As the City of Ottawa completes Phase II of its LRT network in Westboro and other neighbourhoods, local developer Colonnade BridgePort has just broken ground on a new transit-oriented, $119-million rental housing development.

“We’re building highrise market housing, amenity-rich buildings that are a driver for a lack of housing in that community. What we fundamentally believe is enhancing that community and supporting the public infrastructure of the LRT that’s going in,” said Hugh Gorman, chief executive officer with Colonnade BridgePort, in an interview with RENX.

Known as RYSE, the 22-storey, 242-unit tower is scheduled for move-ins to begin in the summer of 2027. It sits abut 100 metres from Westboro Station along the city's east-west LRT line, which is in the final stages of construction.

RYSE is part of the firm’s $2-billion development fund, and is backed financially by the CBP Real Estate Fund and Claridge Real Estate Investments, the real estate investment arm of Montreal’s Stephen Bronfman family. Morley Hoppner will be the construction partner.

It represents the fourth such development in the area for Colonnade BridgePort since 2014, according to Gorman. 

“We built the first project of over 100 units in 30 years when we did the project back in 2014. We just felt there was a real lack of that style and quality of housing and in a series of projects that we’ve done along Scott (Street) - we’ve got more to come in the future - but we’re fundamental believers both in TOD (transit-oriented development) and then the need to support the infrastructure that’s being put in the LRT.”

These projects are “a continuation of a long-term development plan in that corridor,” he said.

New retail in the Westboro neighbourhood

In addition to more housing, which is in short supply, the company also brought in businesses such as a Farm Boy grocery store and Alterna Bank as retail anchors in the adjacent Westboro Connection development. That property, along Scott Street and McRae Avenue, spans over 424,000 square feet and includes a 25-storey rental tower and two midrise, mixed-use multifamily buildings.

“Those type of retail amenities that are really services and create the 15-minute neighbourhood, it requires population density to support the retailers,” Gorman said. “It benefits other residents by having some critical mass that more retailers can come and provide support services from dentists to doctors to pharmacies to things like that.”

RYSE is being constructed beside the Westboro Connection tower along Scott Street.

It will offer studio, one-, two- and three-bedroom units from $1,500 per month up to “around $4,000 a month,” for the largest units, he said. Studios will start at just below 400 square feet and apartments range up to 1,400 square feet for the three-bedroom options. 

Amenities will be a “traditional party room (and) outdoor terrace space; balconies, bicycle storage, bike repair, pet-care areas, the ability for storage in the building, parking - so that tenants, everything they need to live is in the building,” he said.

The company is also busy at work on some other nearby purpose-built rental projects, including an estimated 800-apartment property on the Granite Curling Club site, which is further west along Scott Street.

Colonnade BridgePort is also developing a 1,200-unit site at Blair Road and Hwy. 174 in east Ottawa, and “one with Fiera Capital, our partner at the Ottawa train station that’s called Junction at Pickering,” Gorman said.

Ottawa's rental sector remains under-supplied

The rental market represents an excellent opportunity for builders, he believes. 

“A lot of Ontario was under-built in terms of purpose-built rental. In other markets, GTA (Greater Toronto Area) specifically, there were lots of condos that were being sold to investors that would end up in the rental market but in Ottawa, that market doesn’t really exist," Gorman said. "It wasn’t a material supply-side for rental and so Ottawa has had very little new rental up until about 2018, when it really started with a fury.”

However, despite that development burst the city remains undersupplied. 

“The Ottawa region is outpacing most CMAs (census metropolitan areas) across the country in terms of population growth and it was basically being stifled by the lack of accommodation for people.”

It’s estimated upwards of 10,000 units per year need to be built to catch up, but “we’re building between 2,500 and 4,000 and so that supply-constrained market is continuing to exacerbate," he said, noting that can drive dramatic rent growth. However, "rents can only go so high," or people can't afford to live in the buildings.

“We launched in 2014 we were pro forma trying to get $1.83 a foot and we blew past that, but there comes a point in time where there’s a ceiling on what they can afford monthly. Landlords are increasing rent because the vacancy rate is historically low, and has been low for a long time and so we believe there’s lots of room for supply-side growth without negatively impacting rental rates and market rents or vacancy,” Gorman said.

For Gorman, Westboro is an ideal place that is part of a “diverse population” with various housing options. 

“It’s not monolithic. It’s a real mix of residents, from students to people that are empty nesting and don’t want to be in their 3,000-square-foot home with a big backyard to take care of," he said. "We’ve got new Canadian families moving into some of the larger units. We’re seeing a lot of foreign student activity as an example and so it’s a real mix of culture, it’s a real mix of demographics, and it’s a real boost to the economic resiliency of the community.” 

“That’s what we’re most proud of.”