[St. John's] The Official Project Thread

[cam477]

Anyone know anything else about the skating trail? I have no idea how certain aspects of it are going to work.

What will they use to resurface it? Will they have a Zamboni?

I assume it will have to be gated off for liability/insurance purposes. But I wonder if it will be open every day? Will it cost money? Will it have set skates on a schedule?

[SignalHillHiker]

You can see Fortis peeking above the hill in this angle of downtown (taken from the roof of an abandoned U.S. Air Force building in Red Cliff):



A nice view of Confederation Building too:

[techie]

Originally Posted by cam477

Anyone know anything else about the skating trail? I have no idea how certain aspects of it are going to work.

What will they use to resurface it? Will they have a zamboni?

I believe they will add a "zamboni" attachment to their Kubota Tractor.

[jeddy1989]

Anyone know what building they're talking about?

Richmond Cottage Decisions Deferred

St. John's city council has deferred all decisions regarding Richmond Cottage. An application was made in May to demolish the building, but was withdrawn. A second application was later made to subdivide it into two dwellings. While the Heritage Advisory Committee recommended approving the latter, council chose to defer. St. John's Deputy Mayor Shannie Duff took issue with the decision in council last night.



Duff is concerned with how the new council will handle the situation. She calls it a "stalling tactic," because with a lot of new faces on council, it could put the building at risk. She says it could set a very bad precedent.

Duff expects to hear more from Wrightland Development. She thinks they will receive another application to demolish, and didn't think council wanted to be on record as being pro-demolition. She says council should have put its money where its mouth is, because heritage is something it always says it supports.

http://www.vocm.com/newsarticle.asp?mn=2&id=38843

[SignalHillHiker]

Yeah. We were talking about it a few pages back. They bought the land (cottage, and surrounding estate) to build condos on the condition that they maintain the cottage. They let the cottage fall into disrepair to create an excuse to demolish it and build more condos. The old council wasn't going to let them get away with it... the new one might, Duff fears.

[Horsell]

There's a good bit of background information regarding this in the council agenda for last night. Sounds like another case of the land being more valuable without the building. The few houses they have built on the site don't seem to be selling all that quickly so they may be trying to cut their losses.
I hope the new council will take a long hard look at this before acting. It may very well set the tone for the next four years.

[Horsell]

Well, the municipal elections are over for another 4 years so it is onward and upward, and I stress the "upward". (Lots of good chatter over on the Election thread)

So where do we go from here, what ground breaking will we see over the next year? Which proposed developments would you like to see back on track and where would you like to see something new come forward. (I'm trying to "put the paddles" to this thread).

The Happy City FB page has been trying to solicit ideas for various areas throughout the city, perhaps we should jump in. (Signal, check out http://southwest.ca/2013/08/southwes...ntown-halifax/ )

I'm not saying we should "bring on the wrecking ball" but I do believe there are opportunities to move our city forward without destroying the past.

Finally, to get the ball rolling, a couple of projects I'd like to see get underway are:
- The Lighthouse project on Duckworth East
- The hotel at Prescott and Water
- Deacon
- Star of the Sea

That's a good start !

[Townie709]

Originally Posted by Horsell

Well, the municipal elections are over for another 4 years so it is onward and upward, and I stress the "upward". (Lots of good chatter over on the Election thread)

So where do we go from here, what ground breaking will we see over the next year? Which proposed developments would you like to see back on track and where would you like to see something new come forward. (I'm trying to "put the paddles" to this thread).

The Happy City FB page has been trying to solicit ideas for various areas throughout the city, perhaps we should jump in. (Signal, check out http://southwest.ca/2013/08/southwes...ntown-halifax/ )

I'm not saying we should "bring on the wrecking ball" but I do believe there are opportunities to move our city forward without destroying the past.

Finally, to get the ball rolling, a couple of projects I'd like to see get underway are:
- The Lighthouse project on Duckworth East
- The hotel at Prescott and Water
- Deacon
- Star of the Sea

That's a good start !

I really want to see Star of the Sea and the Lighthouse project started. Those are both beautiful projects that I would hate to see slip away. Now that Duff is gone, it might be easier to get a sensible looking Hilton hotel passed downtown and who knows, maybe the new municipal plan will allow for more height in the west end of DT. (A logical choice, but one I sadly don't see happening) deacon looks great; it's unique. I hope that one goes ahead as well. An hopefully next year we will see the Fortis Building Reclad project go ahead. That is desperately needed.

AP Hotel is a BIG one. It was all over the news for a week, a public meeting was scheduled, then POOF. It seemingly vanished from existence. What's up with that? I really hope this one is not done for good. I loved the concept and would love to see that come to reality. The other big one I want it see is the Henry bell development. I have no idea what's going on there, I just really hope they follow through with the approved plan and transform that horrible stretch if Duckworth into something beautiful and live able.

There are a lot of possible great developments approved in the downtown right now; almost all of which we have no clue if they will ever be built. I'm hoping all of the approved developments do in fact come to fruition over the next few years. I'm also hoping with the 'new' council and upcoming municipal plan, the way will be paved for taller, higher density developments in the downtown and smart growth in outlying suburban areas. Urban sprawl has to stop. I'm not quite sure this new council will fully understand that, but I'd love to be proven wrong!

[AnUrbanLife]

Hey all,

Hope everyone had a great summer. Congratulations on the election, looks like council has shifted more in line with smart urban development, change is often slow but very encouraging. Fingers crossed.

Now that that's out of the way, hopefully we'll see some more action on the development side of things, it didn't take very long to catch up on the goings on over the summer.

The star of the sea project is one which I really hope gets built and I keep looking at the area opposite the railway museum as a location where something special could be built, would need to build around the pharmacy museum though, that's a special bit of history.

Exciting times! let's get rolling.

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by AnUrbanLife

.... The star of the sea project is one which I really hope gets built and I keep looking at the area opposite the railway museum as a location where something special could be built, would need to build around the pharmacy museum though, that's a special bit of history.

Exciting times! let's get rolling.

I agree with you that the area around the pharmacy museum (Apothecary Hall) and that whole area between Springdale St. and Waldegrave St. could use a vision for blending old and new.

The Steele Hotel and the proposed extension to the Technip/Stantec building will be a good start.

One problem I see with this area is the restrictions imposed by the parking regulations. The Stantec proposal is short parking spaces and the big issue around approval is the amount of the payment to the city for the deficient spaces, is it enough. As it stands, the design of the building is compromised by the fact that the limited parking it will have will create a “stilt” effect for the building.

If the city doesn't change these requirements we are going to end up with nothing but street level parking for every new building in downtown.

To get back to the general area mentioned above, my vision would be to see medium (6 stories) to high (12 to 15) mixed use in these few blocks, while maintaining the few historic buildings such as George St Church and the Salvation Army buildings and possibly Apothecary Hall. (Idea…build OVER and around it).

For instance, let’s take the block where Magic Wok is. I’d say we flatten the whole block and replace it with a 15 story tower that would then incorporate a new Magic Wok and other restruants / retail on the ground floor. I want to be able to walk around the whole block and not see one car peeking out from a parking garage. While we are at it, a small setback where you can have a small plaza, green space.

I've said this before and I'll say it again, in addition to height restrictions we also need height MINIMUMS in order to increase the density. If this isn't done we are going to end up wasting very valuable space. Perhaps the Stantec addition should be a minimum of 8 stories to make it worthwhile.

Finally, while trolling Halifax developments I understand that new proposals must be presented to a “design review committee” and there is also a “Halifax by Design” master plan. Let’s hope that our new municipal plan can incorporate some of these ideas.

[kwajo]

The whole parking space regulation needs an overhaul, every single major proposal downtown in the past few years is crippled by parking requirements that, as others here have pointed out, are resulting in a strange "stilt" effect that is ruining - or will ruin - streetscapes.

[AnUrbanLife]

Horsell, Definitely like the idea of building around Apothecary Hall and more to the point above it. Could make for a great tall skinny tower with terrific views of the harbour which is what you need for grade A office space it would seem. Condos there would be killer as well.

Kwajo, Yeah parking is a problem, have there been any feasibility studies on underground parking in the downtown core, how much extra would it actually cost I wonder, I know they always say it would be horrendous but has anyone tried?

[SignalHillHiker]

September 29, 2013 - St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

The new residences at the Memorial University of Newfoundland (top left) are now finished - and inhabited.



And Fortis Place is coming along quickly.

[SignalHillHiker]

[PoscStudent]

I noticed the old elementary school by Margaret's Place the other day when I was at Sobey's. I hadn't really paid any attention to it before but it's actually a pretty nice design, it'd be great to see the building converted into condos and possibly expanded.

[Townie709]

Fortis place is looking great!! It's going to look fantastic once all the cladding is on!

I also love how in that last pic the radio tower on kenmount hill looks like a spire on the John Cabot building haha

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

I noticed the old elementary school by Margaret's Place the other day when I was at Sobey's. I hadn't really paid any attention to it before but it's actually a pretty nice design, it'd be great to see the building converted into condos and possibly expanded.

Ah, my old Alma Mater !
As I understand it I think it is being used by the RNC for something until their new building opens.

I agree that it and other decommissioned school properties such as I J Samson (Bennett Ave) and soon Bishops and Booth should be rehabilitated for some other use. My fear is that the school board is going to sit on these until they fall into disrepair and end up being bulldozed.

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Is that a UFO over the Fortis building !!

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by AnUrbanLife

Kwajo, Yeah parking is a problem, have there been any feasibility studies on underground parking in the downtown core, how much extra would it actually cost I wonder, I know they always say it would be horrendous but has anyone tried?

When it comes to underground parking in the downtown bedrock is NOT your friend, nor is water. From what I've seen, and I'm no geologist, if you are too close to the harbour you can't go too deep because of water and as you move up the hill there is a lot of bedrock as evidenced by what they had to chip away at (for the past year) to build the new Metropark between Duckworth St and Henry St.

I would say that there is no cost effective way to remove the bedrock that is encountered, thus making underground parking very expensive.

[SignalHillHiker]

No, it was an airplane. Slow shutter speed.