Looks like rumors of the project being stalled are false! Drove past it yesterday and noticed they were indeed digging up the road for the electrical lines!
Project not stalled, developer saysBonnie BelecPublished on November 21, 2013Share 0
0 CommentSend to a friendPrintPower lines installed this week for condos on Duckworth StreetIf there’s any truth to the rumour that a condominium project on Duckworth Street is stalled, someone forgot to tell the developer.
© — Photo by Keith Gosse/The Telegram
Workers install conduits for electrical wiring for the Henry Bell development on Duckworth Street in St. John’s Wednesday afternoon.
“You hear rumours all the time about this and that, but the rumour about us being on hold is not true,” said Colin Whitcomb, executive vice-president of The Hardman Group Ltd.
Based in Halifax, The Hardman Group is the lead partner in the Henry Bell development project on Duckworth Street in St. John’s, which includes the transformation of two old buildings into condos and the construction of a parking garage.
There have been recent comments surrounding the progress of the project and suggestions the development was put on hold because the market is saturated with condos.
One real estate agent told The Telegram Wednesday she heard the rumour recently and as far back as two months ago.
But Whitcomb said nothing could be further from the truth.
“We’re actively selling units and, in fact, sold some this week. And this week, if not today, we’ve started excavating into Duckworth Street to start running the main electrical feeds for the Mix and the Marconi buildings. We have to get those power feeds in and the transformer with Newfoundland Power before we can start working on the condominiums once we get the permit approvals,” he told The Telegram Wednesday.
The former CBC and Newfoundland Telephone buildings will be converted into condos, but Whitcomb said the parking garage — to be called MetroPark — will be built first.
Whitcomb said the CBC building will be renamed the Marconi, with 50 condos and two commercial units on the ground floor on Duckworth Street, and the telephone building will be renamed the Mix, with 77 condos and ground floor retail accessible through Duckworth Street and McBride’s Hill.
The reutilization is needed in that area of town, he said, and while the buildings appear to have a negative presence right now, they will be turned into a positive asset for downtown.
“I know people are anxious to see that happening,” he said.
The parking garage, with 416 public and private parking spaces, will be finished first, and will open sometime around the middle of next year.
“On top of that, we have planning approval to put another five-storey structure on top of the parking garage,” said Whitcomb.
“Now we’re going to want to get the other two buildings renovated and completed before we get underway with another building on top of the parking structure, but that is the long-term plan. We’re not actively promoting that part of the project right now.”
According to the website condosmix.com, that building will be called the Mirador and will be the tallest residential building in St. John’s.
Whitcomb said the condos will probably take about a year to 14 months to build once they get started.
bbelec@thetelegram.com
http://www.thetelegram.com/News/Loca...veloper-says/1
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