Vic Suites (Hollis & Morris) | 32 m | 10 fl | Complete

[Keith P.]

Reznick is offering the Heritage Trust the opportunity to take the houses if they can find somewhere to relocate them. Don't hold your breath.

[someone123]

I guess it's not possible to relocate the apartment building. The Charles Morris House is interesting historically and is worth relocating and restoring. Then again, this should have been looked at a long time ago rather than at the eleventh hour. This is not much of a "concession" on the part of the developer and this building was neglected until it came time to demolish it, as per usual in Halifax.

[BravoZulu]

Well I just checked and the lines are still there, so I'm not sure exactly what they were up to. I must admit it was pretty dark though, so maybe it will be a little more obvious in the daylight.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Reznick is offering the Heritage Trust the opportunity to take the houses if they can find somewhere to relocate them. Don't hold your breath.

Reznick? Reznick isn't behind this development, this is Dexel's development.

[kph06]

Yeah, this is Louie Lawen (probably not the correct spelling, but phonetically it should be right).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by sdm

Reznick? Reznick isn't behind this development, this is Dexel's development.

Ooops, sorry, should have said Dexel.

[Jonovision]

This is from this weeks Coast. I like that it says we should see a crane by February!

Possible respite for Victorian hotel
Dexel Developments offers Nova Scotia Heritage Trust a chance to move the classic buildings at Morris and Hollis.
by Neal Ozano

Dexel Developments owner Louis Lawen has offered a respite for at least one of the three historic buildings at the corner of Hollis and Morris streets. The buildings are slated for demolition. Lawen says he's offered to contribute the value of the demolition of the buildings (about $30,000) to moving the buildings---if the Nova Scotia Heritage Trust can find "a home for the homes."

Lawen made the offer a few weeks ago after being approached by Phil Pacey of the Nova Scotia Heritage Trust.

"We'd like to take that whole cluster of buildings," says Peter Delefes, president of Heritage Trust. He says the buildings can't be moved very far, and that most of the land nearby is owned by Nova Scotia Power. "We're trying to deal with [NSP], and see if they'd be willing to provide any space.

Lawen says the distinctive Victorian Hotel on the corner and, next door, the home of Charles Morris, who designed the layout of Halifax and several other Nova Scotia cities, are probably in no condition to be moved. But Morris's offices on Morris Street, housed in a building separate from the hotel and home, could be moved again---they were originally moved in the early 1900s to make room for the construction of the hotel.

Last Friday, November 6, was the unofficial deadline, but Lawen says that delays in having power lines moved underground near the hotel building are postponing construction, and therefore demolition of the buildings. As well, he says Dexel is still waiting for construction drawings and hasn't hired a contractor. He estimates that cranes will be up by February and that work on the power lines could happen as soon as three weeks. But he's willing to work with the Heritage Trust if an opportunity is presented. "If they said 'Look, we've found a home, but we need some time to move it,' I wouldn't tell him 'Sorry, you're out of time.'

[Dmajackson]

^Its nice to hear it could be possible to move them if NSP agrees. However this sounds like the debate that was sparked when the Trillium was approved and those houses didn't get a new place.

[spaustin]

I can't imagine NSP going for it. Their lot is a prime site for redevelopment and moving a run down old house to it isn't going to do anything for the value of their land, it will only constrain future options. I would be talking to whoever owns some of the smaller parking lots in the area (the one that is on the back of W Suites or maybe one of the two between the Waterford and the Wired Monk). It's more than likely a lost cause, but you never know.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by spaustin

I can't imagine NSP going for it. Their lot is a prime site for redevelopment and moving a run down old house to it isn't going to do anything for the value of their land, it will only constrain future options. I would be talking to whoever owns some of the smaller parking lots in the area (the one that is on the back of W Suites or maybe one of the two between the Waterford and the Wired Monk). It's more than likely a lost cause, but you never know.

soon as a structure is built on those NSP lands then the city can charge a fairly significant tax, therefore not a likely option

Most likely they haven't even have had discussions with NSP

[BravoZulu]

Currently an excavator behind the buildings digging a rather deep hole. I snapped a couple pics with my phone and if they are any good I'll upload them when I get home.

[BravoZulu]

pictures were shite! if you've ever seen an excavator then you've seen my pics, there was absolutely no context to them so I won't bother to post them.

On my way by the site on the way home I noticed a distint lack of barries at the location which leads me to believe that the hole was filled in again.

Any ideas what theymight have been up to?

[fatboy3d]

I spent some time taking photographs of the buildings at the corner of Morris and Hollis Streets. I managed to record some video footages inside the old Victoria Apartments.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLuczvRIq8k

It's a shame that the building with connections to Charles Morris (the first Surveyor-General of Nova Scotia) will be demolished. But life goes on, right?

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by fatboy3d

I spent some time taking photographs of the buildings at the corner of Morris and Hollis Streets. I managed to record some video footages inside the old Victoria Apartments.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLuczvRIq8k

It's a shame that the building with connections to Charles Morris (the first Surveyor-General of Nova Scotia) will be demolished. But life goes on, right?

When was this building built? I checked your video and it certainly looks run down. However, it would be best to restore this building if it is of so much historical significance.

[spaustin]

Well it'll live on in Sim City 4 (made this when I was sad about losing my home).

[Dmajackson]

^Nice work spaustin.

I wish I still had that game. I was the bomb but I someohw managed to lose it and haven't found another copy again ...

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by spaustin

Well it'll live on in Sim City 4 (made this when I was sad about losing my home).

Great work Spaustin! I enjoyed seeing your SIM city models. There is a link to a thread about it at: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=147806 . I am posting it for the others on this forum who may not of heard of it.

I saw a SIM city online that was called Halifax Nebraska which used some SIM city models that looked like they were buildings in Halifax, Nova Scotia (I wonder if he used some of your models?).

By the way, are you interested in making a SIM model of a football stadium for Halifax? If it was uploaded to an image website then people on this forum could download it onto various sites in Halifax (maybe it could be overlaid in Bing Maps).

[kph06]

Source: The Chronicle Herald

NSP, heritage seek common lot

By GEOFF DAVIES
Mon. Nov 30 - 4:47 AM

Nova Scotia Power Inc. is taking over a downtown Halifax parking lot and is in discussions with a heritage group about using the site to house a centuries-old home.

The utility is booting Canpark Services Ltd. out of its lot at Morris and Lower Water streets on Dec. 19. It plans to dump fill from its nearby construction site into the sunken lot, which is about a four-metre depression at its deepest point.

The property is adjacent to the Victoria Apartments, where four historic buildings are to be demolished. Some of those buildings, at Hollis and Morris streets, were once owned by Charles Morris, a founding father of Halifax.

The Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia is trying to save the oldest building, which dates back almost 230 years. With the wrecking ball looming, the group is looking to move the house to a new location nearby but hasn’t found one yet.

Heritage Trust spokesman Phil Pacey said the Nova Scotia Power property next door would be an ideal spot.

Nova Scotia Power spokesman David Rodenhiser said the utility has been in discussions with the Heritage Trust and other groups.

"As yet, there has been no decision with what we will do with the property," he said.

The power company is building a 110,000-square-foot headquarters at the site of its old power plant on the waterfront. The office complex is to open in 2011.

A Canpark spokesman said levelling the sunken parking lot is simply an economical way for Nova Scotia Power to deal with the large quantities of fill generated by the office construction, but Mr. Rodenhiser is leaving the door open for more construction.

The half-hectare Nova Scotia Power property at 5128 Morris St. has an assessed value of more than $250,000.

The company is "still determining what the final use will be," Mr. Rodenhiser said, adding that a parking garage or lot is one possibility.

Victor Syperek, who lives across the street, said he wouldn’t want a parkade to be built there.

"Those things will steal my sunshine," said Mr. Syperek, who owns the Economy Shoe Shop and other restaurants and bars in downtown Halifax.

He said it would be better if Nova Scotia Power followed the example of some European cities, where parkades sometimes have a public transit hub on the ground floor and a park on the roof.

"It would be nice if (Nova Scotia Power) did something green because they are vilified for burning Venezuelan coal in their power plants," Mr. Syperek said.

The four buildings on the Victoria Apartments property were evaluated for heritage property status in 1988. Three of them qualified but never received heritage status because the owners at the time apparently weren’t interested, city documents suggest.

Dexel Developments Ltd. is preparing to tear down the buildings and begin construction of a 10-storey condominium building. Louis Lawen, president of the Halifax company, said he has been talking with the Heritage Trust and has offered to help pay to move one or more of the buildings.

[someone123]

I doubt NSP would permanently want houses on its large lot but it might be a temporary solution. The reality is that there are plenty of little empty lots nearby that could work eventually, but I don't know what is involved with moving a house.

The "transit hub" seems totally random and unlikely, but it would be good to see something better on that lot. A parkade is not necessarily bad but would need to be well-designed; maybe it would be a test for HbD. Other cities have managed.

[JET]

Originally Posted by fatboy3d

I spent some time taking photographs of the buildings at the corner of Morris and Hollis Streets. I managed to record some video footages inside the old Victoria Apartments.

Here's the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLuczvRIq8k

It's a shame that the building with connections to Charles Morris (the first Surveyor-General of Nova Scotia) will be demolished. But life goes on, right?

Nice video. The Mel Rusinak video in the related videos is also nice. A friend of mine rented one of the NSP flats on Hollis (a few houses south of the Apts) in the early 80's. He had the second and third floors for $50/month. The film Life Classes was partially filmed there. Lots of nice woodwork in those places; hope some of the wood gets saved. JET