[Halifax] Queen's Marque | 30 m | 10 fl | Completed

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by someone123

Here's the development (with residential portion highlighted in this rendering):



Source

The more I look at this, the more disappointed I am that the original premise to redevelop the Maritime Museum of The Atlantic (and perhaps HMCS Sackville) and combine it with Queen's did not fly.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

The more I look at this, the more disappointed I am that the original premise to redevelop the Maritime Museum of The Atlantic (and perhaps HMCS Sackville) and combine it with Queen's did not fly.

Yes, I agree. The MMA has always looked like a 1970s Province of NS Dept of Lands and Forests storage building, and the more recent reclad did nothing much to change that. It is unattractive and does not fit the area. Of course I suppose we should be glad that this new proposal for Queens Marque does not force people using the boardwalk to enter into an enclosed food court to get from one end of it to another, as happens north of this site. How that was permitted baffles me. WDC really needs to get its act together.

[Ziobrop]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Yes, I agree. The MMA has always looked like a 1970s Province of NS Dept of Lands and Forests storage building, and the more recent reclad did nothing much to change that. It is unattractive and does not fit the area. Of course I suppose we should be glad that this new proposal for Queens Marque does not force people using the boardwalk to enter into an enclosed food court to get from one end of it to another, as happens north of this site. How that was permitted baffles me. WDC really needs to get its act together.

Historic Properties predates WDC - the boardwalk goes around the building - the foodcourt is a shortcut - and handled quite well i think.

its a shame the MMA isnt getting more space, but i suppose not really surprising. the Province is having trouble keeping its existing museums operating, let alone expanding one.

the sackville project looks good. i think that will only happen if some corp gives a big grant or the feds pony up the $$.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

The more I look at this, the more disappointed I am that the original premise to redevelop the Maritime Museum of The Atlantic (and perhaps HMCS Sackville) and combine it with Queen's did not fly.

The design likely would have been revised but the old renderings for the larger development looked seriously flawed. For one thing the old proposal involved one large building footprint (a much larger version of the problem with the Historic Properties food court) and blocking the sight lines down Prince Street. I don't think that is allowed under HbD now but back around 2010 it might have happened.

I would rather see a larger number of developments with smaller footprints even if it takes longer for some of the lackluster older buildings like the Maritime Museum to be redeveloped. The waterfront will be fairly consistently well-used if Queen's Marque is built along with the Cunard Block and the smaller more seasonal market buildings and the like end up on the Salter and Waterfront Warehouse lots.

[hoser111]

From today's Queens Marque newsletter:

"As of Monday, October 3rd, 2016 the Queen’s Marque site will be closed to prepare for the district’s development. Some changes will occur due to this exciting progression towards construction.


The Queen’s Landing parking lot (1707 Lower Water Street) will close on Monday, October 3rd. The Cable Wharf parking lot (1751 Lower Water Street) will close in early October."

[Dmajackson]

There is a report going to Regional Council tomorrow regarding Queen's Marquee. WDC is looking to purchase 72m² of land to allow for the proposal. In exchange they will give up 390m² for Lower Water Street's R.O.W.

http://www.halifax.ca/council/agenda...004ca14110.pdf

EDIT: It should be noted that while the extra right-of-way will be helpful for Lower Water Street the main pinch point is located south of this area at the Johnston Building so this proposal in itself won't fix the street.

[Ziobrop]

EDIT: It should be noted that while the extra right-of-way will be helpful for Lower Water Street the main pinch point is located south of this area at the Johnston Building so this proposal in itself won't fix the street.[/QUOTE]

the Johnson building is west - Corner of Barrington and Prince.

this doesn't actually change the width of the street all that much. the streetline as defined runs through the Robertson store at the MMA, and encompass property that isnt owned by the city.

the strip they want to buy is likely an old sewer outlet into the harbour, long since disused and infilled.

[kph06]

Construction fencing was up when I drove by tonight.

[HFX]

Kind of incredible how successful Armour Group has been these past few years. RBC Waterside really set the precedent for modern/historical blended buildings in the downtown core, and their technology campus investments in Bedford (multiple new interconnected buildings, one going up right now and more on the way) really show their commitment to the success of Halifax. I hope this one goes as well as others!

[worldlyhaligonian]

Context

Halifax Harbourfront by Denise Lynn R, on Flickr

[Dmajackson]

Design Review Committee Report - Queen's Marque

It is recommended that the Design Review Committee:

1. Approve the qualitative elements of the substantive site plan approval application for the mixeduse
development on lands located at 1721-1735 Lower Water Street, Halifax, as contained in
Attachment A, with the conditions that:
a) the southern portion of the Lower Water Street streetwall be articulated with an upper
storey streetwall stepback;
b) all flat rooftops, which are generally inaccessible to the building’s occupants, be
landscaped with roof tolerant vegetation; and
c) the sandstone bar be clad with Wallace sandstone;

2. Approve twelve of the thirteen identified variances to the Land Use By-law requirements, as
contained in Attachment D; the only exception being the variance request for maximum streetwall
height along the southern portion of the Lower Water Street frontage;
3. Accept the findings of the quantitative Wind Impact Assessment, as contained in Attachment E; and

4. Recommend that the Development Officer accept the provision of publicly accessible amenity or
open space, the provision of public art, and the provision of exemplary sustainable building
practices as the post-bonus height public benefit for the development.

[JET]

Wallace Sandstone, learn something new everyday:
http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/sgc-cms/...sh&ex=00000541

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by someone123

So what's the deal with the "setback" required on the southern Lower Water Facing portion? I like how this building meets Lower Water -probably my favourite aspect. It better not end up looking like a wedding cake!

[Jonovision]

This was also approved tonight by the DRC. The vote was apparently unanimous with no conditions even though staff had recommended against some of the requested variances, including the street wall setback along Lower Water.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/halifax...-approved.html

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

This was also approved tonight by the DRC. The vote was apparently unanimous with no conditions even though staff had recommended against some of the requested variances, including the street wall setback along Lower Water.

The DRC and council can go either way but I like how they use a bit of discretion sometimes. If it were up to staff following canned policies to the letter every building would be similar and there would be nothing to surprise people as they explored downtown Halifax. Most of the buildings that stand out as well-appreciated landmarks downtown were outside of the norm in some way when they were built; that's why they became landmarks. The imposing look of the Lower Water facade is one of the things that stands out with this proposal.

I think this is one of a minority of the proposals in Halifax that you can say has some unique local flavour in a positive way. Many of the others are nice but generic looking and could have come from a number of Canadian cities. You wouldn't get a solid looking building like this on the West Coast, you wouldn't get a waterfront building like this in non-waterfront cities (or the finger wharf type footprint almost anywhere), and smaller cities in Atlantic Canada rarely get developments on this scale.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by someone123

The DRC and council can go either way but I like how they use a bit of discretion sometimes. If it were up to staff following canned policies to the letter every building would be similar and there would be nothing to surprise people as they explored downtown Halifax. Most of the buildings that stand out as well-appreciated landmarks downtown were outside of the norm in some way when they were built; that's why they became landmarks. The imposing look of the Lower Water facade is one of the things that stands out with this proposal.

I think this is one of a minority of the proposals in Halifax that you can say has some unique local flavour in a positive way. Many of the others are nice but generic looking and could have come from a number of Canadian cities. You wouldn't get a solid looking building like this on the West Coast, you wouldn't get a waterfront building like this in non-waterfront cities (or the finger wharf type footprint almost anywhere), and smaller cities in Atlantic Canada rarely get developments on this scale.

I almost completely agree with you. I just wish there was a more formal mechanism for this type of thing to happen within our land use bylaws. Something along the lines of the Opportunity Sites that are used in downtown Dartmouth. Where a developer would apply to say this is a special site and they want to do something special that is non conforming with the current plan.

It would just make the whole thing a bit more open and transparent.

[Jonovision]

Work is well underway on site as well as further along the waterfront where all of the kiosks are to be set up for next season.

20161202_145804_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20161202_145723_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20161202_145137 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20161202_145244_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[bluenoser]

Moving right along!

brintonphotography on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/brintonphotography/?hl=en

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Work is well underway on site as well as further along the waterfront where all of the kiosks are to be set up for next season.

Thanks for the photos. I'm happy these little kiosks are being used elsewhere - they seem to add a lot to an area where there's not much else going on / parking lots.

[Jonovision]

All the kiosks have been moved to the far side of the Salter block and will eventually be put into a newly built area behind the Smiling Goat beer garden.

20161207_131347_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Jonovision]

20161209_160304_HDR by Jonovision23, on Flickr