Windmill Proposes Skyscraper, Group Home Development Along Avenue

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Windmill, the company behind the Zibi development near Chaudiere Falls, is proposing to build two skyscrapers along Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway near Lincoln Fields that would include a new home for a senior center for disabled adults.

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In June, the Windmill Development Group submitted its proposal to the city for a 510-unit development at 2475 Regina St., just north of Richmond Road on the west side of the parkway.

The site is currently home to Parkway House, a four-decade-old accessible nonprofit that houses 12 adults with physical disabilities who require 24/7 care. Windmill’s plan calls for Parkway residents to occupy the ground floor of a new seven-story residential building on the west side of the property.

The plan also includes 25- and 19-story towers on the eastern edge, overlooking the avenue. The development would include studio apartments along with one, two and three bedroom units. It will have 261 parking spaces: 249 underground and 12 surface decks.

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A “central communal landscaped area” will be the focus of the development, according to a plan filed with the City of Ottawa last month.

Windmill is seeking a charter amendment to allow high-rise development in what is currently zoned as “parks and open space.”

The two-acre site was originally owned by the Catholic school board, which sold the land to the city. The city, in turn, turned the property over to Parkway in 1981.

Parkway has been trying to reach a deal to sell the property for more than a decade, one that would give them a new building and generate revenue that would keep the nonprofit solvent. Talks with Windmill began in 2010, but failed. They then tried to make a deal with developer Canderel, which also failed. An attempt to resell the land to the city in 2014 was unsuccessful.

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One obstacle is a restrictive covenant that says Parkway House was granted the land “for its sole and exclusive use” so long as it was used for a nonprofit corporation that provides facilities for men and women with physical disabilities.

The Windmill proposal has alarmed residents in the Britannia Heights neighborhood of Lincoln Fields, who say green space needs to be protected, worry about tall towers blocking views of the Ottawa River and nearby Mud Lake, and are worried about traffic congestion in the area. a cul-de-sac with limited access points to Richmond Road.

Windmill, founded in 2003, bills itself as an innovative, green construction company that “set out to disrupt the old order.” In addition to Zibi, its sprawling development on Chaudiere and Albert Islands near LeBreton Flats, Windmill built The Eddy condominium in Hintonburg.

The Windmill Parkway proposal comes before the planning committee on September 15.