{"id":2907,"date":"2013-03-14T09:54:45","date_gmt":"2013-03-14T14:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2907"},"modified":"2017-11-19T19:28:17","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T00:28:17","slug":"a-grocery-store-for-little-italy-don%e2%80%99t-count-on-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/?p=2907","title":{"rendered":"A grocery store for Little Italy? Don\u2019t count on it"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Diorama of Little Italy’s community design plan.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Miniature models of high-rise condominiums covered a table-top diorama of Little Italy at the city\u2019s unveiling of its plans for the neighbourhood.<\/strong><\/p>\n

But one building was missing from the blueprint: a grocery store.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a twenty year plan\u2026 and there\u2019s no grocery store?\u201d said a bewildered Joe Cotroneo, co-chair of the Preston Street business improvement association.<\/p>\n

As the city moved ahead with its plans to intensify the Carling-Bayview district at a public meeting last month, residents continued to shake their fists at the neighbourhood\u2019s rapidly rising skyline.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s quite clear we have a very united community on this plan,\u201d said Diane Holmes, city councillor for Somerset Ward.<\/p>\n

CONDO INVASION OPPONENTS<\/strong><\/p>\n

But giving the community its much-needed grocery store could help mollify residents who have staunchly objected to the neighbourhood\u2019s condo invasion, Cotroneo said.<\/p>\n

Although there are currently lots of pubs, restaurants and small specialty food shops along Preston Street, the area hasn\u2019t had a full-sized grocery store in years.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now you can\u2019t buy a quart of milk on Preston Street past six o\u2019clock,\u201d Cotroneo said.<\/p>\n

Although more condos mean more customers for Preston Street businesses, he said he\u2019s worried the community could be transformed into a condo wasteland where high-rise dwellers travel from their penthouse to their garage\u2014never coming into contact with the street.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re gonna have all these people that are in the neighbourhood leave the neighbourhood to buy groceries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

COMMERCIAL SPACE IS KEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ben Gianni, who teaches urban design at Carleton University, said commercial space is vital in building a successful condominium. Although he did not attend the public meeting, he has worked with the Preston Street business improvement association in the past.<\/p>\n

Ideally, he said, one of the many condos planned for the neighbourhood would incorporate a grocery store into the building\u2019s ground floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the design of the streetscape, the public realm,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s really going to determine the long-term effects of these things, the quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to make it, a livable community,\u201d Cotroneo said.<\/p>\n

Holmes, agrees. \u201cA big food store would be helpful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Bringing a big commercial retailer like a supermarket would not only benefit residents, but the city as well. Holmes said property taxes for commercial space are much higher than for residential space.<\/p>\n

RUMOURED GROCERY STORE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rumours have circled for years about a possible location for a Little Italy grocery store. But so far, no company has stepped up to the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not sure that any of the developers are interested,\u201d Holmes said.<\/p>\n

The problem lies with the limited lot space in the area.<\/p>\n

SOHO Italia, the 29-storey condo developed by Mastercraft Starwood, is moving into a lot just over 1100 square metres at the corner of Preston and Carling.<\/p>\n

But supermarkets like Loblaws want tens of thousands of square metres or space.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost grocery stores these days want a big footprint,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s such a remarkable difference between what the development community is proposing and what the city is actually envisioning,\u201d Gianni said.<\/p>\n

Still, a supermarket on a small condo property isn\u2019t impossible. Sobeys, a Nova Scotia chain of grocery stores, is moving into the Claridge condo at 91 Nepean. Occupying just 380 square metres, the project is still under construction.<\/p>\n

Without a grocery store in the official design, Cotroneo is afraid they\u2019ll never see it happen.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to be looking down the road forty, fifty years from now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the city moves ahead with its plans to intensify the Carling-Bayview district, one building is still missing from the blueprint: a grocery store.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,17,14,200,207,16],"class_list":["post-2907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-condo","tag-development","tag-ottawa","tag-ottawa-redevelopment","tag-robin-levinson","tag-urbanism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/63"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2907"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4480,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2907\/revisions\/4480"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cusjc.ca\/ottawainsight\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}