A general discussion of Fenwick

[fenwick16]

This exceeded my expectations. I felt that it would be great if they simply added glass to the building. This is so much more. They actually plan to make it into an iconic building.

Are they adding to the height? Do you know if the financing is in place so that they can proceed?

[Keith P.]

I am rapidly becoming tired of those arc-shaped rooftop additions.

Not at all sure what I am looking at with those sketches.

[kph06]

Definately a huge inprovement, although I have to say I think its strange the way the arched shape roof is facing. You'd think the dominant side would be looking out to the ocean. Unless of course they think the Heritage Trust would have less oppostion if it was facing Citadel Hill instead of having its back to it.

[kwajo]

Wow, I never thought I'd see the day that Fenwick would get rejuvenated or even see investment put into it of any kind. I do love the pseudo-brutalist look it has currently, but I can see these refurbishments making it a lot more popular and integral with the community than it has ever been in the past.

[hfx_chris]

What's with that retarded roof design I keep seeing these days...

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by kph06

Definately a huge inprovement, although I have to say I think its strange the way the arched shape roof is facing. You'd think the dominant side would be looking out to the ocean. Unless of course they think the Heritage Trust would have less oppostion if it was facing Citadel Hill instead of having its back to it.

The reason it faces that way is because there is an addition being constructed of 36 feet on the Fenwick street side in order to add units, but also to add an important second stairwell in the tower. And they decided not to bring this addition up to the full height to allow for the landscaped possibly public area on the roof, thus making the roof curve up towards the city.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

This exceeded my expectations. I felt that it would be great if they simply added glass to the building. This is so much more. They actually plan to make it into an iconic building.

Are they adding to the height? Do you know if the financing is in place so that they can proceed?

They are adding the addition up to the 24th floor, but as far as I know there is no height addition. Perhaps a small bit to construct the new roof line, but nothing too serious.

As far as financing goes I'm not sure. I know they are hoping to keep the momentum going and get the application in by year end and start construction as soon as its approved. It will be done in phases. Most likely with the first addition being the 8-10 storey building on the interior of the site. Followed by the Fenwick side of the pedestrian mall. Then the town houses and tower addition and reclad and the final piece would be the South Street building and pedestrian area.

[sdm]

Isn't the area under a 70 foot height restriction? as well i thought council changed the MPS to not allow greater height even with a development agreement? Could be wrong, but thought that was the case after the St James Place hearings.

Renderings look great, very nice upgrade to the building. A bit ambitious i will admit with the retail aspect of the building, but see how it goes.

[Dmajackson]

WOW! JUST WOW!

That'll improve the look of the entire city and bring us into the 21st Century!

[Keith P.]

It would be interesting to learn what the Metleges plan to do to address the significant structural problems in the basement caused by water. When Dal owned it there were apparently many millions required to shore the thing up.

[q12]

That looks nice!

With the trillium and and the new fenwick that block of town is going to start looking pretty good. We'll have to rename South Park Street to Park Avenue (NYC).

[Halifax Hillbilly]

It's bold, I like the overall look and how much of the site they are using. They appear to be paying close attention to how the site interacts with surrounding streets. It will be a transformative project if Joe Mettledge can make it happen.

My only complaint is similar to Keith's - it's not clear exactly what each rendering is showing. At this stage I imagine they're still quite conceptual though. The roof might be a bit cliched but I don't think there's too many like that in Halifax. I think it would only be a problem if they were all over the City and monotonous.

[Takeo]

Went to the open house tonight and took a few higher resolution shots. To orient yourself... the townhouses are on Fenwick St. The arc over the mechanical penthouse faces South Park St.







And finally... and interesting little early thumbnail sketch... which is actually a tiny detail on a much bigger board. There were a ton of boards and many of them were somewhat repetitive... so I didn't shoot them all. But I shot the most representative ones.

[Takeo]

The Fenwick side is very interesting. I was speaking with one of the architects tonight. She was pretty excited about the project. So on the Fenwick side, the idea is to open things up. Right now that entire face is mostly a blank concrete wall. So the idea is to build the tower out from that side so that it can be opened up with glass and those units can take advantage of their south facing views and elevation. Can you imagine the original architect designing the street-facing... and also south-facing wall... as a blank concrete wall? Urgh.

Also, the townhouses (which were marked up as work/live spaces) create a nice urban street wall. They also create a nice stepped effect to break up the elevation. So the building goes up... and in... and then up... and in again. Very nice.

The arc at the top is mostly just an aesthetic element right now. It would cover the current mechanical penthouse and would be lit up at night. It does not add any appreciable height to the tower at all.

I believe she also said that the South Park side could have extended balconies. But there's not much they can do on that side because of it's proximity to St. James Place. The longer balconies would help to break up the verticals however.

Also, speaking to someone from Templeton... the pedestrian area would be only partially covered. All of the businesses would have large glass awnings. This makes sense to me. Sure... we have winter... but I think the space would die if it were an indoor space.

I saw a few of the usual suspects in the short time that I was there... well-known NIMBY's. But for the most part... people seemed pretty excited. Wasn't really a big crowd... maybe a dozen or two at a time. But I was there right at the tail end.

BTW... the architect I spoke with works with Michael Napier. They are actually teamed up with the Vancouver firm. Makes sense. You'd want a local firm involved. And the Vancouver firm brings the experience of large scale projects to the table. But they are both equal partners in the design. According to the people I talked to anyway. Napier's office is doing some good stuff lately.

One last detail I almost forgot was the idea of adding a huge atrium roof on the west side of the building. I think the Templeton guy mentioned this. Something about bringing more light into that ground floor area. Currently this is a big concrete pad covering the parkade with just a few concrete shed dormers.

On the subject of structure and "swaying" and urban myths... a good point that the Templeton guy made was... first... there are no structural issues... that they would not have bought it if there were... and that they hired engineers of do due diligence... and second... that the new cladding would make the building exponentially lighter and thus stronger. A curtain wall does nothing structurally. It's just a curtain. The strength of Fenwick comes from the internal sheer walls. So changing the curtain wall from thick concrete slabs to glass would actually make the building stronger since it wouldn't be supporting as much weight.

Oh... while I was talking to the designer from Napier's office... I mentioned how much I love the brick they chose for the Kaye St. project. She couldn't agree more!! Very nice product. A brand new Shaw product apparently... and NOT cheap. But worth it. Funny though... she said that Jerry B. called and was perturbed by the colour... he asked "So is that the final brick?". WTH?!?! No Jerry... we just figured we'd lay and point a mile of brick worth umpteen thousands of dollars just so we could see how it would look. Then we figured we'd tear it down and replace it with cheap red brick". In the immortal words of Bugs Bunny... "what a maroon"!! Just for the record... I'm a Northender... and I didn't vote for the guy.

[fenwick16]

This looks great. Will they be able to get a permit based on conceptual drawings or will they need the final drawings in order to get permits? Right now a lot seems to conceptual so I wonder how much of it will be in the final design. How is Templeton's record with other projects around Halifax?

[someone123]

I think this is pretty much perfect for the site. The biggest problem with Fenwick is that it's sitting in the middle of a bombed-out looking concrete pit.

I love the idea of opening up the centre of the block to pedestrians and I think retail would work very well in that area. There are lots of residents so there is demand for neighbourhood-type stores and maybe a few other things. The whole Fenwick/Queen area could be turned into a neighbourhood centre for the South End - it's already got a grocery store and some other stuff.

I think I'll start a new project thread for this and then people can repost images. This thread is quite old and many of the early posts are speculative.

[someone123]

New thread here: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show....php?p=4568798