Elgin Street office tower slated for housing conversion

Plans to convert an Elgin Street office building to housing could add 170 residential units or more to Ottawa's downtown.

Real estate brokers Colliers International and CBRE both mentioned the conversion of 200 Elgin St., known as the Elgar Building, in their latest office market reports.

Warren Wilkinson, senior managing director at Colliers International, said the property owner has already given notice to the tenants. As he understands it, District Realty plans to begin converting the 11-storey building "almost immediately."

Colliers statistics suggest that the 143,000-square-foot building was about 12 per cent vacant, according to Wilkinson. A directory of tenants in the lobby shows that it's largely occupied by law offices.

He said the building's layout seems well suited to housing, since there isn't much distance between the central hallway and the windows.

Based on comparisons with similar projects, Wilkinson figures that it would be possible to fit about 170 to 177 apartments of about 800 square feet each into the space.

Mary Huang, president of the Centretown Community Association, said more housing will further energize an already vibrant stretch of Elgin Street.

"It's a great place to have housing," she said. "People can walk out the door, go to restaurants, shop, go to a performance."

District Realty did not respond to a request for comment.

The plan follows news of other major office conversion projects including Katasa Group's plans for a tower at 130 Slater St. and CLV's project at 360 Laurier Ave. W.

Katasa Group is planning to convert this office building at 130 Slater St. to residential. (Arthur White-Crummey/CBC)

All told, Wilkinson estimates the planned conversions could add more than 500 housing units to the downtown core.

"I believe we're going to see a lot more of it, and Ottawa does have a decent inventory for these types of conversions," he said.

There was previously an office-to-residential conversion at 169 Lisgar St., a building of similar appearance that's connected to 200 Elgin. A sign on the front now advertises "luxury apartments" for rent there.

Huang said it will take public investment to ensure that office conversions produce affordable housing, not just luxury apartments.

"I welcome them, but I would especially welcome some kind of incentive program," she said.