Hypothetical discussion - Other locations that would be good for re-development?

[halifaxboyns]

I was looking at some aerial photos of Halifax the other day and thinking back to the other thread about where could Halterm go - it got me thinking of what you could do with the Halterm land, as well as the grain terminals?

That's a pretty huge piece of land in a prime spot. It got me thinking about Expo 86 and what Vancouver did with their shoreline for Expo - might be an interesting spot for something like that down the road?

Also - with all the interest around St. George's Church site on Gottingen street - what about the Oland Brewery? Any thoughts?

[Keith P.]

Since this is pure fantasy and you're turfing running, viable businesses off their property, I would luike to see the Irving station and adjacent O'Regan's car dealership on Robie redeveloped.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Since this is pure fantasy and you're turfing running, viable businesses off their property, I would luike to see the Irving station and adjacent O'Regan's car dealership on Robie redeveloped.

I was thinking about that as well - that area already has prescident for large towers and considering the size of the parcel you could probably do 3 or 4 of them.

Now if only I could win one of those big american lotteries!

[halifaxboyns]

I was thinking about this thread and some of the recent waterfront developments going on in Halifax (like King's Wharf). So I wanted to show a couple recent (and a few older) developments in Calgary that I think might be something to consider in terms of design for HRM. Of course, many of these buildings are much taller than then Fenwick, so consider these on a more 'hrm-ish' scale. These are mainly residential towers, that could be along the waterfront or throughout the core.


This is our development called 'waterfront', a second tower soon to be started.

Some of the low rise development along the Bow River Pathway in Eau Claire (typically going for 900k and up).

More Eau Claire, low and high rise.

Another Eau Claire tower - a little fuzzy cause of the grey sky.


This one isn't in Eau Claire - it's just off 5th Avenue SW in the Core. But it's one of my favorite pair of towers.

I think these are some pretty interesting architecture that could fit into the HRM context - it's what I think would work in many different spots. These are ment to inspire design changes in HRM - but not to be copies.

Thoughts?

[halifaxboyns]

I also wanted to post some examples of office tower styles, to see what people think about a similar style for HRM:


This is Jamieson Place. Just completed.


Centenial Place 1 and Centenial Place 2 (Tower 1 was done by WZMH Architects - who have done some stuff in HRM I believe??)


The Calgary Courts building - why be short?


The Hyatt Hotel - the style was based on heritage buildings encorporated at the base from Stephen Avenue.


The Bow - Encana's soon to be home. 58 stories, just completing the outer shell of the 40th floor now.


The Sheraton Suites Eau Claire - 2nd most expensive hotel in Calgary. I see this style as being something that might work in the Spring Garden Area, or maybe near the waterfront for a boutique hotel.

So these are some designs, which might work on the HRM side in the taller areas or maybe in Dartmouth if the Brightwood viewplane were removed.

[someone123]

Calgary has some nice office towers but the designs for most others seem kind of brutal, below the level of design of the major Halifax proposals (like United Gulf, International Place, King's Wharf, or Salter) and way below what is built in Vancouver.

I really like some of the new Olympic Village buildings here, and they are totally on a scale that would be ideal for Halifax. I like the colourful building materials and the building layout:


Source

Another part of the development:


Source

An infill building in another part of Vancouver, at Broadway and Cambie - imagine something like this at Spring Garden and Queen:

Source

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I also wanted to post some examples of office tower styles, to see what people think about a similar style for HRM:


This is Jamieson Place. Just completed.

Centenial Place 1 and Centenial Place 2 (Tower 1 was done by WZMH Architects - who have done some stuff in HRM I believe??)

I like these two - Jamieson Place looks very much like 1801 Hollis in Halifax (which I think is a very nice office tower)

The Calgary Courts building - why be short?

The Hyatt Hotel - the style was based on heritage buildings encorporated at the base from Stephen Avenue.

These two look too dark to me (I think it is the cement and green glass)

The Bow - Encana's soon to be home. 58 stories, just completing the outer shell of the 40th floor now.

The Bow would look great in any major city in the world. In my opinion, this is a 5 star building.

The Sheraton Suites Eau Claire - 2nd most expensive hotel in Calgary. I see this style as being something that might work in the Spring Garden Area, or maybe near the waterfront for a boutique hotel.

So these are some designs, which might work on the HRM side in the taller areas or maybe in Dartmouth if the Brightwood viewplane were removed.

Is it just me? All of the ones with green/brick/cement are very unappealing to me. Whereas all of the ones with the blue tinted glass look good.

There is something exciting about living in a prosperous growing city like Calgary (or in my case Toronto). I think that Haligonians (including Dartmouth) are starting to experience this. I hope that it will continue so that people will stop moving away.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by someone123

Calgary has some nice office towers but the designs for most others seem kind of brutal, below the level of design of the major Halifax proposals (like United Gulf, International Place, King's Wharf, or Salter) and way below what is built in Vancouver.

I really like some of the new Olympic Village buildings here, and they are totally on a scale that would be ideal for Halifax. I like the colourful building materials and the building layout:


Source

I like this one the best. I wonder if the Atlantic Square on Spring Garden will look a bit like this (it isn't as elaborate as the Vancouver building above).

[someone123]

You mean the City Centre Atlantic addition? That one does look similar, and is a similar size, although the base would still be the original brown brick of the existing mall.

The McCully Worklofts on Agricola would have been another sharp looking project on this scale but I believe that project is either on hold or cancelled (though their website is still up):


Source - mccullyworklofts.ca

The design is simpler and more conservative than most quality Vancouver buildings but it fits in well with the aesthetics of Halifax's North End. I wish there were more completed projects in this style around the city.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by someone123

You mean the City Centre Atlantic addition? That one does look similar, and is a similar size, although the base would still be the original brown brick of the existing mall.

The McCully Worklofts on Agricola would have been another sharp looking project on this scale but I believe that project is either on hold or cancelled (though their website is still up):

The design is simpler and more conservative than most quality Vancouver buildings but it fits in well with the aesthetics of Halifax's North End.

Yes, the City Centre Atlantic (although I prefer the orange in the Vancouver building versus the green in the City Atlantic, since the orange stands out more). I also like the McCully Worklofts.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I was thinking about this thread and some of the recent waterfront developments going on in Halifax (like King's Wharf). So I wanted to show a couple recent (and a few older) developments in Calgary that I think might be something to consider in terms of design for HRM. Of course, many of these buildings are much taller than then Fenwick, so consider these on a more 'hrm-ish' scale. These are mainly residential towers, that could be along the waterfront or throughout the core.

This looks a little bit like the taller building in the Pine Street proposal in Dartmouth (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=178588&page=2). Dartmouth might become the high rise location in the HRM.

More Eau Claire, low and high rise.

Another Eau Claire tower - a little fuzzy cause of the grey sky.

This style looks good.

I think this one would be best in the suburbs.

This one isn't in Eau Claire - it's just off 5th Avenue SW in the Core. But it's one of my favorite pair of towers.

I think these are some pretty interesting architecture that could fit into the HRM context - it's what I think would work in many different spots. These are ment to inspire design changes in HRM - but not to be copies.

Thoughts?

The bottom pair looks great. Is the brown coloured material brick or composite panel?

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I was thinking about this thread and some of the recent waterfront developments going on in Halifax (like King's Wharf). So I wanted to show a couple recent (and a few older) developments in Calgary that I think might be something to consider in terms of design for HRM. Of course, many of these buildings are much taller than then Fenwick, so consider these on a more 'hrm-ish' scale. These are mainly residential towers, that could be along the waterfront or throughout the core.



More Eau Claire, low and high rise.

Actually the tall one in the back looks remarkably like the planned reno/redo of Fenwick (most notably the sloping roofline obviously).

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I like this one the best. I wonder if the Atlantic Square on Spring Garden will look a bit like this (it isn't as elaborate as the Vancouver building above).

I agree... this is a sharp looking building, and commands attention for something this scale. I think this would look great in Halifax.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Actually the tall one in the back looks remarkably like the planned reno/redo of Fenwick (most notably the sloping roofline obviously).

Those condos (last check of MLS) were going for a million and up. I think a building like that would be fantastic on the waterfront , but not right against a boardwalk - I'd say against a major street further back and then the smaller closer to the water. The views would be amazing. Probably something that could work even on an inner block up from the water, say Dartmouth side?

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

This looks a little bit like the taller building in the Pine Street proposal in Dartmouth (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...=178588&page=2). Dartmouth might become the high rise location in the HRM.
This style looks good.
I think this one would be best in the suburbs.
The bottom pair looks great. Is the brown coloured material brick or composite panel?

I believe its brick.

[halifaxboyns]

Rather than post 4 more different posts to respond to question (you think I would've figured this out earlier) - I try to respond to all the different comments in one (despite already posting twice in a row, DOH!).

I loved the olympic village concept - that to me, would be something I'd like to see on the parcel behind King's Wharf as the next stage of redevelopment of that area. I agree with the orange, I like to see stand out colours, where as green doesn't seem to do that for City Centre. Also, taking a small queue from the hypothetical thread of what if Halterm moved - if all the dockyard lands were ever re-developed, since the viewplanes limit your height on those lands - this might be workable and fit into the viewplanes.

As to the work lofts on Agricola, I think that's an amazing design and it would be a shame if it didn't go forward. I think Agricola has so much potential, perhaps more so than Gottingen Street. i've posed in this thread that I thought Gottingen could regain its commercial status with big box retain below higher rise buildings - but the more that I think about it; I'm starting to lean more to Agricola because of the potential for the blocks behind it (the car lot, the residential block between the car lot and Robie) and just the fact that some really interesting businesses have already established.

I still think Gottingen can redevelop with some multi and commercial, but with Agricola, I think it seems to be more workable.
I must say though - that my thought of posting photos really spurred a lot more thought and discussion than I had originally expected. That's great!

[halifaxboyns]

I also wanted to see what people thought of my original comment about Agricola being a better street to bring back some major commercial development, than Gottingen Street. I'm thinking this because of the fact the block pattern and distribution may be easier for it.

So I've come up with some overlays in the area of Agricola and Robie Street to give some ideas of where redevelopment could occur with comments about building height. Commercial will typically front to major roads, except as I've noted.

Robie Street - existing GM dealership and Irving - I'm proposing the street (which appears to still be open) remain open and to become a commercial promenade (did I spell that right) - there would mainly be cafe's and restaurants fronting this street (or it could really be a pedestrian only street?).

Davison/West/Charles and John Street Blocks with commercial fronting to Agricola.

More commercial to Agricola with multi-residential

Commercial/Residential around the existing Fire station.




Please excuse the poor quality of the drawings - unfortunately I only have paint to use at home (abobe at work). When the residential is above commercial, I'm suggesting podium style residential high rise buildings. I'm assuming underground parking for all these sites, as most of them would probably be able to accommodate it. By interested to hear some comments.

[Keith P.]

Thought of another site -- the Bens bakery on Pepperell which stretches over to Quinpool. I've never been inside the bakery but I expect that it might make a good site for lofts.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Since this is pure fantasy and you're turfing running, viable businesses off their property, I would luike to see the Irving station and adjacent O'Regan's car dealership on Robie redeveloped.

I'm not saying they shouldn't keep running - but I'm thinking bigger picture; 20-30 years down the road. Besides, if the city really gets into a 'lets densify the inner city mode' these businesses may see their land value jump quite a bit - which may make the idea of moving to somewhere else more interesting.

When you mentioned the irving and car lot on Robie - that's an example of an area that could be done as a comprehensive development plan for 30 years down the road - i'm sure that car dealership would move if they got the right price for their land! I saw a car dealership open up here in Calgary; it was gone 2 years later since they got a great offer on the land and now a condo building is going up!

[worldlyhaligonian]

I think that car dealership should be redeveloped ASAP... a tower block there with a park in the middle would be very nice!