Zibi's 'pioneers' take up residence

The first residents of a major development straddling the Ottawa River might have to wait a while before meeting their new neighbours.

Condo owners have started moving into their new homes in the first finished building of the newZibi development, to be built onformer Domtar lands on Chaudire and Albert islands, as well as a swath of riverfront property in Gatineau.

For years now, Zibihas been advertizedas a thriving, self-sufficient community where residents will "live, work and play," as developers love to say. The $1.5-billionproject will eventually be home to 5,000 residents, according to Dream andTheiaPartners, a spinoff of Windmill, thedevelopment company that launched theproject.

But it will be some time before that dream is fully realized, and the neighbourhood residents are moving into now bears little resemblance to the bustling community in the glossy brochures.

An 'intriguing' opportunity

Marc-Antoine Massicotte is among the first to take up residence. In 2015, with a little help from his father, Massicotte purchased a one-bedroom condo on the fourth floor of the newly opened O Condosbuilding on the Gatineau side of the river.

I thought, why not be a pioneer and get into it?- Marc-AntioneMassicotte, Zibiresident

"I thought it was so intriguing at first that we would finally have access to those lands," he said."I thought, why not be a pioneer and get into it?"

Massicotteisn't deterred by the 15 years it will take before the community's complete. He understands that for now there won't be much in the way of shops and other amenities outside his front door, but said he's looking forward to watching the neighbourhood grow.

"It's going to be fun to see it happen," he said.

A controversial development

The community is being developedin phases onpreviously contaminated industrial land.

The developer said it's designed withthe environment in mind, including a net-zero carbon district energy system and arecycling and composting program tailored to residents.

Zibialso promisesto open up ChaudireFalls to public view for the first time in over a century.

But the project has also generatedcontroversy.There have been protests,land claims, lawsuits and appealsto the Ontario Municipal Boardover the land, considered sacred to the Algonquin people precisely because of its proximity to the once-spectacular falls, a traditional gathering place for Indigenous people.

For all those reasons, it could be a challenge to attract a critical mass of eager early adopters like Massicotte, according to Steve Pomeroy, a senior research fellow with the Centre for Urban Research at Carleton University.

Some condos remain vacant

At this early stage, it's difficult to predict the project's success based on uptake: after three years of presales, 14 of the 70 condos in Massicotte's building remain vacant. In total, the developerhas sold 83 per cent of the roughly 143 units it's put on the market.

So far, no commercial tenants have been announced.

Pomeroysaid while Ottawa's condo market is currently in good health, developments like Zibi face a special challenge because they're ultimately strivingto build self-contained communitiesfrom the ground up.

While most new condos are surrounded by existing amenities,Zibi'spioneers will have to go without for years or even decades.

"You tend to like to try on what you're going to buy," Pomeroy said. "It is a harder sell when you're in an emerging transitional area."

The next building in the Zibidevelopment is expected to open next year, this time on the Ottawa side of the river.