---
title: LiUNA and Fengate Break Ground on a 37-Storey Ottawa Rental Tower, Their Third in the City
description: LiUNA Pension Fund and Fengate Asset Management break ground on a 37-storey, 425-unit rental building in Ottawa's Westboro near the future New Orchard LRT station.
updated: 2026-07-22T15:22:05.412Z
canonical: https://richdadmagazine.com/article/liuna-and-fengate-break-ground-on-a-37-storey-ottawa-rental-tower-their-third-in-the-city
image: https://cdn.nanimediahouse.com/desk-img-30.webp
categories: Real Estate
content_type: News
region: Ontario
publication: Rich Dad Magazine
access: members
schema_type: Article
---

A $13-billion union pension fund and one of Canada's larger alternative investment managers have broken ground on a 37-storey rental building in Ottawa's Westboro area, their third joint residential project in the city. The LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada and Fengate Asset Management are developing 425 units at 1047 Richmond Road, steps from the future New Orchard LRT station, targeting LEED certification and including 1,000 square metres of new public park space.

For a father weighing family housing in Ottawa, the institutional logic behind this project matters more than the amenity list. Pension funds do not build on a whim. LPFCEC manages over $13 billion in assets across a defined benefit plan that must generate steady, long-run returns to pay retirees. When it commits capital to a third Ottawa rental tower, it is signalling a view on where Ottawa rents and occupancy are headed over the next decade, not the next quarter.

Ottawa's rental market, [according to the City of Ottawa's own strategic projects office](https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ottawa-housing-a-frozen-market-committee-hears-9.7188707), sits near a 3% overall vacancy rate, which is roughly balanced. But that headline figure conceals a split: low-rent units sit at vacancy under 1%, meaning tenants hold on and almost nothing turns over. New builds, by contrast, carry a vacancy rate of 6.7%, with rents at levels many households cannot absorb. The market is not one market. It is two, running at different speeds.

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