Ontario Construction News staff writer
Colonnade BridgePort and the Fiera Real Estate CORE Fund have broken ground on the first phase of Junction Central, a new mixed-use residential community in Ottawa.
The two-tower development at 25 Pickering Pl. is on a 4.9-acre site adjacent to the city’s central VIA Rail station, the Tremblay LRT station, and Highway 417, according to the Real Estate News Exchange (RENX).
The property, formerly home to commercial cleaning product manufacturer Dustbane, was acquired by the developers in April 2020 and required significant remediation before construction could begin.
“We knew it had contamination and needed to be remediated,” Hugh Gorman, chief executive officer of Colonnade BridgePort, told RENX. “It was one of those things where we felt like we had a great piece of land and we were just going to have to work it.”
This project marks the third multi-residential development partnership in Ottawa between Colonnade BridgePort and Toronto-based Fiera Real Estate, following the Westboro Connection and Hintonburg Connection projects. In this venture, Fiera holds a 75 per cent stake in the land and a 70 per cent stake in the two-building Phase I development, with Colonnade BridgePort holding the remainder.
The initial phase of Junction Central comprises two buildings — the 14-storey Linq and the 28-storey Connex — which will deliver a combined 498 rental units ranging from studios to three-bedroom suites. The complex will also include nearly 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
The developers are targeting LEED Silver certification and are equipping the property with functional amenities tailored to a mid-to-high market range. These include a rooftop terrace with a dog run, fitness facilities, co-working spaces, and electric vehicle parking.
Subdivision servicing is currently underway on the site, with initial occupancy anticipated for late 2027 or early 2028.
As for the balance of the 4.9-acre property, the partners are reportedly looking to sell the site’s excess land to operators specializing in hotels or seniors housing, citing strong local demand for those asset classes.
Fiera Real Estate, a subsidiary of Fiera Capital Corporation, is the same institutional partner currently teaming up with TCU Development Corporation on the 21-storey SOUL rental project in Ottawa’s Cyrville neighbourhood.
