‘It keeps people up at night’: Echo Drive development threatens homes, trees and canal-side character

For 10 years, Faizal Forrester has written from his apartment overlooking Echo Drive, surrounded by the quiet that first drew him to the small building near the Rideau Canal.

He moved in while beginning a PhD at Carleton University, accompanied by an aging dog and suddenly in need of a home of his own. The apartment became a sanctuary. It was where he completed his last book, met his life partner, and began another writing project rooted partly in his childhood memories of Ottawa.

“This was a refuge for me,” said Forrester, a local writer and poet. “I moved into affordable housing—that’s how I thought about it. I met people from all walks of life, intergenerational, diverse. All the things that we want in the country are here, right on this street.”

Now, Forrester and the other tenants at 441–443 Echo Dr. are living with the reality that their refuge could be demolished. The property manager, JB Holdings, has applied to replace the existing four-storey,  16-unit apartment building with a substantially larger development overlooking the canal, just north of the Flora Footbridge. Planning documents describe a six-storey building reaching 19.5 metres, with an enclosed amenity space above that residents say would make it appear seven storeys tall.

The proposal would contain 52 apartments—a net increase of 36 units—and a three-level underground garage with space for 54 vehicles. The planned unit mix includes one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, while four ground-oriented units would face Echo Drive. 

The proposal has ignited opposition among tenants and nearby homeowners who say the project would displace long-term renters, remove mature trees, strain aging infrastructure and introduce a building whose height and massing are explicitly restricted by current planning rules.