$1.5B Mixed Use Redevelopment in Ottawa and Gatineau

 Zibi is a $1.5 billion redevelopment project by Dream Unlimited Corp. and Theia Partners in downtown Ottawa and Gatineau per the Ontario Construction Report. This new mixed-use community along the shores of the Ottawa River will revamp the industrial lands into a mixture of mid-rise residential housing, waterfront plazas, commercial and office spaces, outdoor squares and varied retail space. 

Zibi announced two months ago that construction would start on one of Canada's greatest and most sustainable urban communities. The construction crews have started to demolish one of the downtown's largest industrial buildings. There will be approximately $100 million in infrastructure alone with Zibi providing service for almost 5,000 residents and enough office space and retail space for more than 6,000 people. Demolition is currently going on to start construction on Zibi's first Gatineau condominiums "O" and also the start of construction on Ottawa's first residential project "Kanaal" as well as Zibi Plaza and Head Street Square which will be public spaces. 

Zibi President, Jeff Westeinde, recently announced a new venture: Theia Partners, which has emerged from Windmill Developments. The new development agency will make Zibi its primary focus. 

According to the Real Estate News Exchange, Jeff Westeinde also stated that there will be homes, retail/professionals, entertainment, offices, public spaces and hotels in place on the 37 acre property within a couple of years. He also said, "Phase 1 is much more than just condos. Even in the near term, next spring there will be people living here, people eating here, people shopping here and people working here in Ontario and in Quebec."

The "O" condominiums in Gatineau should be ready for occupancy late this year followed in 2019 by the "Kanaal" residences in Ottawa. Both will be six story buildings which will include a mix of retail, food/dining and commercial space on their lower floors. This will be next to two of the site's three public squares. There will be 141 units all together. 70 in "O" and 71 in "Kanaal". This number is very small compared to the 4,000 people that are projected to eventually live at Zibi and thousands more who will work there. 

The designs were made to be flexible. The building could be commercial or residential as needed. 

"We've modelled this out to be 50 to 60 per cent residential-type use--that means condos, rentals, seniors' homes, hotels, those types of things--with the balance being a mix of commecial office space, retail and institutional." "In Gatineau, when we first started looking at this project, we would've said we need a very heavy residential component because in the downtown core, there was not a lot of high-density residential. Since we started the project, there has been no fewer than eight or nine residential projects going onto the island of Hull."

Zibi President | Jeff Westeinde

Ottawa's downtown office vacancy rate dropped sharply from 10 per cent to 7.4 per cent year over year according to Colliers' Q2 report. When this is combined with major modernizations planned for large government office complexes, then Zibi would definitely be in a well placed position to capitalize.

Learn about all the Mixed-Use projects coming up for bid in Ontario with a Free Trial from DataBid

In the last 18 months, Zibi has also had an enormous amount of interest from private sector users inquiring about hundreds of thousands of square feet. They also hope to become home to two hotels, one in each province because the region is in need of more hotels. 

As far as office space is concerned, Westeinde sees a mix of both public and private sector tenants depending on whether the region hosts both the federal government and a growing high-tech office market. 

"There are some large, blue-chip tenants who are looking for that signature office space and quite frankly, an office tower in the downtown core with no views of the water, no views of our national symbols, it's tough to compete against our site." "We have unparalleled views of Parliament Hill, the Supreme Court, sunset down the river. So, if you think about an office and your boardroom and you are Skype-ing to wherever and you've got the Peace Tower in the background, that is a pretty signature view."

Ziti President | Jeff Westeinde

The other attraction would be the leasing rates since they can build and lease at market price. There isn't a premium to be here versus the downtown area so this is a very important point.

Sustainability is a major concern for the company. They hope to redesign roads for better transit, cycling and walkability to a zero carbon district energy system and are considering every possible means of reducing environmental impact. The district energy system will be created through a partnership with Hydro Ottawa and an organization representing the indigenous Algonquins will also own a stake. 

Dream President and CEO Michael Cooper, said, "We're going to create a very special community. We're going to be part of One Planet which is an environmental sustainability process and we're working towards creating a vibrant, exciting, very sustainable community that includes office buildings, hotels, residential, retail."

Zibi is moving ahead full speed now that the approvals and partnership is in place, financing arranged and design and construction partners working on the site. Now all that's left is to put up four million square feet of market product according to Westeinde.