Ontario Construction News staff writer
Ottawa’s former downtown Greyhound bus terminal will be turned into a intensified multi-use space including rental condos, office space hotel buildings, retaurants and retail stores, according to its prospective new owner – a local developer better known for condos and housing projects.
Municipal zoning currently permits a 27-storey structure on the site, currently occupied by a squat single-storey building with several bus loading gates.
Real estate developer Brigil said on Feb. 15 that it would be purchasing the one-acre Ottawa Central Station on Catherine Street.
The site is “a prime location for a prestigious project promoting urban densification,” the company said in a news release.
The long-established bus station went into dis-use as COVID-19 resulted in the suspension of inter-city bus services last May. Greyhound had operated from the station since 1994, but it had been used for that purpose even earlier.
Tbe Crerar Group of Companies, a commercial real estate business, currently owns the site. Brigil said in its statement that its offer to purchase was accepted in December with conditions, and the final sale will close on March 1.
“I am delighted that the Brigil team is the one that gets to conceptualize this new project, committed as we are to building comprehensive living environments where residents can thrive, said Brigil president and founder Gilles Desjardins in the press release.
Brigil said it has invited architectural firms from Ottawa, Toronto and Montreal to participate in a design competition. It plans to submit project plans to the City of Ottawa in the spring and to begin construction in 2023.
Brigil has constructed about 12,000 housing units in eastern Ontario and western since it was established in 1985. The company says it expects to build 33,000 more over the next 15 years.
CBC News says Greyhound has not announced a new Ottawa terminal location to replace the Catherine Street site.