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Armour saltwater cooling system approved

By JOANN ALBERSTAT Business Reporter, Chronicle Herald
Sat, Aug 6 - 4:55 AM

Armour Group has finally received the go-ahead it needed to have a saltwater cooling system in its Waterside Centre project.

Ben McCrea, Armour’s chief executive officer, said Friday the company received an easement from the city last month.

"We’re now in the position where we can officially market the project as a LEED gold building," McCrea said in an interview.

LEED is an acronym for leadership in energy and environmental design standards.

The company needed the easement, which has been in the works for more than a year, so it can pipe sea water to the Upper Water Street site.

The sea water will be used to help reduce the project’s cooling and heating costs.

McCrea said Armour is talking to "a couple of rather significant tenants" for the nine-storey building but noted "the rental market in the downtown core is not very good."

Vacancy rates are high because businesses are leaving the downtown core, the Armour founder said.

McCrea, who is stepping down as CEO this month, couldn’t say when the $16-million project will be finished.

The elder McCrea is being replaced by son Scott, who will also be Armour’s vice-chairman.

Scott McCrea is leaving his post as Atlantic executive vice-president for Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust, a Quebec company that also has holdings in Moncton and Halifax.

Ben McCrea, 71, said he will remain as Armour’s chairman.

"Scott will be taking over a lot of my responsibilities. I’m not going anywhere but I’m not going to be on the front line anymore."

Scott McCrea was previously with Armour for 15 years before leaving to start his own real estate company about 10 years ago, his father said.

The Armour founder, who started his company in 1972, said the leadership change won’t affect the timing of Waterside Centre or Queen’s Landing, the company’s other major downtown project.

"This company has a history of doing projects which have a quality and a sense of place, and I think he’ll continue that tradition."

He said Armour is working with architects and engineers to develop plans for the Lower Water Street project, which is "progressing quite well."

He wouldn’t give a time frame for finishing the project.

Armour and the Waterfront Development Corp. announced last fall they had agreed on a conceptual plan for the $70-million private portion of the $190-million development on the waterfront between Sackville Landing and Cable Wharf.

The private component includes 100,000 square feet of new office space, a 200-room four-star hotel with harbour views from every room, and underground parking.