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Phillip and Columbia project the first to use Northdale guidelines
March 15, 2013 | Paige Desmond | The Record |LINK

WATERLOO — A massive development project at Phillip and Columbia streets is a sign of the future in Northdale, being the first designed to standards approved specifically for the neighbourhood.

The standards emphasize better urban design and high density.

“This is an example of what a Northdale higher-density project could be,” said city development planner Trevor Hawkins. “It’s a great project.”

Four apartment buildings ranging between six and 25 storeys high will be built at 300-330 Phillip St. and 145 Columbia St. at the former Ontario Seed property.

They will be built on podiums — a component of the Northdale guidelines. Those podiums are intended to provide a more interactive streetscape by having mixed-use development such as restaurants or cafés at street level, with apartments above.

The towers are built slightly further back from the street to reduce shadows and get away from a boring, imposing brick-wall streetscape.

Ward Coun. Jeff Henry is pleased with the plan.

“We’re looking for more projects to come forward and looking for others to raise the bar,” he said.

The city’s Northdale land use and community improvement plan is currently being appealed at a provincial planning board, meaning its requirements aren’t in effect.

The original project proposed two apartment buildings 21 and 22 storeys high. But city officials sold the developer on the guidelines.

“We worked with the applicant and convinced them that the Northdale design was really the future,” Hawkins said. “It was kind of a collaborative effort.”

About 60 per cent of the development’s 439 parking spaces will be underground and buildings will front on both Phillip and Columbia to keep things lively.

There will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments for a total of 1,420 bedrooms in the four buildings.

It’s a move away from the five-bedroom apartments geared to students that politicians want to steer away from in Northdale — a neighbourhood known as Waterloo’s student ghetto.

“It opens up the possibility of a diverse range of clients,” Henry said.

Hawkins said the apartments will be geared to a varied demographic including students and professionals.

The city is permitting increased density in exchange for community benefits including $250,000 for public art, LEED silver design and enhanced streetscaping on Phillip.

The 1.5-hectare site will have on-site bike storage and two of the buildings have rooftop amenity space for residents.

Aside from being the first built to Northdale guidelines, the project is also one of the closest in Northdale to a proposed rapid transit station and the University of Waterloo northwest rapid transit station.

Ontario Seed owns the Phillip Street properties, D.R. Snider Ltd. owns the Columbia Street land and Rise Real Estate is the project applicant.