SkyscraperPage Forum - Bedford West Developments & Discussion Thread

Viewing Page 1 of 19

SkyscraperPage Forum (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/index.php)

- Suburbs (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=224)

- - Bedford West Developments & Discussion Thread (https://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?t=151470)

Bedford West Developments & Discussion Thread

I was looking around Clayton Dev.'s site and found a link to this:

The Parks of West Bedford
It's just a fancy flash site with sparse details. It does say it's coming in Spring of 2009.

Here's a picture from the website:
http://i28.tinypic.com/vgmykm.jpg

It's a really huge area, and the first thing I thought of is this is where the proposed new highway is going to go isn't it?

Generalized land use map for this area: http://www.ha.../council/agendasc/do...iCommunity.pdf - This is the development agreement so it is huge. There are maps and detailed info on what's going where.

Yes this is the location of the proposed highway 113. As shown in the map land is set aside for this road and even includes an interchange with it. The new RIM Offices sit in the business campus and this summer they are widening Hammonds Plains Road to better cope with expected traffic from this new neighbourhood. The area of this development is over 1200 acres with an expected population of 20'000!!! As with any development of this size there is multiple land-owners but the two main developers are Clayton and Cresco, both very reputable developers well-known in HRM.

The Cresco site: http://cresco.ca/futureplans.php.

For anyone interested the proposed highway #113:
http://gov.ns.ca/tran/highwayops/hwy113.asp

The first part of this development has an official plan (HERE). Its for parcel 2 (out of twelve) located between Kerney Lake Rd, Kearney Run, Hwy 102, and Highway 113. Its going in front of North-West Community Council on October 23 and if approved construction is expected to start either this fall or in the spring. Here are some highlights;

-20% parkland,
-commercial/high density residential on KL Rd (Kearney Lake Rd),
-townhouses and single family houses in back,
-new school near the Bi-Hi,
-a four storey condo building fronting onto the Bi-Hi
-Two condo buildings (six and nine stories) on KL,
-Sidewalks and a bike trail for the main road (called the loop road),
-and a few smaller condo builings edging the Hwy 113 ROW.

Construction is expected to take six years to finish.

As a side note the proposed Larry Uteck/102 Interchange is suppose to be built next year.

Between this Southgate Village, Ravines, Royale Hemlock, Waterfront Phase II and the Dockside, Bedford is positioned for a boom next year. If all the houses in this development have a Bedford address the town will literally double in size (17'000 to 34'000).

So this is just at the top end of the lake? Basically that is the middle of nowhere right now but with the new interchange and possible future Hwy 113 the site makes a lot more sense. They are also widening Hammonds Plains Road a bit right now and perhaps they will widen Kearney Lake Road in the future.

Bedford had 16,000 people or so in 1996 (much more than what was necessary to be a "town"!). I'd imagine it has 20,000 people or more today, assuming the old town included the Bedford South area but not Larry Uteck etc.

A few years ago there was also a "New Urbanist" style development just inside the 102 behind Paper Mill Lake. If I remember correctly, United Gulf was the developer and there were some issues with access? I wonder what the story is with that?

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123 (Post 3850403)

I looked it up and District 21 (Bedford) has approximately 17'000 people but it might not include some of Bedford South. The regional plan calls for another 20-25'000 people to live in Bedford in 20 years.

I heard about the United Gulf thing but I forget what the story is on it. I believe it was on the Hammonds Plains side of Paper Mill right next to the Bi-Hi.

Bedford West is pretty much the only land left to develop into suburbs in Bedford. After this Hammonds Plains and Halifax will see the majority of the developments. I imagine densification of the lands near the Bedford Highway will start happening more often now.

I was expecting this to be an endless sprawl of lookalike houses, but all these condos are a pleasant surprise.

This was approved last week. So after the typical fourteen days they can begin anytime. Knowing Clayton it will probably be soon.

Construction has begun;

Notice of Blasting Operations at Bedford West

(Friday, January 30, 2009) - This is to inform residents, business owners and property owners that blasting operations are required to complete rock excavation at Phase 1B of Bedford West Subdivision, adjacent to Atlantic Acres Industrial Park. Rockwork Construction Ltd has obtained a permit to carry out the blasting. Blasting will start on or about February 2/08 for approximately 2 months. Operations can take place Monday to Friday, from 8am to sunset. No blasting will take place on weekends or statutory holidays.

Pre-blast inspections on structures within the pre-blast radius, as outlined in by-law B-600, have been carried out. Also, residents, business owners and property owners within a 300m radius of the construction site have been given notification of the operations. All requirements outlined in the blasting by-law have been met in order to have a permit issued for this project. Seismographs will be set up on structures in the area to monitor vibration and sound levels to ensure they do not exceed allowable limits set out in HRM's blasting by-law.

For further information, residents may contact Kevin MacDonald, HRM Engineering Technician, at 490-4653.

Wow! I had no clue this was even happening.

Where is highway 113 supossed to go?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DigitalNinja (Post 4242786)

Where is highway 113 supossed to go?

Travelling from lets say the Airport it would take you from just past exit 3 (Hammonds Plains Road) on the Bi-Hi to just past exit 4 on the 103.

I think it is supposed to be 9.9km in length overall and basically act as a quicker route for Hwy 213 (Hammonds Plains Road) drivers.

I've seen plans for this development and the road layout looks different than the renderings shown. From what I've seen there is a large collector road looped off of Kearny Lake I think. This development also includes some decent density.

As for highway 113, here is a link: Highway 113

There was a drawing on the department of transportation website, but I can't find it at the moment.

Quote:

On the 25-year plan
The Parks of West Bedford will be place for people to live, work, play
By CLARE MELLOR Business Reporter
Wed. Jun 24 - 4:46 AM
http://thechronicleherald.ca/images/spacer.gif

IT is a mini-city within a city.

Despite the recession, a Halifax company unveiled its ambitious plan Tuesday for a new 526-hectare community development called The Parks of West Bedford that will eventually be home to 18,000 people in the Halifax Regional Municipality.

The development, touted as a place where people can "live, work and play," will be located between Kearney Lake Road and the Hammonds Plains Road, near Highway 102.

"We take it as a challenge. We are planning this very carefully," said Richard Miller, president of West Bedford Holdings Ltd., which has a green light to develop much of the land. West Bedford Holdings is a joint-venture between Clayton Developments Ltd. and Cresco.

"We have got very good support of our friends in the banking community, plus our investors and shareholders, and we will ensure that we don’t overextend ourselves. We’ve been at this a long, long time," said Mr. Miller, who is also president of Clayton Developments.

The development, expected to take 25 years to complete, is largely residential, but will include West Bedford Business Park. The 40-hectare park, which will take about 10 to 12 years to develop, is located right next door to lands already occupied by BlackBerry maker, Research in Motion. The new business park is being marketed to similar "knowledge-based" businesses.

The development will be worth hundreds of millions of dollars when complete, said Mr. Miller.

"To date, we have invested or committed over $42 million, and we are on the run now of spending an average of $10 million a year for the next five years because that is our forecast period, over five-year cycles. There are 600 person years of employment, which is important, because that is a stimulus in itself," he said.

Much of the land to be developed is currently untouched. When complete, the project will contain 20 per cent green space, which is twice the required amount, said Michael Hanusiak, who gave details of the development to a crowd of about 100 at the Diman Lebanese Centre on Kearney Lake Road on Tuesday.

A series of walking and running trails and roads will connect the development.

"There are great opportunities to work with the natural environment," said Mr. Hanusiak, senior vice-president and general manager of Clayton.
The development will contain five residential neighbourhoods housing 18,000 people in 6,000 units. It will include all types of housing, from single-family homes to apartments. Northwood a, continuing care centre, is being built on the lands and is expected to open in the spring of 2010.

Residential lots, which are now being cleared, will be on sale in October. Sales "will take full flight in the summer and fall of 2010," Mr. Hanusiak said.
Green building materials and sustainable practices are being used, developers say.

Development is already approved for about 210 hectares of the land, said Taleb Abidali, a co-owner of Cresco.

"You will see things you don’t see in a complete city. People will be able to walk from their business to their residence," he said.

Some companies have already expressed interest in locating in the business park, but no names have been revealed.

"We have a few names we cannot mention. Some of them are big companies," Mr. Abidali said.

Roads in the business park are currently under construction, and the entrance to the business park will be off Gary Martin Drive.

The project will generate lots of new tax dollars and will "change the face of all of HRM," said Mayor Peter Kelly, who was present for Tuesday’s announcement.

There have been many years of community input into the development. Cresco bought the lands a few years ago from Annapolis Group Inc., and then formed a partnership with Clayton.

Tenders have recently been issued for construction of a new Highway 102 interchange, which is expected to alleviate traffic on the Bedford Highway, Mr. Hanusiak said. The interchange will also connect to Kearney Lake Road, which is expected to ease traffic pressures on the Kearney Lake Road and Hammonds Plains Road, he said.

( cmellor@herald.ca)
’You will see things you don’t see in a complete city. People will be able to walk from their business to their residence.’
TALEB ABIDALICo-owner, Cresco

However, there website still has no updates.

The Northwood complex they mentioned looks like it's pretty far along construction.

Nice to see its moving along even though the last thing Bedford needs is another suburban sprawl. :yuck:

Gary Martin Drive is coming along nicely though and I imagine the four-pad arena will be starting construction soon.

18,000 more people, over 25 years is about 720 new residents a year. With probably more in the first few years. Personally this looks quite well thoughts out. But will probably be cookie cutter houses again. I'm excited to see this go up. This plus all the other developments that are on the way/proposed. Will really up the population of Halifax, and hopefully we can see some more high grade builidings going in.
On a side note, it would be good if we could see how many new houses/condo's or what ever are going in halifax. We have this one with 6000 houses, 2 in lower sacville one without 350-400 units, one with about 65 units. How many are going on the other side of the bedford highway?

Whats funny is when this is complete, this development by itself would be equivalent to being the 2nd largest city in the province outside HRM.

West Bedford Business Park part of Atlantic Canada’s largest planned community

HRM BUSINESS PARKS
The Burnside News

Halifax will soon be home to the newest and largest planned community in Atlantic Canada. West Bedford Holdings Limited’s plans for The Parks of West Bedford, located between Kearney Lake and the Hammonds Plains Road, also include the city’s newest private business park, the West Bedford Business Park.

The Parks of West Bedford, already under construction, comprises a 1,300 acre, 25 year build out master planned community and will eventually include West Bedford Business Park and five residential neighbourhoods housing 18,000 people in 6,000 units.

“A community like no other, The Parks of West Bedford is designed so that people can live and work within the same community and connect to work, home and services via bike, walking/running trails and internal roads,” says Richard Miller, president of West Bedford Holdings Limited.

The developers are using green building materials and sustainable design practices in what is the first combined suburban office park and residential community in metro Halifax.

Phase one of the development includes West Bedford Business Park and the first of five residential parks, Stonington Park. West Bedford Business Park adjoins Research in Motion’s new state-of-the-art Technical Support Centre and includes several forward-looking design features. For example, each business campus lot has a maximum 70 per cent developable area, which ensures landscaped areas and green space are incorporated into the site designs. This helps reduce the urban heat island effect.

West Bedford will also include a planned Park and Ride facility for a mass transit hub to Halifax and the use of dark sky friendly and energy efficient streetlights.

Other environmentally sustainable features across the entire development include:

• Preservation of approximately 25 per cent green space within the master planned development.
• Best management practices storm water quality pre/post balancing.
• Best management practices storm water quantity pre/post balancing.
• Innovative Low Impact Development (LID) strategies that use natural and engineered infiltration and storage techniques to control storm water where it is generated. LID combines conservation practices with distributed storm water source controls and pollution prevention to maintain or restore watershed functions.
• Wetland preservation.
• Natural drainage corridor and riparian buffer preservation on watercourses.
• Tree preservation and lot planting requirements.
• Creation of new wetland habitats with the incorporation of extended wet and dry detention facilities for storm water treatment.
• Disconnected rain downspouts from municipal conveyance systems increase soil infiltration and better preserve the natural hydrologic cycle.
• Reduced lot sizes to minimize each house’s carbon footprint.
• Asphalt regional trail throughout the development to encourage non-motorized vehicle use.
• Active and passive recreation including trails, picnic areas and open spaces planned throughout the master planned community.
• Compact mixed-use master planned community with commercial, institutional, office, high and low density residential.
• A sustainable product mix with varied price points (economically sustainable).
• Strict erosion and sediment control requirements during construction phases.
• First LEED accredited rink facility planned by HRM (quad pad).
• Recycled organic grubbings for use in development’s topsoil.
• On site blasted rock grinding for road aggregate reduces the truck hauling required for the construction of roads.
• Reused organic grubbings for landscaping berms.

“We’ve listened to the needs and expectations of the community and incorporated their values into this development so that it features progressive land development practices and environmentally protective covenants,” Miller says. “Our vision is to build a distinct community that comprises the most advanced residential building techniques and materials and has a lower environmental impact.”

The Parks of West Bedford is expected to generate over $80 million in revenue and 600 people years in direct and indirect employment in each of the first five years of the build-out.

Construction has already begun on:

• the entrance to Stonington Park at Gary Martin Drive
• the widening and lowering of Hammonds Plains Road
• Northwood Continuing Care Centre (opening Spring 2010)
• the new quad pad rink facility at the corner of Gary Martin Drive and Hammonds Plains.

For more information on the project, visit www.theparksofwestbedford.ca.

West Bedford Holdings Limited is a partnership between Clayton Developments Limited and Cresco.

Prev12 3 4 5 11 19 Next

Viewing Page 1 of 19