Halifax Retail

[LikesBikes]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Building Permits;

- Bubble Tea will be opening up in Boss Plaza (Supreme Court, Halifax).

- Jukai Japenese & Thai will be opening up a new location in West Bedford at Larry Uteck Plaza. There will also be a "dog grooming and pet cafe" in that plaza as well.

- Steak & Stein's former Young Street location will become three separate unnamed retail units.

- Planet Fitness will be opening a location in Halifax Shopping Centre Annex.

I find it interesting that the sushi restaurants here are quite often part of a local chain. Jet Sushi, Sushi Nami, and now I guess Jukai. In other cities I lived in (much larger than HFX btw) I don't recall there being any sushi chains whatsoever.

[HalifaxRetales]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

- Bubble Tea will be opening up in Boss Plaza (Supreme Court, Halifax).

Macoa Imperial Tea

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

- Jukai Japenese & Thai will be opening up a new location in West Bedford at Larry Uteck Plaza. There will also be a "dog grooming and pet cafe" in that plaza as well.

and Meltwich

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

- Steak & Stein's former Young Street location will become three separate unnamed retail units.

One of them is PetValu

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

- Planet Fitness will be opening a location in Halifax Shopping Centre Annex.

This one seems small foot print, I suspect the former dry cleaners even though the permit is McDonald's specific civic

[Dmajackson]

Bedford Place Mall building permit; "Scope of work is limited to: Landlord base building work, demolition of food court to make way for 2 newly created tenant spaces. Location of work is suites 0230 and suite 0225.Note: a separate construction permit is required for the tenant fit-up (by others)." - The permit was submitted in early July before the flooding event.

Bedford Commons building permit; "Creation of 'The Swim Space' (A3) within existing commercial plaza; installation of two modular above-surface swimming pools for youth swim classes." (85 Damascus Road)

[someone123]

I wonder if they can do anything to mitigate the flooding.

The Sackville River floodplain has been an issue for years (though I guess this latest event was the worst one on record?). Long ago I was working in one of the Bedford office buildings when the parkade underneath flooded. It's not a big consolation to people who are affected but the flooding problems around Halifax are actually mild compared to a lot of regions due to the hilliness (floodplains being popular locations for cities as they tend to have fertile farmland; I wonder if the Bedford malls and sports field used to be farms?).

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Bedford Place Mall building permit; "Scope of work is limited to: Landlord base building work, demolition of food court to make way for 2 newly created tenant spaces. Location of work is suites 0230 and suite 0225.Note: a separate construction permit is required for the tenant fit-up (by others)." - The permit was submitted in early July before the flooding event.

Bedford Commons building permit; "Creation of 'The Swim Space' (A3) within existing commercial plaza; installation of two modular above-surface swimming pools for youth swim classes." (85 Damascus Road)

I conflated these on first reading- and thought how ironic that BPM submitted a reno permit for something called "The Swim Space" before those floods

[KMcK]

Originally Posted by someone123

I wonder if they can do anything to mitigate the flooding.

The Sackville River floodplain has been an issue for years (though I guess this latest event was the worst one on record?). Long ago I was working in one of the Bedford office buildings when the parkade underneath flooded. It's not a big consolation to people who are affected but the flooding problems around Halifax are actually mild compared to a lot of regions due to the hilliness (floodplains being popular locations for cities as they tend to have fertile farmland; I wonder if the Bedford malls and sports field used to be farms?).

Bedford Place was built on the Sackville River flood plain in the 1970s. It was filled in and levelled to be above expected flood levels for back then but we can see that is inadequate now and will be increasingly so in the future.

Had the flood plain not been filled in the flooding at other points along the river might not have been so bad. That's what flood plains are for. This would be a good time to remove the mall and rehabilitate the flood plan.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by KMcK

Bedford Place was built on the Sackville River flood plain in the 1970s. It was filled in and levelled to be above expected flood levels for back then but we can see that is inadequate now and will be increasingly so in the future.

Had the flood plain not been filled in the flooding at other points along the river might not have been so bad. That's what flood plains are for. This would be a good time to remove the mall and rehabilitate the flood plan.

I'm not sure if this would even mitigate future problems, as with all the development that has happened upstream, there would be much more runoff today than there ever was pre-1970s. Toss in a 100-year storm (which might end up being a 10-year storm in the future... who knows?), and the flood plain is just a holding pond for more water before flooding occurs, since the real problem is that flow rate is exceeding the capacity of the river to drain into the Bedford Basin.

I can't help think that, moving forward, an engineering solution is the way to go, unless you just decide to remove all the retail and residential (IIRC, something like 4 apartment buildings required rescuing of residents during the flooding) along the Sackville river, because they have the potential to flood during an extreme storm. An engineering solution would require time and money, but surely the costs would offset future costs of being reactive vs proactive.

Not to mention that, even though we are focusing on the Bedford Place Mall, flooding was widespread in all the areas of the province that received the largest amounts of rain. As we continue to welcome record numbers of new residents into the province, I'm not sure that removing development is the direction in which we should be heading.

In support of this, Hurricane Beth dumped 296mm of rain on Nova Scotia in August of 1971, resulting in severe flooding in downtown Dartmouth (Info + video: https://historydartmouth.blogspot.co...uth-flood.html. Rather than decide to remove development in downtown Dartmouth, the city engineered a stormwater management system to deal with future storms of this magnitude, and in recent years have replaced the system with one of equal or greater flow capacity, during the daylighting project.

[MonctonRad]

A very good point. While future development should avoid floodplains, existing development requires a different solution. I imagine an engineering solution may be necessary for future flooding events. A honking big storm sewer diversion will likely be necessary.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

A very good point. While future development should avoid floodplains, existing development requires a different solution. I imagine an engineering solution may be necessary for future flooding events. A honking big storm sewer diversion will likely be necessary.

At some point it will almost come down to needing the sort of huge water diversion channels (in New Mexico they were referred to as an "arroyo") that they have in the American Southwest!

[q12]

Swedish retailer Fjällräven is opening on Spring Garden Road in the Lululemon building (5415 Spring Garden Rd).

https://www.fjallraven.com/

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by q12

Swedish retailer Fjällräven is opening on Spring Garden Road in the Lululemon building (5415 Spring Garden Rd).

https://www.fjallraven.com/

Great news! I have a few of their jackets and love them.

[Jstaleness]

I saw on the weekend that the "iconic" John's Lunch on Pleasant St. Dartmouth is closing Oct. 31st.

It's not what it once was, since the brothers went their own ways, but for me, it's a spot I will miss.

[icetea93]

Adidas now open in Dartmouth Crossing

[someone123]

Originally Posted by q12

Swedish retailer Fjällräven is opening on Spring Garden Road in the Lululemon building (5415 Spring Garden Rd).

I wonder if the Mills development will bring in more tenants like that.

Is the Roy still empty? It seems odd.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by someone123

... Is the Roy still empty? It seems odd.

Yes, the Roy is still empty.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Yes, the Roy is still empty.

It's very weird. Downtown retail has been increasingly healthy and the rate of vacant storefronts is within healthy parameters, but this bit of Barrington seems to be being held hostage to the Roy's perennial vacancy. Not sure if it's Starfish looking for exorbitant rents or being overly choosy about tenants, but given the building's size, it's holding back Barrington's trajectory in this stretch.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

It's very weird. Downtown retail has been increasingly healthy and the rate of vacant storefronts is within healthy parameters, but this bit of Barrington seems to be being held hostage to the Roy's perennial vacancy. Not sure if it's Starfish looking for exorbitant rents or being overly choosy about tenants, but given the building's size, it's holding back Barrington's trajectory in this stretch.

Well - The Jade (the project that replaced the Discovery Centre in the old Zellers Building) opened later than The Roy and it has occupied storefronts on both Barrington and Hollis, which makes me feel like the issue is landlord-based rather than street-based. Not sure what the issue might be, but other spots are not left vacant this long.

[coastalkid]

McDonalds on Quinpool is moving to the ground-floor retail space of the TED next door - will likely lose the drive-thru under current Centre Place rules (AllNS today).

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

Well - The Jade (the project that replaced the Discovery Centre in the old Zellers Building) opened later than The Roy and it has occupied storefronts on both Barrington and Hollis, which makes me feel like the issue is landlord-based rather than street-based. Not sure what the issue might be, but other spots are not left vacant this long.

Absolutely, I agree.

[fatscat]

Originally Posted by coastalkid

McDonalds on Quinpool is moving to the ground-floor retail space of the TED next door - will likely lose the drive-thru under current Centre Place rules (AllNS today).

Great news. There is no place for a drive through on Quinpool going forward.