Andaz Hotel looks to build 17-storey addition next to ByWard Market hotel

An artist rendering shows the proposed 17-storey addition to the Andaz Hotel on York Street, including a three-storey podium base. (Claridge Homes, Bray Heritage/report)

The proposed expansion of the Andaz Hotel in Ottawa’s ByWard Market will now be 17 storeys, instead of the original 16-storey plan.

A report for the Built Heritage Committee meeting on Feb. 10 outlines a plan by Claridge Homes to build a 17-storey addition to the Andaz Hotel on York Street, next to the current hotel at Dalhousie Street and York Street. Claridge Homes is seeking approval for changes to the original plan under the Ontario Heritage Act.

“The proposal results in the removal of a vacant lot in the ByWard Market Heritage Conservation District and building design that will make a positive contribution to the York Streetscape,” staff said.

“This addition will facilitate the construction of new hotel accommodations, which, in turn, will help support the economic development and tourism goals in the ByWard Market.”

According to Claridge Homes, the proposed hotel expansion would consist of a three-storey podium base, followed by a 14-storey hotel tower setback nine metres from the York Street property line. The three-storey base would include the hotel entrance and lobby, a restaurant, ballroom and assembly rooms.

The report says there would be four levels of underground parking shared with a new 22-storey residential building on George Street.

Council previously approved a 16-storey addition to the hotel in 2023, but staff say the applicant’s acquisition of an adjacent vacant lot allows for an additional storey to be added to the new hotel.

The addition would replace a surface parking lot at 116 York Street and a former two-storey red-brick building constructed circa 1950 by the Union Saint-Joseph du Canada organization.

“The footprint of the new addition will cover the entirety of the resulting combined lots and will abut the adjacent hotel via a three-storey section clad in grey-coloured spandrel glass and translucent glazing; this section will be slightly set in from the existing hotel and the redbrick volume and will serve as the entrance to the lobby of the new section of the hotel,” staff said.

The Built Heritage Committee is being asked to approve the application to expand the hotel by altering the property at 110-116 York Street. Staff recommend approving the application, but impose the following conditions:

• Revising the colour of the brick for the tower to be more compatible with the ByWard Market Heritage Conservation District
• Providing samples of exterior cladding materials, including the proposed decorative ventilation screen at the northwest entrance for heritage staff’s approval, prior to the issuance of a building permit
• Ensuring that the proposed fixtures will be oriented to minimize light pollution as far as possible

The applicant is seeking approval under the Ontario Heritage Act to build the new addition to the hotel.

The Lowertown Community Association is raising some concerns about the plan, saying the “design of the podium façade is uninspired, generally flat and lacking the architectural detail found elsewhere” in the ByWard Market area.

“The design is not conducive to the kind of active, pedestrian-oriented environment which characterize the ByWard Market HCD elsewhere,” the community association.

It also said it was “not thrilled” with the dark brick applied to the façade,

The Andaz Hotel Ottawa, operated by Hyatt, opened in 2016 and is currently 17 storeys.

The Heritage Committee approved the heritage permits last week. The Planning and Housing Committee will vote on the plan on Feb. 18.

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