Development Rumours

[someone123]

According to ANS, rumour has it that Joe Ramia has made an offer on the cheque processing building at 1580 Granville Street. Not sure what the plans are, but a residential or mixed-use building would be great on that site.

Grafton Street could look quite different in the future given all the stuff that's in the works. In a few years I think it will feel more like a core part of the downtown, like, say, Barrington, instead of a kind of extension or transitional zone between the old downtown and Spring Garden Road. Halifax will feel a lot bigger when areas like Grafton, the waterfront, and Brunswick Street fill in with medium and larger scale buildings.

[teddifax]

Is that the low-rise ugly building with no windows mentioned in the public buildyourcentre public meeting by the Nova Centre architect.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by someone123

According to ANS, rumour has it that Joe Ramia has made an offer on the cheque processing building at 1580 Granville Street. Not sure what the plans are, but a residential or mixed-use building would be great on that site.

Grafton Street could look quite different in the future given all the stuff that's in the works. In a few years I think it will feel more like a core part of the downtown, like, say, Barrington, instead of a kind of extension or transitional zone between the old downtown and Spring Garden Road. Halifax will feel a lot bigger when areas like Grafton, the waterfront, and Brunswick Street fill in with medium and larger scale buildings.

Here is the Bing's map link - http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=rf6...3J&form=LMLTCC. I think that you meant 1580 Grafton Street. It is the block adjacent to and south of the Nova Centre.

[-Harlington-]

I hope it gets developed, that building kills grafton

putting in something useful alone would help the whole area a lot .

[teddifax]

Wow, if this is bought my Joe Ramia, maybe it could be brought into the new Nova Center as well. It is just across the street, maybe an annex to it, via tunnel or via pedway across the street to it. There are possiblilites here!!!

[someone123]

Yes, I think it was mentioned in the Nova Centre presentation and it is on Grafton, not Granville.

It would be great to see a simple but well-designed lowrise mixed-use residential/commercial building on that site.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by someone123

Yes, I think it was mentioned in the Nova Centre presentation and it is on Grafton, not Granville.

It would be great to see a simple but well-designed lowrise mixed-use residential/commercial building on that site.

It wouldn't have to be completely low rise. Just checked the HRM maps online and only a small portion of the site is touched by Viewplane 6. HbD has the post bonus height at 28m, which will be a low rise building but still could be quite nice. I'm guessing around 6 storeys?

[teddifax]

This could make a nice adjacent building to the Nova Center! Something to consider for future use with the trade center or another hotel adjoining the Nova Centre!

[Jonovision]

I was speaking with the folks at Realstar yesterday who own the apartment buildings on Brunswick Street. Apparently a redevelopment is in the works for two of the properties. First Scotia Tower and then Plaza. They would both be reclad and the ground floors reconfigured to make them more pedestrian friendly. I didn't get a sense of a timeline however.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

I was speaking with the folks at Realstar yesterday who own the apartment buildings on Brunswick Street. Apparently a redevelopment is in the works for two of the properties. First Scotia Tower and then Plaza. They would both be reclad and the ground floors reconfigured to make them more pedestrian friendly. I didn't get a sense of a timeline however.

That is good news.

I think the one at Duke and Brunswick looks goods (I think it is Plaza?) but the two apartment buildings towards the north are a real eyesore with blank concrete walls and horrendous street-level appearance.

[cormiermax]

Would probably be better just to demo both and rebuild, or at least Scotia, that building looks unsaveble. Very happy to see this hole area begin to rejuvenate though!!

[someone123]

According to ANS, there's a 72 unit, 5 storey as-of-right condo in the works for a one acre lot adjacent to Belmont House, which is on Alderney Drive in downtown Dartmouth. There's a parking garage behind Belmont House so I guess the lot in question is either on Alderney or at North and Edward Street (a less prominent site). The developer is Thornridge Holdings.

[Northend Nerd]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

I was speaking with the folks at Realstar yesterday who own the apartment buildings on Brunswick Street. Apparently a redevelopment is in the works for two of the properties. First Scotia Tower and then Plaza. They would both be reclad and the ground floors reconfigured to make them more pedestrian friendly. I didn't get a sense of a timeline however.

There was a construction crew working on the plaza this morning when I went by on my bike. It looked like they were ripping the roof apart on the entrance. Construction fences were up so it could be more than just a roofing repair job.

[JET]

Originally Posted by someone123

According to ANS, there's a 72 unit, 5 storey as-of-right condo in the works for a one acre lot adjacent to Belmont House, which is on Alderney Drive in downtown Dartmouth. There's a parking garage behind Belmont House so I guess the lot in question is either on Alderney or at North and Edward Street (a less prominent site). The developer is Thornridge Holdings.

it's probably where the Seaside Book and Stamp was located
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/seaside-book-and-stamp-dartmouth
there is a sign outside the building about redevelopment,
good location

[someone123]

Originally Posted by JET

it's probably where the Seaside Book and Stamp was located
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/seaside-book-and-stamp-dartmouth
there is a sign outside the building about redevelopment,
good location

Hmm.. it is possible, but the article stated that it would be a one acre parking lot adjacent to Belmont House. Maybe these are two different developments?

This is a great spot for more development. My only worry with these condos is that the design might not be very good because they are as of right. Hopefully downtown Dartmouth will soon get an HbD-style process.

[Dmajackson]

Originally Posted by someone123

Hmm.. it is possible, but the article stated that it would be a one acre parking lot adjacent to Belmont House. Maybe these are two different developments?

This is a great spot for more development. My only worry with these condos is that the design might not be very good because they are as of right. Hopefully downtown Dartmouth will soon get an HbD-style process.

I'm fine with these condos going up even if they are mediocre looking. The reason for this is high-quality projects are hard to come by and in places like Downtown Dartmouth where there is a high number of vacant sites by the time all these sites are filled in it will be time to redevelop the mediocre sites.

HRM does need to put pressure on improving Downtown Dartmouth though. The commercial stretch (Portland) is a joke, the main drag (Alderney) looks more like a highway in spots, it has a nice landmark center (Ferry Terminal area) but that immediately turns into a highly unattractive train yard and sea of parking lots. The western part in particular (where this project is) needs some municipal attention. The grid pattern needs to be restored, the Dartmouth trail should be extended northwest along the waterfront (with a connection to the Commons), and the CN lands should be redeveloped (minus lands for a future LRT).


A HRM_by_Design type process would address these problems and could even introduce unique solutions (ie bonus density for trail construction).

So all thoughts in I think even a mediocre design should be fine for this site for the time being. However, if it looks like 3150 Barrington I have very different ideas (involving dynamite and banishing the developer to Moncton ).

[Dmajackson]

Edit. Wrong thread

[SekishikiMeikaiHa]

Originally Posted by Northend Nerd

There was a construction crew working on the plaza this morning when I went by on my bike. It looked like they were ripping the roof apart on the entrance. Construction fences were up so it could be more than just a roofing repair job.

A shot of what Northend Nerd described:

[fenwick16]

Thanks for posting this picture SekishikiMeikaiHa. This is a renovation that is sorely needed.

I hope that they also have future plans for this one (MacKeen Towers). This is the biggest eyesore of the three Scotia Square apartment buildings (in my opinion). Talk about a terrible street-level appearance; this could have been a "what not to do" example for the HRM_by_Design design manual.

[Dmajackson]

Looks like World Wide Furniture is moving to Gallery 1 in Dartmouth. Ramia owns the current property on Kempt Road. It's not a large lot considering the area but it could be interesting to redevelop.

It's in a major commercial corridor with the nearest low-density resident about 70 meters away on Prescott Street. The property is only accessible from Kempt Road but backs onto Massachusetts Avenue via a steep grade.

With these constraints in mind I think a 20-22 storey (~70m) mixed-use building would work the best. I'd include ground floor commercial space that is aimed towards one large-sized retailer (ie department store). Above it should house middle class apartments. All of this should be in a modern styled building with minimal setbacks and a design that emphasizes a south-facing wall. All parking would be internal and accessed via a lane along the north property boundary. To work with the site slope there would be two floors of commercial/office each accessed via separate exterior entrances. The residential lobby would be located near the parking garage entrance. Landscaping would include new street-parking, buried powerlines, street trees, and a landscaped private rooftop area on the podium (3rd floor).

These are my thoughts. Anybody have some?