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  #241  
Old Posted Sep 11, 2012, 9:38 PM
Hali87 Hali87 is offline
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The section on the provision of affordable housing is interesting. Based on the methods used to calculate "affordable" rent (not sure how firm the legal definition is), a 1-bedroom unit would still cost just under $800/month, and it is not clear whether or not this includes utilities. I guess this is fairly cheap for the area, but I'm not sure what the benefit of this approach is, because someone who can't afford the lower market level rent elsewhere in the city won't be able to afford this building's subsidized units.

Last edited by Hali87; Sep 11, 2012 at 10:13 PM. Reason: typos
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  #242  
Old Posted Sep 11, 2012, 10:06 PM
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The "affordable housing" concept is foolish to apply on a blanket basis everywhere. If someone decides to to a project on the most expensive street in the south end why should they need to have affordable housing? If you are going to provide incentives for such things, do so in zones where it makes sense, not everywhere.
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  #243  
Old Posted Sep 11, 2012, 11:26 PM
worldlyhaligonian worldlyhaligonian is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
The "affordable housing" concept is foolish to apply on a blanket basis everywhere. If someone decides to to a project on the most expensive street in the south end why should they need to have affordable housing? If you are going to provide incentives for such things, do so in zones where it makes sense, not everywhere.
I can't even figure out how it works... is it free market "affordable housing"? (i.e. anybody can buy the cheap units?)

What about the people who pay full price? How is this all determined?

I'm still waiting for my cheap place in Trump Tower
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  #244  
Old Posted Sep 11, 2012, 11:28 PM
worldlyhaligonian worldlyhaligonian is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hali87 View Post
The section on the provision of affordable housing is interesting. Based on the methods used to calculate "affordable" rent (not sure how firm the legal definition is), a 1-bedroom unit would still cost just under $800/month, and it is not clear whether or not this includes utilities. I guess this is fairly cheap for the area, but I'm not sure what the benefit of this approach is, because someone who can't afford the lower market level rent elsewhere in the city won't be able to afford this building's subsidized units.
See, where I take issue is the fact that it only really subsidizes the lucky bastard who gets this downtown unit. Its a big f-u to all the middle class people who work there asses off and live out in the sticks.
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  #245  
Old Posted Sep 11, 2012, 11:54 PM
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Part of the rationale behind the affordable housing units is the idea that it's good for neighbourhoods to have a mix of incomes. This is a Jane Jacobs-era idea that was probably always a bit muddled. I could see it being an example of an incorrectly assumed causal relationship -- maybe the "successful" neighbourhoods happen to have a mix of incomes because they are in the middle of a process where higher income households are displacing lower income renters. Somebody observing both effects at once might incorrectly assume that the relationship is inverted.

In practice I think it's even less relevant in the particular case of Halifax because the city is small and the luxury housing market is tiny. Even if it were possible for poor people to be displaced out to far-flung suburbs, the best way to help them would be to provide good services like transit instead of selecting 2% of them at random and giving them subsidized units in swanky buildings.

I can't find the article, but a while back I read a NYT story about absurd affordable housing units in some of the city's expensive buildings. One lady they interviewed was living in an Upper East Side luxury building full of amenities she did not use and people she had nothing in common with (it's probably even worse than that if you're known as the building's "charity case"). She also could not afford to shop in her own neighbourhood. Had her unit gone on the market it would have been worth millions and that money could have been used to buy more appropriate housing for many people.
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  #246  
Old Posted Sep 14, 2012, 2:32 AM
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The first building was approved by the design review committee. The developers plan to start construction in November. Apparently the design has been "tweaked" since the old renderings were made but I am not sure what has changed. The plan is for development of the Margaretta site to follow in 6-8 months.

It's going to be quite impressive to see all these buildings under construction over the next year or two.
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  #247  
Old Posted Sep 14, 2012, 10:52 AM
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Glad this is moving forward.

I have to agree with the criticism about the north facing courtyard. I don't think the courtyard is worthy of design committee refusal, but it should have given the developer some pause. It's a much less attractive amenity, but perhaps since the competition for downtown living is not so strong yet, it won't make much difference in influencing potential residents.
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  #248  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2012, 1:02 PM
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Here is the staff report. http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/drc/...sept132012.pdf
According to the newspaper the only changes were on the north facade which you can see on drawing A-22. The orange is to be replaced with brick and the painted concrete replaced with precast.
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  #249  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2012, 1:28 PM
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I think it looks great.
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  #250  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2012, 4:58 PM
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Disappointing. The darker blues of the first rendering looked much better. This new version looks washed out.

Regardless, cheers to the beginnings of this project!
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  #251  
Old Posted Sep 22, 2012, 7:28 PM
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Nice mid-rise development, this combined with everything else going on in the area will be a massive improvement.
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  #252  
Old Posted Sep 23, 2012, 5:03 AM
halifaxboyns halifaxboyns is offline
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Still looks good - can't wait to see it built. A bit surprised that they have 3 levels of parking. I thought because of the acid slate issues and the hard bedrock that underground parking didn't go below 2 levels? That surprised me, but I guess I'm wrong!
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  #253  
Old Posted Sep 23, 2012, 2:03 PM
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Originally Posted by cormiermax View Post
Nice mid-rise development, this combined with everything else going on in the area will be a massive improvement.
This is a decent expansion of retail onto Queen and Clyde Streets.

Driving down Queen, the density this development and the library will bring to what Spring Garden Road already has will look great!!

I wonder how much the Mary Ann development will be visible from the harbour?
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  #254  
Old Posted Sep 24, 2012, 4:02 PM
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Originally Posted by halifaxboyns View Post
Still looks good - can't wait to see it built. A bit surprised that they have 3 levels of parking. I thought because of the acid slate issues and the hard bedrock that underground parking didn't go below 2 levels? That surprised me, but I guess I'm wrong!
As far as I am aware, it is just normally cost prohibitive to go deeper. The high tipping fees for pyritic slate, combined with higher costs for depth makes it pricey.

I am excited to see how this development, and all of that section of Queen St. progresses. I need to look at the Dalhousie master plan again and see what's happening near Gerard Hall for a total streetscape perspective.

Last edited by JaredDL; Oct 19, 2015 at 1:54 AM.
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  #255  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 1:13 AM
Nifta Nifta is offline
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I realize that no renderings are out yet, but is the plan for the other Sisters lot much the same (i.e. Mid-rise residential with retail at ground-level)?
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  #256  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 1:43 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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I realize that no renderings are out yet, but is the plan for the other Sisters lot much the same (i.e. Mid-rise residential with retail at ground-level)?
Yes, I remember reading that the buildings would be similar. Someone123 posted this a few months ago, which shows a basic rendering of the other building to the left.

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Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
Here's a new rendering:


Source


According to ANS the buildings are being considered under HbD and the developers are still aiming for a summer construction start. Hopefully we will soon see more details up on the HRM website.

By the way, this one also appears to have coloured balconies.
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  #257  
Old Posted Sep 25, 2012, 3:07 AM
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WM Fares-Banc development to begin
September 24, 2012 - 8:50pm BY REMO ZACCAGNA BUSINESS REPORTER

Quote:
Ground will be turned on a joint downtown mixed-use development project before the year is out, says one of the developers.

WM Fares Group and Banc Developments Ltd. purchased two parking lots on Clyde Street, divided by Birmingham Street, in 2011 for $14.7 million.

...
Read More: thechronicleherald.ca

Just thinking but should this thread be for all three sites or just this one building?
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  #258  
Old Posted Oct 27, 2012, 11:50 PM
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The only downside I see for one thread is that the title would have to reflect the state of three different sites. The first site is the only one that is approved. It probably makes sense for discussion and construction updates of all 3 projects to be in one spot. King's Wharf and the Citadel site each have a single thread.

If everything is still on track then we should see a construction start sometime during the next few weeks. It will be impressive to see this and the library go up at the same time.
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  #259  
Old Posted Oct 28, 2012, 4:28 AM
halifaxboyns halifaxboyns is offline
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I would have to agree - having one thread makes the need to be changing titles constantly. I'd rather have separate ones.
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  #260  
Old Posted Nov 15, 2012, 6:37 AM
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If the predictions are correct then this one should be starting up very shortly.

This site ties in with what I said about "filling in" the neighbourhood in the library thread. In a few years there will be a much bigger pedestrian-friendly area with few surface lots. The good areas around Spring Garden Road will be about twice the size in 2013 or 2014 that they were in 2003 or 2004. Back then sidestreets like Dresden Row and South Park Street had a lot less to offer.
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