make to the building and/or the property. Good news if you like heritage. Bummer if you want to develop.
HEIGHT LIMIT
There is also a limit on the height of any potential building on the site to a maximum of 6 storeys or 20 meters. The Salvation Army has filed an appeal with the Ontario Municipal Board with a prehearing currently scheduled for late January. Prior to the adoption of Wellington West Community Design Plan there had been no height restriction on the property. The Salvation Army wants that height limit overturned.
SOIL CONTAMINATION AND EASEMENT
Soil contamination is also a potential issue. Hintonburg historian Linda Hoad has, apparently, found that an adjoining property at the corner of Rosemont and Welington Ave West had been a gas station beginning in the 1930s. Hoad had also discovered a storm sewer easement at the rear of the property. Although it's not clear whether that sewer, which dates back to 1910, is still used by the city.
Taken together, it makes you wonder if the price ($3-million to $4-million) that the hub partners were being asked to pay wasn’t a little high.
Jay Baltz has wrote about the importance of the building and surrounds (as well as some of these issues) for Spacing Ottawa in the spring. It still makes interesting reading.
Unfortunately, the next step for Bethany Hope probably won’t get the same kind of attention if the Hub really has moved on.
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