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City planners back the latest design of an addition to the Château Laurier, despite criticism that the expansion would sully the image of the heritage hotel and the grand vista to the historic realm of Canada’s capital city.

According to a report published this week ahead of a June planning meeting, staff “are satisfied that the revised design addresses the conditions of approval of the heritage application.”

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Larco Investments, the hotel owner, wants to build a seven-storey addition with 147 guest rooms and additional meeting rooms. The company would build the addition on the back of the hotel, facing Major’s Hill Park.

It’s probably the most controversial planning file at city hall, mostly because of the proposed design of the addition.

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City staff have been working with Larco’s project team since the development application arrived at city hall in 2016, but it wasn’t until last June that the pressure was really on bureaucrats, since council, months before the October municipal election, left it to them to make sure the next design iteration is compatible with the existing 426-room hotel.