(Friends and invited guests attended the groundbreaking ceremony on July 3, 2025 for The Station, the Inverness Homes new development at 1518 Stittsville Main Street beside the Trans Canada Trail. Inverness Homes owners Kyle MacHutchon and Melissa Kruyne, along with Councillor Glen Gower, celebrate with the ceremonial first shovel in the ground. Photos: Stittsville Central)
Local Stittsville developer and owners of Inverness Homes, Kyle MacHutchon and Melissa Kruyne, had contemplated for quite some time the purchase of the vacant land at 1518-1526 Stittsville Main Street. In the fall of 2019, they took the step and purchased the property with a plan already in the works.
The land had been the home of Bradley’s General Store since 1919 – a landmark in the community – that was sadly lost in a fire in September, 2013 and demolished in 2014. The store served our community until 1961 before the business moved further south on Stittsville Main as a new grocery store. On the site was also the original The Stittsville News office and print shop, along with the Bell Canada switching station.
On July 3, 2025, the official groundbreaking took place for The Station on Stittsville Main Street beside the Trans Canada Trail. The owners of Inverness Homes are local residents Kyle MacHutchon and Melissa Kruyne who have lived in Stittsville for over 20 years – building their first home here in 2001 – and were certainly proud when the day arrived to see the shovels in the ground.
The project will consist of the primary building featuring a ground floor restaurant and patio, and second floor office space facing Stittsville Main Street. There will be a four-storey residential building with 27 one and two-bedroom apartments, along with 67 surface parking spaces and 17 spots available for bicycle parking.
In keeping with the history of the location, architect Malcolm Wildeboer, also a resident of Stittsville, said, “I felt the use of materials (primarily red clay brick) would lend a sense of memory and permanence to the to the revitalization of the village’s central precinct. It is a shared vision to create a meaningful architectural development in place of what was lost”.
Kyle is proud of the fact that the local railway history of the location and Bradley’s store is incorporated into the project, “we designed the building with the historical feeling of a train station, including the entrance with the focal point being the clock tower – history has also been incorporated into the build with the façade of red brick. We also salvaged the dated 1945 sign from the original building.”
At the groundbreaking, Melissa shared, “it has always been my dream to own a restaurant, maybe not to manage it, but I’m finally seeing my dream becoming reality. It’s been a long road to get where we are due to Covid and other factors and I want to thank the many people who supported us, including Councillor Gower for his support of this endeavour and the City of Ottawa.”
Melissa was happy that their children, Jack MacHutchon (the official shovel officer) and Mia Leglise could also be there to celebrate. Their daughter Clare MacHutchon was unable to attend as she was away at summer camp.
Councillor Gower welcomed The Station to Stittsville Main and said, “I was pleased to support this exciting project and all of the work it has taken to get here. Congratulations to you both Kyle and Melissa and everyone else, Malcolm Wildeboer for the design, for bringing this new development to Stittsville Main Street”.
Invited guests attended a reception at SHOWROOM Furniture + Lighting to celebrate this new development on Stittsville Main.
At the reception, Kyle shared that the original stone and brick wall of Bradley’s Store had been uncovered and asked his crew to allow us on the property to take a photo.
The Station will be an inviting attraction for residents and visitors who use the Trans Canada Trail and to Stittsville Main Street – a true acknowledgement of our past history.
Hoping that they will be checking for anything archeological from
our Indigenous people.