Ottawa Airport hotel gets the go-ahead

Good morning!

I hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving weekend! It was nice to spend some time resting and watching one of the many Hallmark movies filmed in Ottawa. It’s always a cool experience seeing places you’ve been to on the big screen. I’ve had the chance to work as a background actor in two movies filmed in Ottawa. I am anxiously awaiting for them to be released!

I received many more emails from Lookout readers who are concerned about the Ottawa Carleton District School Board’s decrease in enrollment. This is a story we will be following closely.

In this newsletter we have the details on a new hotel that is being built by the Ottawa Airport. We also break down the new Lansdowne 2.0 plan which is drawing some controversy.

Enjoy reading!

— Charlie Senack, [email protected]

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WEATHER

Wednesday: 13 🌡️ 6 | 🌧️

Thursday: 12 🌡️ 5 | ⛅️

Friday: 14 🌡️ 7 | ⛅️

CITY HALL

Ottawa Airport hotel moving forward

The issue: A hotel proposed to be built by the Ottawa airport is going ahead, according to the Ottawa Business Journal. The project received lots of controversy earlier this year when the developers were looking for a municipal tax break worth as much as $13 million.

The $55-million project will take about 18 to 20 months to complete. Once finished, it will be attached to the Ottawa Airport terminal and will have 178 rooms.

• “We see it as an important element of supporting our vision of becoming a hub airport,” Ottawa International Airport Authority president and CEO Mark Laroche told the OBJ. “People are asking for a hotel that is directly connected to the terminal. We identified this as a priority many years ago, and it’s nice to see ground breaking soon on this.”

Revised plans: The original proposal called for eight storeys with 180 rooms. The revised plan is seven storeys. Meeting areas and infrastructure have been moved around to better accommodate space in the new plans.

According to the Ottawa Citizen, the hotel will employ about 40 people, and will also include a restaurant and gym.

Controversy: When the plan first went before council, the company applied for a community improvement grant of $13 million, but it was shot down. Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said he did not support private tax breaks for businesses, according to CTV. He said he is happy to see Group Germain move forward with the project.

• “I think it will be great for the airport, great for visitors to Ottawa and great for the economy.… I’m glad that the airport and the Germain group were able to work out a good plan that is feasible for them,” Sutcliffe told the OBJ.

KEY NUMBERS

🔥 5: The number of charges laid after five suspicious fires in Carleton Place. [CTV]

🦃 16,000: This many Thanksgiving meals were served up at the Ottawa Mission this year. [CTV]

👮‍♂️ 2: Impaired and dangerous driving charges were laid after two people died in a single-vehicle collision in Gatineau. [CBC]

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OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN

🖼️ After 15 years, Wall Space Gallery has left Westboro and has opened up shop in Old Ottawa South. The new location offers more space and a chance to grow. [Kitchissippi Times]

🥗 A new grocery store is coming to Hull next spring. Saveurs, an independent grocer, is set to open in May 2024 on the ground floor of a condominium building at the corner of Wellington and Eddy. Hull hasn’t had a supermarket since 1999. [CBC]

🏡 There were long lines in Barrhaven on Wednesday as people flocked to a developer’s sales centre for a chance to own a condo. The average price of a single-family home in Ottawa is currently about $800,000. The new Minto development in the suburb features units starting in the high $300,000 range. The median condo price is $402,000. [CTV]

👮‍♂️ The Ottawa Police Service has selected the company that will build the new police station in Barrhaven. It will replace the Greenbank and Leitrim police stations. The 218,000 square foot facility will include a new 911 communications centre. [Barrhaven Independent]

CITY HALL

Price tag for Lansdowne 2.0 increases as plans scale back

The issue: The city alongside Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group have made changes to their controversial Lansdowne 2.0 proposal, and while some features have been dropped, the price keeps climbing.

Now with the price tag is $419 million, that’s $86 million more than what was originally proposed, according to CBC. Only two high rises are part of the plan down from three, and the green roof for the stadium has been axed. Less retail would be built and the north stands would no longer be covered.

By the numbers: Derrick Simpson, Transportation chair of the Centretown community association, broke some of the numbers down over Twitter.

• Two highrises would be 40 and 25 storeys. Up to 770 residential units would be built instead of the original 1,200;

• It will cost the city $16.4 million per year to pay the debt for 40 years. Payment would begin around 2030, meaning it wouldn't be paid off until 2070;

• The report recommends the city ask higher levels of government for $20-50 million to help pay for the project;

• It would include 140 new parking spaces for $18.6 million. That’s $132,857.14 per space;

• The new arena would seat 5,500 people.

Addressing concerns: Mayor Mark Sutcliffe said the new plan has taken into account concerns from area residents, according to CTV.

• “I promised to listen to the community and there were a lot of concerns about that third tower, how much density it was creating, how tall it was, how much it was distracting from the Aberdeen Pavilion, so we took that out," Sutcliffe said.

Disrepair: Sutcliffe also said the revitalization of Lansdowne was needed now given the condition of the parks’s older structures, according to CBC. The current arena has mould, leaks and accessibility issues making it unsuitable to host world-class events. Waiting would mean the price tag would rise by $400 million or more, he said.

HOUSE OF THE WEEK

With the median price of a condo running at $402,000 in the city, and scores of people lining up in Barrhaven for the chance to buy one in that suburb, we thought we’d bring you a condo for as close as we could find to the median price as we could.

This downtown condo unit features one-bedroom and two (full!) bathrooms, putting you in the heart of the city. If the downtown lifestyle is your thing, this might be the home for you.

See what amenities it has at the listing.

House of The Week is a home selected by the Lookout team and is not a paid advertisement. All ads are labelled as such. If you’re a realtor who wishes to feature your home in our newsletter, please contact our sales team.

THE AGENDA

🚎 OC Transpo general manager Renée Amilcar said the agency will need to make tough decisions due to decreased ridership and a large budget shortfall. This could mean cuts to service, increased fares, and changes to routes. At the same time, Phase 2 of the Trillium line will be delayed until at least April 2024. [Kitchissippi Times]

🇮🇱 The Jewish Federation of Ottawa held a soldiarity “gathering Monday night, grieving the lives lost, and praying for the people who are missing and injured just days after news of Hamas attacks in Israel. Ottawa police said it would increase patrols around synagogues and mosques in the city. [CTV/Ottawa Citizen]

🍃 The RCMP are investigating the ongoing scandal involving the provincial government’s decision to open the GTA Greenbelt for development. The housing minister and his chief of staff have already resigned and the government returned the lands to protected status after public backlash to the move. [CTV]

📻 The CBC will no longer play the National Research Council time signal at 1 pm on its radio stations. The long dash following 10 seconds of silence marking exactly one o’clock pm Eastern Standard Time played for the last time Monday. [CBC]

👮‍♂️ The Ottawa Police Service guns and gangs unit is investigating after another shooting in the Hunt Club Park area. A 30-year-old man was taken to hospital with a gunshot wound. His injuries are non-life-threatening. [CityNews]

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COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

 Residents of Ottawa at greatest risk of health complications will be able to get flu and COVID-19 vaccines starting Wednesday. [CTV]

• A great new mural has gone up at the Ottawa Community Housing headquarters. [Instagram]

• Tagwàgi (Autumn) Festival is this weekend. Reconnect with the land while learning about Indigenous traditions through authentic programming, interactive workshops and the rare Ojibwe Spirit Horses.*

• Some lucky customers at the Petro-Canada at Bronson and Somerset got premium gas for the price of regular when the station ran out of the lower-grade fuel. [Reddit]

• For the first time in more than a century, Ottawa’s maximum temperature stayed above 15 C for 143 days, the fourth longest-streak ever. [Ottawa Weather Records]

• Want to have your announcement featured? Contact our partnership team for more info.

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CAPITAL EATS

Kathy Cassanto butter tarts review

No one makes a better butter tart than the bakery at Niagaras, 13th Street Winery. If there is a nicer butter tart, I’ve yet to encounter it.

Then on a recent visit to the Carp Farmer’s Market, I found the butter tarts made by Kathy Cassanto and was taken by their appearance. They just seemed right. The pastry appeared well made and not thick as too many others meant to “look” artisanal, often are.

Actual butter aromas rose as I opened the package and once eating it, I understood that this may not be a 13th Street butter tart, but it was the closest I’ve come. At $10 for six, this is a runaway bargain and Kathy’s tarts deserve a larger audience. Not because I want her to be inundated but because we’ve all been duped too many times by seriously bad versions.

SPORTS

🏒 The Canadian Museum of History has scored a massive collection of sports artefacts and a handful of memorabilia is now on display for the next year. More than 100,000 items from Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary were acquired. [CBC]

🥅 The Ottawa Senators are gearing up for what they hope will be a successful season with a new owner. Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk said he’s reading for the “big games.” [Ottawa Sun]

🏒 The Cornwall Colts had a trail of wins through the Central Canada Hockey League’s Jr. A Fall Showcase held in Ottawa. It put the Colts at the top of the Yzerman Division and second in the league behind the Smiths Falls Bears just 10 games into the 2023-24 season. [Ottawa Citizen]

🏳️‍🌈 The NHL announced it would ban the use of rainbow Pride Tape on hockey sticks sometimes used in warmups, adding more prohibitions after already banning Pride themed nights at the arena.. [CBC]

OTTAWA GUESSER

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