Cogswell Interchange

[Spitfire75]

Figured we should have a thread about this as well.
Let me start it off with an article from today's newspaper.



Jury’s out on interchange
Will — and bill — to demolish Cogswell is high, but what will replace it still remains uncertain
By MICHAEL LIGHTSTONE Staff Reporter
Fri. Apr 18 - 1:12 PM


File photo


NO ONE CAN SAY for sure what’s going to happen to the Cogswell interchange.

But one thing is clear: There’s been political will at Halifax city hall for some time to demolish the thing and redevelop the area so it would attract locals and visitors.

Planners with the HRM by Design project, which Halifax city hall launched about 20 months ago at a cost of $405,400, have noted there was already plenty of talk around town about what to do with the Cogswell maze before the urban revitalization plan began.

Among the suggestions that have been floated in the past few years are replacing the interchange with a new Metro Centre, highrise office and / or residential buildings, a large plaza or downtown park, art galleries, a mixed-use neighbourhood with commercial, residential and open space elements, a new convention centre and a grand theatre to host cultural events.

Mayor Peter Kelly said recently it’ll cost about $8 million to tear down the interchange, which handles traffic near Casino Nova Scotia and the city’s new sewage plant. But a municipal staffer said Wednesday demolition could cost up to $12 million.

The proposed demolition would free up some six hectares of land to be developed, the mayor said.

"Its time has come," Mr. Kelly said. "Its time should have never been, but unfortunately, the remnants still remain, and the time has passed for this structure to be removed."

Asked what would be done with debris from the demolition, if it happens, city staff this week couldn’t say where the stuff would go.

According to the final draft report on refurbishing Halifax’s downtown the Cogswell area could be redesigned with "modern landmark buildings." Some of those buildings might be 20 storeys or higher, the report suggests.

The report was released last week and public comment is being accepted until April 23.

In the Cogswell district of the future, it says, "towers will sit on low-rise podiums that reinforce human-scaled streetscapes while accommodating roof gardens and amenity spaces for their inhabitants."

Phil Pacey, president of the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, said he’d support tall buildings in the Cogswell area if it took redevelopment pressure off heritage buildings and the structures surrounding them.

"It is not true that the Heritage Trust is opposed to tall buildings, full stop. We just don’t want to see tall buildings replace heritage buildings and we don’t want to see tall buildings next to heritage buildings."

Whether there’s a market out there for the ambitious transformation that the city’s Toronto consultants and local advisers have envisioned for the Cogswell interchange is another matter.

"Careful planning is required to ensure that the market is considered," HRM by Design planners say.

The draft of the downtown scheme says a modern, high-density look that could evolve from a Cogswell conversion "will enhance and update the downtown skyline and potentially redefine (Halifax Regional Municipality’s) image."

But Mike Hanusiak, a former senior planner with the municipality, has said the jury’s still out on the transformation of the Cogswell interchange.

"There is insufficient information to properly evaluate the financial and technical aspects of removing the interchange," he told the Nova Scotia Business Journal earlier this year. "There are no guarantees that the residual land will be quickly absorbed into the marketplace."

Mr. Hanusiak, president of the Urban Development Institute of Nova Scotia, a private-sector organization representing developers, said in a February letter to the HRM by Design task force that planners should scale down their preferred scenarios for the interchange.

He said his group supports developing existing vacant properties in the downtown core before replacing the interchange, which opponents have called a blight on the landscape.

"As an industry, we remain skeptical that the Cogswell interchange will be removed in the foreseeable future," Mr. Hanusiak said in his letter. "Rather than accept it as an ugly piece of concrete and asphalt, a modest amount of monies should be allocated to ‘greening’ the interchange with hanging plants, better sidewalks, street trees, and banners that celebrate one’s arrival in the downtown."

Mr. Hanusiak said many North American cities have upgraded their infrastructure "to produce beautiful urban landscapes."

In February, three recommendations hooked to the downtown plan were passed unanimously by Halifax regional council. They included:

•approve HRM by Design’s "vision" for downtown renewal;

•ask the provincial government to make legislative changes that’ll affect future private-sector developments;

•and begin planning and design work on the redevelopment of the Cogswell interchange.

Coun. Dawn Sloane (Halifax Downtown) said recently that redeveloping the Cogswell area could take up to 10 years, though she hopes it won’t be nearly that long. She said she’d like to see a mixed-use project that "reconnects" to neighbourhoods to the north.

"I would like to see an area of prominent business accommodation . . . with a smattering of residential buildings there, too," said Ms. Sloane.

To obtain a free copy of the draft plan for downtown, a five-volume report, go to www.hrmbydesign.ca or go to the planners’ office at the Halifax ferry terminal on George Street.