Ottawa’s Train Yards under redevelopment

Redevelopment of a 92-acre light industrial site near Ottawa’s Via Rail station has begun, and the first new building — a Wal-Mart store — nears completion.

Development

OTTAWA

Redevelopment of a 92-acre light industrial site near Ottawa’s Via Rail station has begun, and the first new building — a Wal-Mart store — nears completion.

Another retail structure is to be started within a few weeks, with more planned for the future, along with some low- and mid-rise office buildings.

The development is called the Ottawa Train Yards and, said company president Marty Koshman, it will eventually encompass 1.1 million square feet of Class A office space and 550,000 square feet of retail space.

Although the area has been industrial for years, the redevelopment represents a new, multi-use growth node about four kilometres southeast of the downtown core.

The Wal-Mart store is to be turned over at mid-month, and the company is planning an opening sometime in July or August, he said.

“We will be rationalizing the size, shape and layout as we go.”

Marty Koshman – President – Ottawa Train Yards

The building is 133,000 square feet, with enough adjacent space to accommodate a 50,000-foot addition.

Next, Koshman told Daily Commercial News, will be three more retail buildings, with the first to be started within a few weeks. It will be 98,000 feet, and will house several of the “larger new-format stores, each in the range of 15,000 to 25,000 feet.”

There will also be six or eight smaller stores in the 1,000-3,000-foot range along one end of the structure.

He said he could not release the names of the occupants, but “all are retail, and mostly big-box tenants.”

After that will come a 71,000-foot building divided to accommodate tenants needing 3,000 to 8,000 feet. A late summer start is expected.

Another building of 65,000 feet will be started this fall to house both large and small service businesses such as drug stores and other specialty operations.

The site also includes separate spaces that could be developed for restaurants or stand-alone retail operations, including, possibly, a supermarket.

Depending on demand, Koshman said “we will be rationalizing the size, shape and layout as we go and as interest is generated from potential users.”

The site is a long, narrow rectangle, bounded on the north by the rail yards and on the south by Industrial Ave., an arterial running through a large industrial area.

A private road will be built running along the centre of the development. Another street, connecting Industrial Ave. with Belfast Rd., another arterial serving another industrial area, is already under construction.

The site is near an interchange on the Queensway, the city’s east-west expressway, and the Vanier Parkway, a north-south arterial road.

When planning for the Train Yards first began, Koshman said, “we had expected the office component to lead the project.”

But Ottawa’s office market “is in a state of flux right now, so the retail component is leading our project.”

He said he doesn’t expect the office market to become clear “until Public Works and Government Services Canada makes up its mind, or we get clarification of what’s going to happen with Public Works.”

The federal government has not yet provided that clarification — including what move, if any, might be made to provide new quarters for the defence department, which presently occupies a downtown office tower, as well has having other, smaller buildings scattered around the city.

“There are a lot of issues,” Koshman said, “and depending on what they decide to do, there’s going to be a whole lot of moving around going on downtown.”