New State of the Art Self-Storage Units in Ottawa

The building once housed the Canadian War Museum's collection of firearms, vehicles, art and uniforms. Before that, it was an Ottawa transit commission bus and streetcar depot.

The owner of Canadian War Museum hopes to convert the 147,000 sq. feet of warehouse space once known as Vimy House near LeBreton Flats to 1,100 state of the art self-storage units.

At a time when commercial vacancy in Ottawa hovers at about 6.8 per cent, some experts say it's becoming trendy to convert that empty space to high-end self-storage warehouses.

Metcalfe owns and manages some 1.7 million square feet of commercial real estate in Ottawa, mostly office buildings. It bought the 255 City Centre Ave. property in 1981, and promptly leased it for the next quarter century to the War Museum, which used it for storage until it moved to its new, larger digs on LeBreton Flats.

Instead of trying to find a single, long-term tenant to once again occupy the warehouse, Metcalfe hired an independent researcher to look into the feasibility of turning it into self-storage.