Proveras Commercial Realty has identified Constitution Square and two prominent Elgin Street office towers as examples of downtown Ottawa properties capable of accommodating the proposed NATO Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

The Ottawa tenant-advisory firm assessed larger blocks of available space to demonstrate the city’s capacity to house the multinational institution.

The financial institution would provide long-term, lower-cost financing for defence and security projects. Backed by NATO’s member countries and modelled partly on the World Bank, it would help governments and smaller defence suppliers access affordable funding.

Canada was selected in April to host the bank’s international headquarters. Ottawa-Gatineau, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Halifax are competing to host the institution, which could create up to 3,500 direct jobs.

“We wanted to make sure that the message was put out there that there’s room in Ottawa for the bank from a bricks-and-mortar perspective,” Proveras Principal and Broker of Record Shawn Hamilton told Connect. “The goal was just to publicize that Ottawa was open: We have room, and we have quality buildings.”

Examples include Constitution Square III at 340 Albert St., Performance Court at 150 Elgin St. and One60 Elgin at 160 Elgin St. Hamilton emphasized that the properties are neither a ranked shortlist nor buildings known to be under formal consideration.

Current online listings show that CBRE is marketing as much as 112,951 square feet at Constitution Square III and Cushman & Wakefield offering 80,814 sf of Bell Canada sublease space at 160 Elgin. At 150 Elgin, TCC Canada operates flexible workspace in offices formerly occupied by Shopify.

“What we literally did was highlight some of the larger blocks of existing space in the market,” Hamilton said. “It wasn’t so much about highlighting individual buildings. It was more about saying we have quality space available in proximity to our downtown core that could house the defence bank — and here are some examples.”

Landing the headquarters could quickly tighten Ottawa’s office market. The vacancy rate reached 15.2% in the first quarter, according to Cushman & Wakefield, although anticipated federal leasing tied to expanded return-to-office policies could absorb some of the available space.

“We’re a small market, so it might take only one or two larger users to create a fundamental change in market dynamics,” Hamilton said.

He expects a major occupant to reduce vacancy and landlord inducements while generating demand from defence, technology and professional services firms seeking space nearby.

The bank aims to raise approximately $135 billion to finance defence projects, Reuters reported. The financing could help manufacturers expand production as Canada and its allies increase military spending.

Ottawa’s pitch emphasizes its proximity to the federal government, the Department of National Defence, the Bank of Canada, the federal banking regulator and approximately 130 diplomatic missions.

“Putting the bank in Ottawa, you’re in proximity to the decision-making powers in the defence world,” Hamilton said. “You’re integrated with government, and rather than having to wait to get up and running, you hit the ground running.”

The defence bank took another step forward at the July NATO summit, where Canada and eight partner countries announced their shared intention to establish it. The federal government says the bank could begin operating as early as 2027.

The federal Finance Department is expected to select the host city but has not announced its criteria or a decision date.

Pictured: Constitution Square 360 Albert St. in downtown Ottawa, one of the office properties cited as capable of accommodating the proposed Defence, Security and Resilience Bank.

Photo: Jeangagnon/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0