Atria Developments looking to buy Oshawa municipal parking lot for its downtown condo project

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Published September 15, 2021 at 5:41 pm

Atria Developments wants to buy the city-owned parking lot on Celina Street in Oshawa as a partial solution to the not-so little problem of not having any parking for its 143-unit condominium proposal.

Atria plans to build an eight-storey condominium apartment complex on the existing foundation of the Oshawa Federal Building at Celina and Athol streets, but the heritage nature of the building – which has served as Oshawa’s Post Office since it was completed in 1954 – means underground parking for the residents is off the table.

Conveniently across the street from the project, however, is a 106-space municipal parking lot that would almost fit Atria’s needs.

Oshawa planning staff was dispatched to advise the Development Services Committee on how to handle the situation and came up with a few options:

  • Tell Atria they’re out of luck (which would likely mean the proposal would be dead in the water)
  • Lease the parking lot to the developer
  • Sell the lot to Atria
  • Retain ownership but order the developer to build a decked parking lot to accommodate the additional parking spaces they need, as well as provide for any city requirements

Actually, all three of the latter options involve building a multi-level parking garage on the site, though it has not yet been made a demand on Atria and City staff were instructed to report back to Council this fall with more details.

In a letter to planning staff, Shane Kennedy, the Director of Development for Atria Developments, said the company’s preference would be to own the parking lot outright, noting that it would be “highly preferred in order to secure financing for the development, adding that it is the “industry norm” for condo developments.

The value of the land is estimated at about $2 million per acre.

The matter is expected to be back at Oshawa Council in late October, or early November at the latest.

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