Live in Heron Gate
The densest concentration of 1960s rental towers in Ottawa, most of it under one owner, and a twenty-five year rebuild that began by demolishing about 150 homes.
Heron Gate is a rental district rather than a subdivision that happens to contain rentals. Minto built the northern half from 1966 and the southern half was complete before 1976, and what went up was apartment towers and long townhouse rows on a single ownership block instead of the detached streets around it. The buildings changed hands in 2012; the new owner emptied 80 townhouse households in 2016 and announced the demolition of about 150 more units in May 2018, displacing roughly 500 people by that November, and in April 2019 fourteen former tenants took the landlord and the City to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario. No tribunal outcome has been published. In September 2021 council approved the plan that governs the next twenty to twenty-five years here: two to twenty-five storeys across a 21-hectare site, about 6,400 units at full build-out, and a legally binding agreement on affordable units and on accommodating displaced renters. Deciding about this neighbourhood means deciding about a building site with a contested history and a written plan, and both halves are on the public record.
A rental district with one owner, a demolition, and a plan for the next quarter century
Heron Road on the north, Heron-Walkley Park and Albion Road on the west, and the Walkley rail yard corridor on the south, with Bank Street a short distance beyond the western edge. The figures in this guide are reported for the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study unit Ledbury - Heron Gate - Ridgemont (932), which is wider than the local name: it also takes in Ledbury to the north and Ridgemont towards Alta Vista Drive. That is why its population is larger than the census count for Heron Gate on its own.
Most Ottawa neighbourhoods are streets of separately owned houses with some rental in them. Heron Gate is the other thing. Minto built the northern section from 1966 and the southern before 1976, and what went up was towers and long townhouse rows on one ownership block rather than individual titles. Around seventy per cent of households rent, and more than sixty per cent have after-tax incomes under $50,000 against roughly thirty-five per cent citywide. Almost everyone here rents from a landlord who owns the block, and most of what has happened since follows from that.
What happened, in the order it happened. Timbercreek Asset Management, now Hazelview, bought the rental portfolio in 2012. Eighty townhouse households were moved out in 2016. In May 2018 the landlord announced the demolition of about 150 more units as past repair, and roughly 500 people left between that May and November. About ninety per cent of the more than 500 tenants affected were members of racialised groups, and households were offered $2,000 towards moving. In April 2019 fourteen former tenants, thirteen of Somali background and one of Arab background, applied to the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the landlord and the City, seeking $50,000 each, a right to return to comparable units, and a finding that the evictions breached the Ontario Human Rights Code. No tribunal outcome has been published, so anyone who tells you the case was won or lost is going beyond the record.
What is now approved. On 8 September 2021 council adopted an official plan amendment for the 21-hectare site: two to twenty-five storeys, about 6,400 units at full build-out over twenty to twenty-five years, one municipal park and three private ones. Attached to it is a legally binding agreement designating 255 existing units Secure Affordable Existing for twenty years, a further 255 five years later and 510 new units Secure Affordable New, and setting terms for accommodating renters displaced by demolition. That agreement is the difference between this redevelopment and the one that began in 2018.
The numbers do not line up, and it matters. The figures here are reported for the Ottawa Neighbourhood Study unit Ledbury - Heron Gate - Ridgemont (932), wider than the name: it takes in Ledbury and Ridgemont as well, and holds 13,903 people on ONS Gen 2 estimates. Heron Gate alone, over 1.538 square kilometres, counted 9,974 in the 2021 census. That wider unit also holds a large block of Ottawa Community Housing on Heatherington, 576 units approved in 1970 and 150 more in 1972, a different landlord and a different tenancy from the private towers.
The practical position is good, and it is why people stay. Greenboro station on Line 2 is a walk from most of the towers, South Keys is a stop further and hands you Line 4 to the airport, and Heron and Walkley remain Transitway stations. Jim Durrell Recreation Centre is on the doorstep and Herongate Square carries the discount grocery and the pharmacy. Parliament Hill is nine kilometres north. On tax, this sits in Ottawa's urban transit area and pays the highest of the three transit levies, and Ontario has deferred every reassessment since 2016, so the rate is levied against a frozen 2016 assessment rather than a market price.
- Ask which building you are joining, who owns it now, and whether it sits in the demolition phasing
- 255 existing units are Secure Affordable for twenty years, with 255 more designated five years later
- The April 2019 human rights application has no published outcome. Do not accept a summary of it
- The 13,903 figure is Ledbury, Heron Gate and Ridgemont together, not Heron Gate on its own
- Greenboro on Line 2 is walkable, and a large share of households here do not own a car
- Heat in the older towers is landlord-supplied and centrally controlled. Ask about the building system
How Heron Gate got here
- 1966Minto builds the northern section of Heron Gate; the southern section follows and is complete before 1976. What goes up is apartment towers and long townhouse rows under single ownership, which is why this block never broke into individual titles the way the streets around it did.
- 1970–1972City council approves 576 units on Heatherington in 1970 and another 150 in 1972, adding the social and non-profit housing that still sits alongside the private rental towers in the wider ONS unit.
- 1981Herongate Mall opens at Walkley and Heron as the district's shopping. It is demolished in stages from 2012 and replaced by the open-format Herongate Square, with the discount grocery kept through the rebuild.
- 2012Timbercreek Asset Management acquires the rental portfolio, and most of the neighbourhood passes to a single institutional owner.
- 2016Eighty townhouse households are moved out for redevelopment. This is the first of the two clearances, and the smaller.
- May 2018The landlord announces the demolition of about 150 units, saying they are past repair. Roughly 500 people leave between May and November, and about 90 per cent of the more than 500 tenants affected in total are members of racialised groups. Displaced households are offered $2,000 in moving costs and relocation help.
- April 2019Fourteen former tenants, thirteen of Somali background and one of Arab background, file an application at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the landlord and the City of Ottawa, seeking $50,000 each and a right to return. No tribunal outcome has been published.
- 8 September 2021Council approves an official plan amendment for the 21-hectare site: two to twenty-five storeys, about 6,400 units at full build-out over twenty to twenty-five years, new public and private parks, and a legally binding agreement covering affordable units and the accommodation of displaced renters.
Sports fields on the doorstep, the Rideau four kilometres west, the Greenbelt behind
The open space here is municipal rather than scenic, and it is close. Heron-Walkley Park runs along the western edge with the ball diamonds and the shaded strip people actually sit in, and the fields beside Jim Durrell are the busiest thing in the district on a summer evening. Four kilometres west the Rideau River gives you Vincent Massey Park and Mooney's Bay. South is the Greenbelt and Conroy Pit. The 2021 plan adds a municipal park and three private ones to the site itself, which has none of its own.
What the map does not show: in a district of apartments the balcony is most of the private outdoor space there is, so public provision does more work here than on a street of houses with gardens. What is missing is water within walking distance: Mooney's Bay is a drive or a bus ride, and in the hottest weeks of July that gap is felt.
Elsewhere in Ottawa, not Heron Gate
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are computed from a representative point near Heron Road and Sandalwood Drive, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model. Honest ranges, not routed times, and walking times where a walk is genuinely how the trip gets made.
Every gym within reach
Jim Durrell Recreation Centre at 1265 Walkley Road is the one that counts: an arena, a pool and a fitness centre close enough to walk to, at municipal prices, with the City's low-income fee assistance available. Where this many households are on modest incomes that programme is the difference between using the building and not. Heron Road Community Centre adds a gymnasium and the rooms much of the south end's settlement work uses.
- One City membership covers Jim Durrell, Canterbury and every other municipal facility in Ottawa
- Ask about the City's low-income fee assistance before paying a full membership rate
- Heron Road Community Centre is a gymnasium and programme rooms, not a pool
- March break and summer programmes fill within a day of registration opening here
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Jim Durrell Recreation Centre open | 1265 Walkley Road: an arena, a pool and a fitness centre beside the sports fields, close enough to be a walk rather than a drive. Municipal pricing, and the City's low-income fee assistance applies, which matters more here than in most neighbourhoods in this guide. | 2–3 min |
| Heron Road Community Centre open | 1480 Heron Road: a gymnasium and programme rooms rather than a pool, and the building that hosts much of the south end's settlement and youth programming. | 5–8 min |
| Canterbury Recreation Centre open | 2185 Arch Street in Alta Vista: a pool, an arena and a gymnasium, covered by the same City membership as Jim Durrell. | 5–8 min |
| Conroy Pit open | Not a gym: the Greenbelt off-leash area on Conroy Road, with enough sand trail through pine plantation to walk for an hour. Free. | 6–10 min |
The free option is Heron-Walkley Park and the fields at Jim Durrell, and, for a longer walk, Conroy Pit in the Greenbelt.
One block north holds the elementary and both secondaries
Charles H. Hulse Public School is the catchment elementary, and it sits on the same block as Ridgemont High School, the OCDSB secondary most of the district's teenagers attend, and St. Patrick's High School, the OCSB Catholic secondary on Alta Vista Drive. That concentration is unusual, and convenient: the walk to school changes very little between grade three and grade twelve. For French-language secondary, École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité on Smyth Road runs grades 7 to 12.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Charles H. Hulse Public School | OCDSB | The catchment elementary, on the same block as the two secondaries a short walk north of the neighbourhood. |
| Ridgemont High School | OCDSB | The public secondary on Alta Vista Drive, and the school a large share of the district's teenagers attend. |
| St. Patrick's High School | OCSB | The Catholic secondary next door to Ridgemont on Alta Vista Drive. |
| École secondaire catholique Franco-Cité | CECCE | The French Catholic secondary at 623 Smyth Road in Riverview, grades 7 to 12, and the nearest French-language secondary to this neighbourhood. |
| Ottawa Public Library, Greenboro branch | Library | The district branch beside Greenboro station, and the closest public study space to the towers. |
Ridgemont serves one of the most linguistically diverse catchments in the city and runs its settlement and English language support accordingly, which is a reason some families choose it. Confirm the current catchment for a specific address with the OCDSB or the OCSB before you sign, and ask what the boards expect once the new units are occupied.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- A daily mean of −10 °C and about 59 cm of snow in an average January
- Heat in the older towers is landlord-supplied and centrally controlled, so ask which building system you are joining before you sign
- Line 2 itself is reliable in the cold; the walk to Greenboro station is the part to test in January
- Peak minor hockey at Jim Durrell, with ice booked from early morning
- The coldest fortnight of the year, and Ottawa averages about 16 nights below −20 °C
- Snow windrows at the ends of the townhouse rows are the thing residents raise most often
- Sawmill Creek runs high along the Greenbelt edge east of the neighbourhood
- March break, and the community centre programmes fill within a day of registration opening
- Grit and potholes on Walkley and Heron, both of them truck routes to the rail yard
- The building season restarts on the redevelopment site, and the truck traffic comes back with it
- The Rideau River peaks, and the pathway at Vincent Massey and Mooney's Bay is often under water for a week
- The first week the courts and fields at Jim Durrell are usable again
- The best cycling weeks of the year on the Rideau River pathway, four kilometres west
- Balconies come back into use, and in a tower district that is most of the private outdoor space there is
- Community garden plots open around the Heron Road and Heatherington blocks
- Sunset near 8:50pm, and the sports fields at Jim Durrell stay in use well past eight
- School ends, and the community centre summer programmes are the childcare answer for a lot of households here
- Mooney's Bay opens for supervised swimming, ten minutes away
- A July daily mean of 21.2 °C, with humidex regularly past 35
- Cooling in the 1960s towers is a window unit rather than central air, and upper floors run hot: ask what the lease permits
- The busiest weeks of the year at Herongate Square and the South Keys plaza
- The federal government empties for the month and the bus commute is briefly easy
- Peak humidity, and the shaded strip along Heron-Walkley Park is where people actually sit
- Moving season in a rental district: turnover is concentrated in the last fortnight
- Schools, the public service and the trains all restart in the same week
- The best weather of the year, and the best weeks on the Rideau River pathway
- Carleton's term begins and Line 2 northbound fills noticeably from Greenboro
- The mature trees on the older Heron Gate blocks are the best thing about the district in autumn
- First frost usually lands in the first half of the month
- Heating comes on in the towers, and in a centrally controlled building the date is the landlord's decision, not yours
- Dark before the evening commute, and the walk from Greenboro station is the part people reconsider
- Snow tires go on, and in a district with this much street parking that is a real logistical week
- The overnight winter parking ban begins, and here it binds on a lot of households
- Ottawa takes about 232 cm of snow in an average year, and the first serious storm usually lands this month
- Outdoor rinks go in at Jim Durrell and the neighbourhood parks when the cold holds
- The federal shutdown between Christmas and New Year gives the corridor its quietest fortnight
20 more photographs of Ottawa and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Ottawa photo library, not photographs of Heron Gate itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 20 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images from the site's shared Ottawa library, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. None of them is presented as a photograph of Heron Gate.