hypothetical - tearing down Scotia Square

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by someone123

I actually kind of like the architecture of the old Scotia Square towers. Cogswell Tower is less appealing.

I like both the Duke and Barrington towers. I wonder if the Cogswell tower would be more aesthetically appealing if it were re-clad in glass.

[halifaxboyns]

I was walking around the TD Square "The core" Shopping Centre here in Calgary and it got me thinking about this thread and the remarkable differences between The Core and Scotia Square.

The Core is probably bigger than Scotia Square for store offerings, but has an office component to it as well. The difference between it and SS is that when the Core was built, rather than close some of the downtown streets and create a mega block, it was done on the original grid pattern and connected with pedways, where retail occurs. The core has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years with the new glass roof and the devonian gardens is soon to open.

There is a thread with some images, but it gives me comfort that if that whole section was ever to be redeveloped, you could restore some of the original grid pattern potentially. I guess it would depend on how Cogswell gets reconfigured.

[resetcbu1]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I was walking around the TD Square "The core" Shopping Centre here in Calgary and it got me thinking about this thread and the remarkable differences between The Core and Scotia Square.

The Core is probably bigger than Scotia Square for store offerings, but has an office component to it as well. The difference between it and SS is that when the Core was built, rather than close some of the downtown streets and create a mega block, it was done on the original grid pattern and connected with pedways, where retail occurs. The core has undergone a remarkable transformation in recent years with the new glass roof and the devonian gardens is soon to open.

There is a thread with some images, but it gives me comfort that if that whole section was ever to be redeveloped, you could restore some of the original grid pattern potentially. I guess it would depend on how Cogswell gets reconfigured.

It's a shame they got rid of the devonian gardens though but it is a much better place to visist/shop recently.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by resetcbu1

It's a shame they got rid of the devonian gardens though but it is a much better place to visist/shop recently.

They didn't get rid of it - it's been redesigned and is scheduled to open up in August of this year. It was the last piece to the whole redevelopment.

[Waye Mason]

I could see it being worthwhile for Halifax Developments to do some redesign on the north side if and when Cogswell comes down. Making a walk through "road" between the top third and two bottom thirds, maybe as a part of a renovation and re-cladding of Cogswell tower, that might be conceivable. The whole harbour side of that part of the complex needs to be gutted and rebuilt to be less scary and confusing to users.

If there was a way to put store fronts, some kind of USE to that street, that would help sell it. Just having a concrete canyon that you can walk through is not much of an improvement.

[resetcbu1]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

They didn't get rid of it - it's been redesigned and is scheduled to open up in August of this year. It was the last piece to the whole redevelopment.

Awsome , I loved that little spot

[halifaxboyns]

Scotia Square to get 3-storey addition
(from the CH online - yesterday)

Project will create Class A office space, pedway
Scotia Square is expanding.

Last week, Halifax Developments Ltd., which is owned and managed by Sobey family-controlled Crombie REIT, began a pre-leasing campaign for a new three-storey addition to the Scotia Square mixed-use complex.

The addition would be built at the corner of Duke and Albemarle streets and would add 100,000 square feet of class A office space to the downtown core.

The low-rise addition, dubbed Westhill on Duke, would be built on top of the existing roof structure that covers the crossover floor between Duke Tower and Barrington Tower, with a pedway providing access to the rest of Scotia Square.

Barry Stockall, the senior leasing director at Halifax Developments, said that there will be a full complement of conveniences there “that we think will help sell that project.”

“We’re looking for any downtown central business-type tenant, good companies that are looking to be in the downtown core with ample parking ... that are looking for all the amenities,” he said. “So you’ve got parking, you’ve got a fitness facility, you’ve got daycare, you’ve got in-house security.”

There is no timeline as to when construction would begin and no estimated price tag yet, he said.

“It would depend on how much pre-leasing we would do. As far as I know, our engineers and our planners and our development company are dealing with the city right now, working with them to get a development permit in place.”

The building will feature floor-to-ceiling glazed office windows, a stepped landscape areas at the entrance, and stone cladding over the existing podium, and a rooftop patio and garden.

With very little in terms of new office construction in downtown Halifax over the last two decades, the project signals the company’s positive feelings toward the future of the downtown core, particularly with other projects such as the RBC Waterside Centre now underway, Stockall said.

The rest of the article and an artist rendering can be found here.

[halifaxboyns]

After fenwick posted some old photos of the layout around the Scotia Square site, it got me thinking about how the site could be redeveloped, the street grid partially restored and what we might see with the Cogswell interchange rework. So using some assumptions I made on what the Cogswell interchange reconfiguration could look like, I came up with a plan using the Halifax map on google of what the site could be reconfigured to be.

Keep in mind, I don't have sketch up, so you have to use some imagination for the built form but I think my idea has some pretty interesting parts to it. I also used the Core Shopping Centre here in Calgary as an inspiration. Here is my idea...

Starting out at the Duke/Barrington intersection, we have the pedestrian plaza and corridor. That will stretch up to Brunswick and will be a stepped series of plazas and walkways with benches, trees, landscaping and will be pedestrian only. This uses part of the old street grid and provides a wide view/walking corridor up from Barrington. The Plaza on the corner adjacent to the existing bus stop softens this edge and provides landscaping, seating and a much 'softer' interface at the street with the adjacent buildings. Building site 1 would be an office tower, with 2 levels of retail accessed from the street. A pedway across to the mall site would be provided on both commercial levels, parking below grade as part of a massive underground parking complex (all interconnected).

Sites 2, 3 and 4 would essentially become the new Scotia Square, using part of the existing mall, hotel and Cogswell tower site. Parking would all be below grade, as would the service area for deliveries. Argyle Street is restored in purple but to avoid a traffic light @ Duke (on a hill), it would be one way flowing out to Albemarle Street. Parkade access points from each building and a drop off/pick up lay-by for the hotel would also be from Argyle. The mall component would be 2 levels of retail stores/food court, with a 3rd level being an indoor park similar to Devonian Gardens. 3 Towers (1 hotel, 2 office) would all be accessible from the Mall or Argyle Street.

Site 5 is essentially the existing parkade and part of the existing hotel. This would become a new office tower, parking below grade with an extension of the commercial component from the mall through a pedway and at grade retail and lobby entrance from the street.

Site 6 is part of the Duke Tower and the new addition being put on (which has not yet been approved). This could be another office tower or residential tower. There would be a pedway connection to site 5 to allow direct access to the mall and a potential connection to site 1. Parking would be underground and a lobby/small retail at grade. Depending on whether the building was residential or not, the parking area of the parkade might be restricted access for residents only and the lobby would not have commercial (just a lobby). A lay-by could then be constructed either on Duke or Albemarle.

Assumptions: All buildings would be built to HbD maximums (which is the rampart heights) and that if possible, all parking would be underground (no exposed parkades). Depending on the cost, it may be possible to go down up to 3 stories (considering Nova Centre is doing that) to create enough parking. All buildings would be close to the street, so careful design would be required to ensure the buildings are not imposing.

I would note that my assumptions on Cogswell also leave a few sites for future development and note the construction of International Place. This design ends up with 6 tower locations and possibility of residential as well, but without knowing the scale I can't say if the floor plates would be viable or not.

[halifaxboyns]

For those of you who may not be familiar with the Core Shopping Centre in Calgary that I took my ideas from, here are a few images. I particularly enjoy how the interior uses the shop front approach - each store looks like a shop front you might see on an actual high street. Then the park is on the upper level with the food court (so you have a place to sit).







(I found these images off of a google image search from various sources)

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

After fenwick posted some old photos of the layout around the Scotia Square site, it got me thinking about how the site could be redeveloped, the street grid partially restored and what we might see with the Cogswell interchange rework. So using some assumptions I made on what the Cogswell interchange reconfiguration could look like, I came up with a plan using the Halifax map on google of what the site could be reconfigured to be.

Keep in mind, I don't have sketch up, so you have to use some imagination for the built form but I think my idea has some pretty interesting parts to it. I also used the Core Shopping Centre here in Calgary as an inspiration. Here is my idea...

It would be great to see Buckingham Street restored all the way from Brunswick Street down to Upper Water Street. Scotia Square would have to be split along where the Market Street entrance/path is, the north end of the Granville Street Delta removed (the newer section) and one of the Scotia Square apartment buildings would have to be partially demolished though.

There is a lot of useful information on the halifax.ca website regarding the Cogswell Interchange at this link - http://www.halifax.ca/RealPropertyPl...terchange.html

(this is an image drawn by Danbi Lee at HRM Capital District, which shows an overlay of the pre-Cogswell Interchange street grid and post-Cogswell Interchange street-grid)

[fenwick16]

I would like to see Scotia Square reconfigured so there is a street passing through the super-block close to where Buckingham Street once existed. I did an illustration on Sketchup today showing how it might look.




It would also be good to have a street passing adjacent to Cogswell Tower (to the south) but this might require a demolition and rebuild of the tower since there are vehicular ramps between the two parking structures.