[Halifax] Citadel Halifax Redevelopment | 3X49 m | 18-16-16 fl | Completed

[Nifta]

Originally Posted by DigitalNinja

Wouldn't it be cheaper just to blow the building up? (And admittedly more entertaining...)

I think that materials need to be separated before they can go to landfill or recycling now. Blowing it up would make separation of the glass/steel/concrete etc a bit of a nightmare.

[someone123]

Here's a nice shot of the skyline. I think it shows the demolition progress -- I guess that's the police building showing, and it probably wouldn't have been visible until the hotel was partly demolished.

At any rate, the new buildings should be substantially taller than the Brunswick Street apartment buildings and taller than the somewhat unfortunate dark brown office building on the Citadel block.


Source

[gm_scott]

Its kinda funny how the Atlantica looks like its right downtown.

[kph06]

I drove by last night and much of the boom of that tower crane is assembled, maybe it will just be stockpiled on site until needed and the Omega crane up at Dal will go to the Waterside Centre?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by kph06

I drove by last night and much of the boom of that tower crane is assembled, maybe it will just be stockpiled on site until needed and the Omega crane up at Dal will go to the Waterside Centre?

The ANS article "New Sky Crane" says that the crane on the Citadel site will be erected there soon.

Kind of crazy but we might see 4 or 5 cranes downtown in a couple of months (though I guess the City Centre Atlantic crane will be down soon if it's not already).

[kph06]

Originally Posted by someone123

The ANS article "New Sky Crane" says that the crane on the Citadel site will be erected there soon.

Kind of crazy but we might see 4 or 5 cranes downtown in a couple of months (though I guess the City Centre Atlantic crane will be down soon if it's not already).

The City Centre crane is still up there, the cladding seems to be taking a while, they must be using it to lift the materials for that still.

[kph06]

Here's a few I took yesterday:

[fenwick16]

I wonder why it is taking so long to demolish the tower?

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I wonder why it is taking so long to demolish the tower?

They have not actually been working on the tower itself that I can see. The equipment that was put on top worked for a day and then halted.

It's hard to see from street level but they have been busy digging a large pit on the Cogswell side of the site next to the tower. They hit bedrock this morning and the jackhammer came out.

I'm assuming they are going to start so foundation work so they can put the crane up and then us it to help them take down the tower.

[Marcel_B]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I wonder why it is taking so long to demolish the tower?

I work next door and a colleague spoke with a construction worker. He didn't go into detail but they hope to start demolishing the tower again next week.

[Jonovision]

Yesterday they brought in a very large concrete block and set it in the hole close to the tower. My guess is the crane is going to sit on that and be put up over the weekend so that demo can resume.

[Wishblade]

This crane plus the one at waterside will give the downtown so much more of a progressive look and feel. I can't wait!

[kph06]

Here are two my me from today:

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by kph06

Heritage, in a sense, is everything we build in this city -- but I would expect that only a very small number of Haligonians would want to extend heritage protection to these three apartment buildings.

Using all the available space, it would be encouraging to see a redevelopment, someday, involving one unified tower. It wouldn't be extremely tall, of course, but the length of the building would be quite impressive and would cost more units than these three separate buildings (of various design and quality) do.

[Keith P.]

I always found those towers odd. They were built as part of the Scotia Square development in the early 1970s, yet look different from each other and from SS itself. For all its flaws, at least Scotia Square has sort of a coherent design theme even if it isn't great. For these it is like the developers picked 3 random, ordinary designs out of a book. Of course, they did the same thing when they built Cogswell Tower so I guess I should not be surprised.

I have never been in any of these 3 buildings so I have no idea if they are good, bad or indifferent, or if one is better than the others. All I have ever heard about them is legend - namely that they (or at least used to) be home to some of the most expensive call girls in town. Don't know if that is still true.

[Jonovision]

I've been in Plaza, the one on the far right and it actually has some really nice units. The ones on the top have some really nice views.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

I've been in Plaza, the one on the far right and it actually has some really nice units. The ones on the top have some really nice views.

Out of the 3 apartment buildings, I think that is the only one that looks decent from the exterior (the one at Duke and Brunswick). It has street-level retail and brick all around (no blank concrete walls, as on the other two).

The Citadel re-development will be a start to transforming this area of the downtown. Here is the Bing Maps Bird's Eye View - http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=rf7...NS&form=LMLTCC. With the three new Citadel towers, the area between Duke and Cogswell on Brunswick Street will have a more uniform street-view and a more modern-city appearance. (it would be better if the cladding was redone on the two northern-most Scotia Square apartment towers).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Out of the 3 apartment buildings, I think that is the only one that looks decent from the exterior (the one at Duke and Brunswick). It has street-level retail and brick all around (no blank concrete walls, as on the other two).

I just took a look at them on Google street view and would agree with you. Both the one in the middle (Scotia Towers) and the one at the Cogswell corner both have a lot of blank concrete wall right to the sidewalk for what I presume is parking garages. Those two seem particularly bad from an aesthetic standpoint - not just cladding, but windows as well.

The street view brought an interesting question to mind. Google still shows the Citadel Hotel in full operation. Of course, much of it has now disappeared. I wonder if Google archives these images somewhere? It would be interesting to be able to go back in time as they presumably update their image files in the years to come.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

It would be interesting to be able to go back in time as they presumably update their image files in the years to come.

Google keeps an archive of overhead satellite images in Google Earth (version 6.1.0.5001). It is under the "View" menu (select "Historical Imagery" - for Halifax they have from 2003 to the most recent images). A slide-bar will appear and then you can select images from different years. (PS: I wish that Bing Maps had this feature - their Bird's Eye View gives a great perspective on city landscapes)

Google (and the internet) is GREAT . I remember when doing a bit of research meant going to the library and sometimes having to wait for days or weeks for information to arrive from other libraries; now doing a bit of research takes minutes. The internet has been a real revolution in getting information quickly.

[kph06]

From today: