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  #421  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2014, 2:19 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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There was a story in allnovascotia.com. The new extension (i.e. south tower) will not be built. However, they still plan to redo the interior and exterior of the existing Fenwick Tower. The full story is by Amy Pugsley Frazer, "Joe Metlege Scales Back Fenwick Project", June 4th, 2014 edition (i.e. tomorrow's edition which is posted tonight).

In my opinion, this sounds like an improvement. I really didn't like the idea of making the tower wider.
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  #422  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2014, 2:27 AM
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I tend to agree. I'm not sure the project is any worse off now, and this wasn't much of a surprise given the regulatory delays and lack of updates.

One outstanding question is how long it'll take for the lot at Cogswell and Brunswick to be developed. I think that one's owned by the same developer, and it's been a parking lot now for a few years. Not a good thing for such a prominent corner.
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  #423  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2014, 2:43 AM
xanaxanax xanaxanax is offline
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Whats apart of this Development besides Fenwick tower, is there a bunch of surrounding buildings interoperated in this. I was trying to find a overhead view of the plans, I've heard talk of town-houses, there looks like fare amount of other infill but its hard to tell where or what it is from the rendering. (edit) Nevermind I found it here http://www.halifax.ca/Council/agenda...0309ca1111.pdf


I kind of liked the plans from this time last year

Last edited by xanaxanax; Jun 4, 2014 at 2:54 AM.
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  #424  
Old Posted Jun 4, 2014, 3:21 PM
lawsond lawsond is offline
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Quote:
I really didn't like the idea of making the tower wider.
Agreed. Good news. Tall and slim is good. But it REALLY needs a reclad. It looks like something you would see in a 1970`s photo from the Soviet Union
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  #425  
Old Posted Jun 6, 2014, 4:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Dmajackson View Post
PUBLIC INFORMATION MEETING - Thu, June 26, 7pm – 9pm
The Westin Nova Scotian, 1181 Hollis Street, Halifax, NS, Canada (Harbour Room A & B)

Case 19293 Application by Templeton Place Ltd. to amend the existing development agreement for 5599 Fenwick Street, Halifax (Fenwick Tower Property), to allow for changes to various building elements. Proposed changes include: reduction in the height and size of Fenwick Tower; changes to the shape and roofline of Fenwick Tower; changes to the Fenwick Street Townhouse Style Building; changes to the South Tower; relocation of the Mews/Pedestrian Passage; reduction of overall residential and commercial density; reconfiguration of 2-bedroom units throughout the development; and reduction of on-site parking
Cool, I'm off that night! I very recently stumbled on to this particular thread, and have been reading along to catch up. I was thrilled with the initial redesign, but then wondered why it still looked the same with no cranes on site to this day. Joe Metledge must mutter to himself sometimes "three lousy F'ing feet!" Now we have a scaled down version to look forward to. I sure hope this can go through, because I have to admire the patience it must take to try to build anything on the peninsula. Five years and yet still another public session.
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  #426  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2014, 10:31 AM
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Joe has met with me a couple times as this has evolved... main reason to not expand the tower is that it just isn't cost effective. Footings, concrete and form costs were all higher than anticipated and the more he crunched the numbers the less attractive it looked. At the end of the day it was just a higher ROI to reclad and renovate while building the other buildings.
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  #427  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2014, 11:13 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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Originally Posted by Waye Mason View Post
Joe has met with me a couple times as this has evolved... main reason to not expand the tower is that it just isn't cost effective. Footings, concrete and form costs were all higher than anticipated and the more he crunched the numbers the less attractive it looked. At the end of the day it was just a higher ROI to reclad and renovate while building the other buildings.
That makes sense and Fenwick Tower will look better without the added bulk.

Are there new renderings online somewhere?
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  #428  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2014, 6:24 PM
scryer scryer is offline
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Originally Posted by Duff View Post
A new rendering has been released for Fenwick Towers.

Did I read that right? A 30+ floor proposal that was approved?! Sorry I haven't been following this thread until today.

It looks like an amazing building and I think that this project is going to add quite nicely to Halifax.
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  #429  
Old Posted Jun 7, 2014, 7:52 PM
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Originally Posted by scryer View Post
Did I read that right? A 30+ floor proposal that was approved?! Sorry I haven't been following this thread until today.

It looks like an amazing building and I think that this project is going to add quite nicely to Halifax.
That is a previous rendering, however, it has been changed. The side tower extension, which is highlighted with the yellow stripes, has been eliminated and the extra few meters on the roof has also been eliminated.

It has been reported (source - allnovascotia.com) that the exterior and interior will still be redone. If it looks similar to that rendering without the extra width then I think it will turn out well.
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  #430  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2014, 10:56 AM
HRMjoe HRMjoe is offline
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Hey guys
I really appreciate you guys following the progression of the redevelopment of this site(albeit not as quickly as any of us would like).

We have spent the past 2 years designing (and re-designing) in order to meet what seems to be a continually moving target as it related to HRM regulations surrounding DA's and the lack of practical flexibility that could/should be built into each DA in conjunction with expanded authority of the HRM Planners and development officers who are reviewing/enforcing the DA/working drawings. By allowing the Development officer/planner more flexibility and authority, it would make for a more collaborative design approach between developers and HRM development office. Although we have some brilliant HRM staffers, they're unfortunately not given the flexibility/authority/control to implement what at times seem to be logical, and piratical decisions.

but I digress.

back to the Fenwick lol.

There will be a public information session at the Westin Hotel on June 26th at 7pm. I will have some renderings available to show anyone who's interested.

Essentially the new development does the following:

The Fenwick Tower will maintain its existing shape/size/height. It will however be re-cladded with window wall and composite panel to give it a cleaner more modern look from the outside while enhancing it's original brutalistic architectural features. The inside will be completely re-done and the units will enjoy floor to ceiling glass walls, along with the most modern of high end finishes.

The 8 storey West building essentially remains unchanged

The 10 storey South street building has a cut out along south street in order to allow for vehicles to turn into the property and drop people off in front of the main door (as opposed to the original street drop off).. we also separated and enlarged the balconies (original design had some units sharing the common balcony slab with only a divider separating the two.. but for security purposes we felt it would be a better living experience if each unit had their own balcony independent of neighbouring units... this separation of balconies was enough to trigger a new DA process.. perfect example of how not enough authority is given to Planners/development officers when it comes to working with developers)

The pedestrian mews remains the same except we moved it from traveling down the west side of the Fenwick Tower to the east side of fenwick tower (shorter walking distance for pedestrians from south the fenwick).

The widening of the Fenwick Tower, along with the 35 storey addition towards Fenwick Street has been eliminated and replaced with a 4 storey building.. the 4 storey building essentially maintains the original townhouse look that the podium of that 35 storey addition had so as to keep the human scale of the pedestrian as they walk down fenwick street.

A courtyard has been added on the west side of the Fenwick Tower.

All public spaces, amenities, etc have remain unchanged or enhanced in this new proposal when compared to the last.

Hope this clears up some questions.. come by June 26th if you have any more, I'd be happy to chat.

p.s keep the intelligent discussions alive.. Halifax needs more people like you
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  #431  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2014, 12:02 PM
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While I agree with Joe it was a mistake for HRM and Joe's lawyers to agree to a DA that included the colour of the brick, making it a substantial amendment to change it....

A huge change like reducing the tower rebuild, and changing the shape/size of the buildings is a substantial change. Those do need to come back to council. That is how development agreements work pretty much everywhere.
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  #432  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 12:25 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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I see that the 5599 Fenwick Street details have been updated - http://www.halifax.ca/planning/appli...293Details.php

The following link gives several 3D perspective renderings - http://www.halifax.ca/planning/appli...nd3DImages.pdf (I posted one of their images below). I think it looks great. It keeps the original brutalist shape but the glass re-cladding will look more contemporary.

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  #433  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 1:08 AM
counterfactual counterfactual is offline
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Never been a fan of brutalist architecture.

An era of architectural design from the 1960s and 1970s that, hopefully, will eventually crumble, be forgotten, and never repeated.
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  #434  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 1:51 PM
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I love when delays result in far better design. The previous design would have already been very dated. In Vancouver we stopped doing those 'semi arched' roof lines back in the early 2000's, now they're regarded as a design from 10-15 years ago. This design is far more respectful, pays homage to the era, yet nicely updates the tower while taking the 'brutal' edge of the brutalism.
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  #435  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 2:18 PM
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Originally Posted by connect2source View Post
I love when delays result in far better design. The previous design would have already been very dated. In Vancouver we stopped doing those 'semi arched' roof lines back in the early 2000's, now they're regarded as a design from 10-15 years ago. This design is far more respectful, pays homage to the era, yet nicely updates the tower while taking the 'brutal' edge of the brutalism.
Some of the lesser architects in Halifax seem terrified of straight lines or 90-degree angles. Everything they do has a curvy roof or a pointlessly frilly arch or something similarly straight out of 1996. I also prefer this redesign, and the way it accommodates the building's original shape. (Then again, I like brutalism, when it's well-done, and sparingly scattered throughout a city.)
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  #436  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 2:31 PM
counterfactual counterfactual is offline
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Originally Posted by HRMjoe View Post
Hey guys
I really appreciate you guys following the progression of the redevelopment of this site(albeit not as quickly as any of us would like).

We have spent the past 2 years designing (and re-designing) in order to meet what seems to be a continually moving target as it related to HRM regulations surrounding DA's and the lack of practical flexibility that could/should be built into each DA in conjunction with expanded authority of the HRM Planners and development officers who are reviewing/enforcing the DA/working drawings. By allowing the Development officer/planner more flexibility and authority, it would make for a more collaborative design approach between developers and HRM development office. Although we have some brilliant HRM staffers, they're unfortunately not given the flexibility/authority/control to implement what at times seem to be logical, and piratical decisions.

but I digress.

back to the Fenwick lol.

There will be a public information session at the Westin Hotel on June 26th at 7pm. I will have some renderings available to show anyone who's interested.

Essentially the new development does the following:

The Fenwick Tower will maintain its existing shape/size/height. It will however be re-cladded with window wall and composite panel to give it a cleaner more modern look from the outside while enhancing it's original brutalistic architectural features. The inside will be completely re-done and the units will enjoy floor to ceiling glass walls, along with the most modern of high end finishes.

The 8 storey West building essentially remains unchanged

The 10 storey South street building has a cut out along south street in order to allow for vehicles to turn into the property and drop people off in front of the main door (as opposed to the original street drop off).. we also separated and enlarged the balconies (original design had some units sharing the common balcony slab with only a divider separating the two.. but for security purposes we felt it would be a better living experience if each unit had their own balcony independent of neighbouring units... this separation of balconies was enough to trigger a new DA process.. perfect example of how not enough authority is given to Planners/development officers when it comes to working with developers)

The pedestrian mews remains the same except we moved it from traveling down the west side of the Fenwick Tower to the east side of fenwick tower (shorter walking distance for pedestrians from south the fenwick).

The widening of the Fenwick Tower, along with the 35 storey addition towards Fenwick Street has been eliminated and replaced with a 4 storey building.. the 4 storey building essentially maintains the original townhouse look that the podium of that 35 storey addition had so as to keep the human scale of the pedestrian as they walk down fenwick street.

A courtyard has been added on the west side of the Fenwick Tower.

All public spaces, amenities, etc have remain unchanged or enhanced in this new proposal when compared to the last.

Hope this clears up some questions.. come by June 26th if you have any more, I'd be happy to chat.

p.s keep the intelligent discussions alive.. Halifax needs more people like you
After having a chance to take a look at the updated design renderings (link further up), I think the new plan looks fantastic. Keep up the good work.
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  #437  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 4:15 PM
counterfactual counterfactual is offline
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You know what is annoying about this area? That long, ugly, useless, windowless, fenced, wasteful blank wall that Sobey's offers along Fenwick.
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  #438  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 4:36 PM
xanaxanax xanaxanax is offline
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Originally Posted by counterfactual View Post
You know what is annoying about this area? That long, ugly, useless, windowless, fenced, wasteful blank wall that Sobey's offers along Fenwick.
All the grocery stores in HRM are like that for city, something really needs to be collectively done about it for the future. They just built a new Sobey's in Dartmouth along wyse road and you have that same typical ugly facade right along the street that we'll be stuck with for 80 years now, enough with these place having the back or side have the street. Make a dame rule where the front has to be street grade and build put the parking lot behind them out of view
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  #439  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 4:52 PM
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For whatever reason, grocery stores are terrible for this. I can also think of the one near me at Windsor and Almon, which occupies an entire block that should be (and at one point surely was) relatively dense urban housing stock.

Even much bigger cities fall prey to this—here's one in Toronto, near my old apartment, looking like a suburban spaceship landed on one of the busiest stretches of College Street. (Look around the adjacent blocks to see what the urban context is.)

I wonder if HRM has any planning rules in place nowadays to discourage this suburban-sizing/scaling of large-format stores in urban locations. Given that awful Rona that just opened on Almon, I doubt it.
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  #440  
Old Posted Jun 17, 2014, 4:59 PM
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Originally Posted by Drybrain View Post
Some of the lesser architects in Halifax seem terrified of straight lines or 90-degree angles. Everything they do has a curvy roof or a pointlessly frilly arch or something similarly straight out of 1996. I also prefer this redesign, and the way it accommodates the building's original shape. (Then again, I like brutalism, when it's well-done, and sparingly scattered throughout a city.)
True but I'm thrilled to see buildings like the Central Library and Roy looking very current and akin to the shapes and lines I'm seeing in Vancouver. Fenwick will only add to this and once a few landmark structures have well established the current modernist look they'll be no going back to the curvy stuff.
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