[Halifax] The Sister Sites | 2X29 m | 2X9 floors | Completed

[Jonovision]

Those awful wooden hats over the vents on the sidewalk have now been somewhat tastefully replaced with large benches.

20170826_162607 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

And digging continues.
20170826_162146_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20171118_144023 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[IanWatson]

Apparently this one has been briefly put on hold. Banc acquired the Chester and Felicity building and wants to modify the design of the Margaretta to extend onto that lot.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Apparently this one has been briefly put on hold. Banc acquired the Chester and Felicity building and wants to modify the design of the Margaretta to extend onto that lot.

This seems like it might be a negative change from an urban development perspective. These buildings already have gigantic footprints compared to everything around them.

In Halifax I think there is too much focus on building heights and not enough focus on building width, footprint size, and lot frontage lengths. The limited heights probably make the lot size issue worse too, since the only way to do a large development in an area with low height limits is to build a squat, massive box with a huge footprint.

[DigitalNinja]

Originally Posted by someone123

This seems like it might be a negative change from an urban development perspective. These buildings already have gigantic footprints compared to everything around them.

In Halifax I think there is too much focus on building heights and not enough focus on building width, footprint size, and lot frontage lengths. The limited heights probably make the lot size issue worse too, since the only way to do a large development in an area with low height limits is to build a squat, massive box with a huge footprint.

Agreed, that was my first thought when reading that they may be merging it with the other property. I hope the design will make it into two buildings to separate the footprint.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by someone123

This seems like it might be a negative change from an urban development perspective. These buildings already have gigantic footprints compared to everything around them.

In Halifax I think there is too much focus on building heights and not enough focus on building width, footprint size, and lot frontage lengths. The limited heights probably make the lot size issue worse too, since the only way to do a large development in an area with low height limits is to build a squat, massive box with a huge footprint.

Good points

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Apparently this one has been briefly put on hold. Banc acquired the Chester and Felicity building and wants to modify the design of the Margaretta to extend onto that lot.

Banc paid $3.25 million on Nov 3 2017 for the small lot.

[yal]

Originally Posted by someone123

This seems like it might be a negative change from an urban development perspective. These buildings already have gigantic footprints compared to everything around them.

In Halifax I think there is too much focus on building heights and not enough focus on building width, footprint size, and lot frontage lengths. The limited heights probably make the lot size issue worse too, since the only way to do a large development in an area with low height limits is to build a squat, massive box with a huge footprint.

It would be really cool if they built two buildings there with some kind of public street/plaza in-between.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by yal

It would be really cool if they built two buildings there with some kind of public street/plaza in-between.

Banc is not in the street-building business.

[ScovaNotian]

The blue house on Birmingham that's right beside the Mary Ann looks like it's coming down. I wonder what the plan for that lot is.

[kph06]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

The blue house on Birmingham that's right beside the Mary Ann looks like it's coming down. I wonder what the plan for that lot is.

From what I heard it was in pretty rough shape, no immediate plans, just land banking.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by kph06

From what I heard it was in pretty rough shape, no immediate plans, just land banking.

Too bad they are creating another empty lot just as they are finally building on all of those empty lots that had been there for decades.

Maybe the Spring Garden area has a minimum 'empty lot' requirement?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Too bad they are creating another empty lot just as they are finally building on all of those empty lots that had been there for decades.

Maybe the Spring Garden area has a minimum 'empty lot' requirement?

This is a drawback of a tax system based on assessments (and slanted toward commercial tax rather than residential). If there were land taxes instead that did not tax improvements there would be less incentive to tear buildings down, and "land banking" would be less viable. Developers for the most part are just reacting to the (usually bad) financial incentives we create for them and maximizing profits.

Higher land taxes would also fix the runaway property values in several Canadian cities. They could be revenue neutral if we, say, got rid of the sales taxes in exchange. Unfortunately, different levels of government are tied to different types of taxes so setting optimal tax regimes is harder than it should be.

[Jonovision]

Not much happening on site since the acquisition of the adjacent property. However this seems to be the default Schmidtville thread so I saw they had torn down the house right next to the Mary Anne site. Not sure what the plan for that is.
1320 Queen street has been moved back off of its foundations. My understanding is they plan to repair the foundations, move the house back and then use the incoming historic preservation incentives that will be part of the Schmidtville Historic District designation to restore the house and build an addition on the back half of the lot.

20171211_155321 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20171211_155327 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20171211_155046 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[JET]

At least they are saving 1320, that's something.

[teddifax]

How and where are they moving it?

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by teddifax

How and where are they moving it?

It's already moved. It used to be up to the street line, but the photo shows it moved to the back of the lot. Echoing Jono, my understanding is that they're going to put a new foundation in and then put the house back on top.

And to be clear, 1320 Queen is not related to the Sister Site work. 1320 is being done by one of the Ghosns, while Sister Sites is Banc/WM Fares.

[Keith P.]

Yeah, it's all the way down a the other end of the block, near Morris St.

[musicman]

Some work going on in the pit today. The digging has begun anew.

[twitch]

Has anyone heard anything new on the construction? I see Chester and Felicity are down and part of the pit now but there don't seem to be any updates online?