Two ‘landmark’ towers could soon dot the skyline in Ottawa’s’ Centretown neighbourhood, as part of a plan to build 513 new residential units. Members of the planning and housing committee and built heritage committee approved applications this week to build “Landmark Buildings” at 267 O’Connor Street, between Gilmour Street and MacLaren Street. The site is currently occupied by a six-storey office building and a surface parking lot. The proposal by Taggart Realty calls for two high-rise apartment buildings on the lot: a 27-storey northern tower with 273 units and a 25-storey southern tower with 240 units, along with a four-level underground parking garage with 319 spaces, 517 bicycle parking spaces and 4,000 sq. ft. of commercial and retail space along O’Connor Street at street level. “Both buildings feature a four-storey podium clad with red brick and a mix of glass and aluminum panels on the upper floors,” staff said in the report for the built heritage committee. “The towers maintain a 20.0 metre separation to provide for natural light and to minimize shadow impact on the surrounding neighbourhood.” While the Central and East Downtown Core Secondary Plan allows for a height maximum of nine-storey buildings, so-called “Landmark Building” policies allow for council to approve taller buildings. According to staff, the proposal includes a privately owned public space, accounting for 40 per cent of the area, which would front O’Connor Street and go through the middle of the two towers. The built heritage committee voted Tuesday to approve the application for the plans, along with a heritage permit that will have several conditions. The property is designated under the Ontario Heritage Act as part of the Centretown Heritage Conservation District. Councillors on the planning committee voted Wednesday to approve the project, including an amendment to the Central and East Downtown Core Secondary Plan to permit the proposed Landmark Buildings. “The proposed development generally aligns with the policies of the Official Plan and the Central and East Downtown Core Secondary Plan,” staff said. “The development supports housing and intensification objectives, the evolution of 15-minute neighbourhoods, respects the surrounding heritage and community character, and permits appropriate small-scale, non-residential uses.” The project will be constructed in phases, with the north tower and a portion of the parking garage built first. The Centretown Community Association has called on the city to reject the proposal, raising concerns about the height of the building and the open space. A letter sent from President Rob Dekker says the proposal is “not a landmark building.” “The proposed towers are boxes on end. They are ordinary, pedestrian. The design, boxes on end, is what one sees in virtually every other tall building in Ottawa,” Dekker said in a letter sent on Jan. 16, 2026. “The Landmarks Buildings Policy is described in the Central and East Downtown Core Secondary Plan. In that plan, there are words describing what constitutes a Landmark Building: ‘special,’ and ‘different.’ The proposed design is the usual boxes on end; it is not different, not special. This is nothing ‘iconic’ about this design.”
