Every office-to-residential conversion project is unique, but then there are those which truly forge new ground. Such as the conversion of a 10-storey former office tower in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, being undertaken by KRP Properties.

Why is it unique? It’s smack dab in the middle of Canada’s largest tech research and development hub - the Kanata North business park.

While the location (535 Legget Dr.) might seem unusual, when building owner KRP considered options for the property due to the office sector slowdown, it didn’t take long for rental apartments to dominate the conversation.

“The building was constructed around the 2000 mark,” KRP president Terry Young told RENX, “and it had a great run. (It’s) glass-metal curtain wall construction, and the footprint is exactly, if you were to design a residential building, it's the same footprint.”

KRP was founded in 1986 and is owned by Ottawa tech entrepreneur Terry Matthews and his holding company, Wesley Clover International.

The building is part of a multi-tower office complex and is also linked to the four-diamond Brookstreet Hotel, providing an opportunity to offer higher-end amenities - while not having to build them into the repurposed tower. Brookstreet is popular with executives and guests visiting the business park, as well as sports teams and entertainers playing at the nearby Canadian Tire Centre arena (home of the NHL's Ottawa Senators).

The decision for office-to-residential conversion

So KRP studied the potential for the property to host mid- to high-end apartments, looked at cost, and then drafted a plan for approximately 115 apartments, including four multi-level penthouse suites.

Young credits the “brilliant” members of the development team, including Montreal’s NEUF architects and RECL Contracting of Ottawa, with helping bring the concept to fruition: “These are a team that we've actually used throughout the years, very trusted. So we all got together and decided, let's go.”

Interior demolition is well under way.

“The actual construction of it is probably going to be (late) July, August kind of thing,” he said, “and we're hoping about 18 months after we get full go, we'll be fully operational.”

With its location in a tech hub, it’s not surprising KRP is “going to drive a lot of technology in there.” That includes linking residents to the hotel’s service-on-demand platform provided by 1Valet, which is based just across the Ottawa River in Gatineau.

“It's going to be a full-service kind of play, which gives us a little bit of a competitive advantage,” Young explained. “For instance, if you want to have a grilled cheese sandwich, a glass of wine and your laundry done, and your apartment cleaned, I can do all that on Tuesday if you want."

Housing tech workers at the tech park

With the target audience including people who work within the business park and adjacent businesses, there will be a large base of potential residents.

“First of all, we're in Canada's largest tech park, which is amazing. We have, you know, 200-plus tenants. We have 30-plus buildings,” Young said of KRP's portfolio in the hub. In total, about 12,000 people are employed in the park.

“You talk to these guys and then come to find out that these are the leaders, not just in North America and Canada, but in the world. You know that Erickson, for instance, their biggest and largest R & D facility in North America, in the world, is just right here.” 

KRP is also not the only significant real estate owner in the area. Young said there are over 600 companies large and small in the sprawling hub, including world-leading firms such as Erickson and Nokia. Many of those employees are also well paid.

Hence what KRP believes is a formula for success, though the project is a “significant” investment. Young did not want to disclose renovation costs: “It’s a lot” was his reply.

Sustainable construction and components

While KRP isn’t pursuing environmental certifications for the building, it’s being renovated to the equivalent of LEED gold or platinum.

KRP and RECL are reusing and repurposing as many building materials as possible, right down to efforts to rip out ventilation components, store them in the basement and then reinstall when the new system goes in. He said 75 to 80 per cent of material removed during the demolition will be diverted from landfills - including glass which will be recycled as asphalt.

The building will also employ a cutting-edge variable refrigerant flow (VRF) HVAC system, which is now out for tender. 

Young likened it to “a giant set of heat pumps working simultaneously, so it allows for precise temperature control and energy savings in particular networks. You can actually have it per floor. It's a little bit labour intensive . . . to install this stuff, but it regulates the amount of refrigerant flowing between individual zones.”

When it’s completed, the tower will be the only apartment complex in the immediate area, although other developers are building in adjacent neighbourhoods. Young hopes to be able to take the apartments to market about six months prior to completion.

More housing coming to Kanata North

He also hopes to see a critical mass of housing grow in the area, creating a community where tech workers and others can live, work and play. Young said that will help local business attract and retain the best employees.

Developer Main + Main has plans for a multi-tower residential and mixed-use development just a few blocks away which would include approximately 2,000 new housing units, and telecom giant Nokia is redeveloping its nearby office and R & D campus with longer-term plans for up to 11 towers and almost 2,000 more homes. 

“I think when Nokia and Main + Main and ourselves get sorted out here, we're going to have a bit of a Main Street,” he said. “There's going to be room now for the restaurants (and) the bars, a little bit of expansion of retail. 

“You're going to see this evolution, I think, over the next four or five years, of how the community is going to look differently.”