[MrOttawa]

While Ottawa's O-Train is headed off the rails for silly reasons, Carleton University said they will build 200,000 sq foot building over the Cartleton station and tracks. The building will contain labs and offices for graduate students.

I guess for the working students from downtown who want to zip in and out.

Maybe a good idea for York.

 

[samsonyuen]

Great news with the densification of the campus
_____________________________________
Carleton to revamp commuter station, build labs, office space in $60M project: Project would be aimed at grads
Pauline Tam
The Ottawa Citizen
596 words
10 March 2006
Ottawa Citizen
Final
F1 / Front
English
Copyright © 2006 Ottawa Citizen
Carleton University is planning its largest capital project in at least a decade with a $60-million facility for its growing number of graduate students and potential new academic programs.

The university is finalizing an agreement with the City of Ottawa that would see a flagship building constructed above an existing O-Train station on campus.

The proposed 200,000-square-foot building would include a renovated station for the planned expansion of the city's light-rail system, which would provide Carleton with a multistorey facility linked at ground level to the O-Train platform. It would also include the construction of a pedestrian bridge over the Rideau River.

Given that an average of 3,200 passengers board the O-Train at Carleton every day and another 3,700 get off at the same stop, university officials hope the mega-project will produce a visually appealing gateway to campus.

"From the city's perspective, what they get out of it is a kind of destination building on their train system, and what we get out of it is a destination building on our campus," said Duncan Watt, Carleton's vice-president of finance and administration.

Because the city owns the rail corridor running through campus, the university must have permission to build above it.

Details of the agreement -- including the cost of leasing air rights for the rail corridor to Carleton -- are not yet complete. However, if an agreement is reached, the university would be responsible for building the new station.

The university is asking the city for up to $1.5 million to build the station and an additional $35 million from the Ontario government to cover construction. Another $25 million would be financed by Carleton through loans and revenue from its operating budget.

The proposed building is expected to be a mixture of laboratories and office space.

The planned expansion is a pressing issue because existing facilities are inadequate as the university attempts to boost graduate enrolment from 2,200 to more than 3,300 students over the next five years.

What's more, having embarked on an unprecedented $240-million campus improvement campaign over the past decade, Carleton is running out of space to expand.

Building above the O-Train station allows the university to make the most of it available land, said Mr. Watt. "This seemed like a wonderful opportunity, from the university's perspective, to create another building site and to create what would be a real landmark building."

No architect will likely be hired until the summer, when an agreement with the city has been finalized and provincial funding has been secured.

The university is also waiting for a 14-member committee, headed by Carleton president David Atkinson, to outline a five-year strategic plan aimed at making the institution more competitive.

The recommendations from that plan could to help the university identify future space needs and provide a blueprint for how the proposed building would be used.

At the moment, half the facility is earmarked for graduate research and the other half for potentially new academic programs.

If the project encounters no hurdles, construction is expected to start next spring.

 

[MrOttawa]

One of the big criticisms of the route and station location is they do not serve alot of people. That is certainly a shorterm RISK. Longterm many of the areas could be developed into high-rise destinations.

I do worry about this project.

 

[Chuck100]

Running out of space? Last September when I was at Carleton, there were acres and acres of land occupied by expansive parking lots. If Carleton seriously thinks it's running out of free land, maybe some of its officials should tour a downtown campus like McGill or U of T. IIRC, there was a large parking lot opposite the O-Train station. One thing I did notice is that out of all the universities I've ever seen, Carleton wins the Regent Park look alike contest hands down.

 

[MrOttawa]

Chuck,

Your comment about Carleton's appearance is insulting and uncalled for. Sorry, as my old school I ment to say Carleton's Architecture is insulting and uncalled for and your observations are right-on.

Carleton is like a little York U. Me hopes that the O-Train will convince the Admin to concentrate building activity around the station. They have parking lots 2Km up on Bronson. I'd hate to see them build that far out.

 

[Chuck100]

Haha, until I read your post a second time I was getting ready to apologize and justify my Regent Park comparison. Guess I don't have to anymore.

 

[samsonyuen]

Can I be proud of my alma mater U of Ottawa? It's in the CBD, so it's much more dense, and with one surface parking lot (that fits less than twenty cars)!

 

[bizorky]

One of the big criticisms of the route and station location is they do not serve alot of people. That is certainly a shorterm RISK. Longterm many of the areas could be developed into high-rise destinations

I believe the city rezoned the city-centre terminal area for high rise office. That sits quite close to the present O-Train line.

An east-west line might be right at Ottawa U (on Stewart Street). It is opposed by the local community association.

 

[samsonyuen]

From: ottsun.canoe.ca/News/Otta...4-sun.html
_________________________________

Sun, March 26, 2006
Whole new train of thought
Universities eye light-rail projects

By LAURA CZEKAJ, OTTAWA SUN

&nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp &nbsp
The city's plans to expand the north-south light-rail transit system could lead to multimillion-dollar capital projects at both local universities.

Discussions with Carleton and the University of Ottawa regarding the role they would play if the proposed expansions are approved are ongoing, said Rejean Chartrand, the city's director of economic development and strategic projects.

City officials are meeting this week to weigh bids from three companies vying for the $725-million project.

Carleton University is considering building a 200,000-sq.-ft. structure that would straddle the train station at an estimated cost of $60 million or more.

Last year, council directed staff to extend the transit plan from the Rideau Centre across Waller St. onto the University of Ottawa campus. The proposed train station site is currently a parking lot south of Stewart St.


"Effectively, we are trying to iron out the business terms and the conditions upon which this could happen," said Chartrand. "Both universities are totally thrilled and very co-operative in trying to make this happen. It's really part of their vision as well, and in fact connecting the two universities together creates a stronger vision for both the city and the universities."

Carleton president David Atkinson said the next stage is to create construction plans for the part of campus that runs parallel to the train tracks.

"The city came to us and asked us whether we would incorporate a train station into any new building that we would construct on campus," he said. "This would allow us basically to build over the tracks so that the O-Train would go right into the building."

The proposed building would provide room for expanded graduate programs and enable the university to pursue funding through a provincial government investment initiative. The university is also asking the city for money to build the station, which is expected to cost more than $1 million.

Claudio Brun del Re, the U of O's assistant director of planning and programming, said there is still a lot of technical and infrastructure issues to be dealt with. The university is also considering whether it would need to build a structure on the site as part of the project.

 

[FutureMayor]

No Funding Yet

From what I understand and from what I've read, the Ottawa LRT is still just a proposal and doesn't have any funding committed to it yet.

It appears that the EA is looking for approval from the province in late 2006 - 2007.

Ottawa would have to wait until after the next provincial election in October 2007 and the budget in 2008 to see if it gets funding for the LRT lines. Now, if John Tory wins the next election, will he fund an Ottawa LRT?

As for these two new university projects, I don't see how building classrooms beside and over stations is going to increase ridership?

Louroz

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

Re: No Funding Yet

FM: I believe the O-Train project has allready secured funding. Right now the biggest set back to the project is local politics in Ottawa and bickering over details of the lines. The last I understood the current O-Train line is going to be mothballed next spring so that work can begin on the North-South line. I believe this will also coinside with the extension of the line from Bayview into the downtown area (the possible alignments and discussion over what the do with bus lanes on Albert and Slater seem to be what is causing much of the delay).

Following Ottawa news is a science unto itself so maybe one of the Ottawa forumers can give a quick overview of where exactly the project stands.

 

[spmarshall]

Re: No Funding Yet

Carleton is like a little York U. Me hopes that the O-Train will convince the Admin to concentrate building activity around the station. They have parking lots 2Km up on Bronson. I'd hate to see them build that far out.

I've been to Carleton. The closest example of a university closer to here is U of Waterloo - suburban, but close enough to other uses, more integrated than York, but maybe a hybrid of UW and Trent (with the more "natural" setting, complete with canal).

And it looks like city staff are screwing up royally with the LRT plans - such as closing the current O-Train for two years when it really isn't necessary. Now that people (especially at Carleton) rely on it, it will be a mess with the busitutions, and I see lost ridership as well.

 

[Antiloop33rpm]

Re: No Funding Yet

And it looks like city staff are screwing up royally with the LRT plans - such as closing the current O-Train for two years when it really isn't necessary.

Except that closing the LRT line when it came time to expand was always part of the plan. Had the plans not become so ambitous and the original expansion plan of taking the line south to the Airport and north to Gatineau been followed, it may have been that the line would allready be closed temporarily and construction begun.

From what I understand the reason for closing down the line are quite understandable. There are safety considerations in regards to working so close to an operating track as workers construct a second track along most of its length. And if the plan to electrify the line is followed through then this is an even more logical reason to simply shut down the line for a period of time.

 

[MrOttawa]

Re: No Funding Yet

I believe the city rezoned the city-centre terminal area for high rise office. That sits quite close to the present O-Train line

That zoning has existing for decades. In the eighties there was a proposal to build 3x25 story office towers. They was modified in the early 90's with a proposal to build a 2x 30ish story towers. When enver the Feds tender for office space they are always therw with a proposal.

There is a small wedge of land that the NCC sold several years ago between City Centre, Scott St and the tracks. The city wanted it for the O-Train but did not bid. The owners last year proposed putting a new city library, office tower and condo(I think) on it.

Across the tracks at Bayview is the old Ottawa snow dump and city works yards. I hope something great goes there.

O-Train has funding Ont $200M, Canada $200M, City $200++. The RFP has been on the street for six months. Three have passed the (M)andatories and the review has progressed on to the (F)inancials. Me hopes it is Bonbardier. They have more experience with winter weather (Minniapolis). Plus their trains look better.

 

[spmarshall]

Re: No Funding Yet

The City Centre is a really interesting building - it built with the intent of being an intermodal freight building. Nearby is the former OCR carbarns.

I really think things are being messed around with there. I also thought the best expansion would have been Hull to Airport, keep it as diesel or electrify it, since planners still are still committed to the Transitway and through bus service through the core (and the congestion of all those green express routes). The O-Train going through downtown really has a lousy eastern terminus - Mackenzie King. It would have been more logical to extend it to U of Ottawa, and then even Hurdman, and reduce the number of buses running through Albert and Slater along with the trains.

It probably could have been feasible to close the O-Train over a summer (May-August), and on weekends March-November of one year to get the construction (double tracking) complete through the current O-Train route, then if necessary close it again the summer after that to install the wiring for electrification if there's not enough time.

The Tunnel under Dow's Lake will remain single track, correct?