Fares Group wins Mary Ann bidding war
By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Wed, Jun 29 - 4:54 AM
W.M. Fares Group and Banc Developments have wooed and won Mary Ann.
"That’s good," said Wadih Fares, president of the Fares Group, after Halifax regional council decided Tuesday to sell a 33,869-square-foot property bounded by Birmingham, Queen and Clyde streets in downtown Halifax to the local developers.
"I’m very happy."
The property is named for Mary Ann Schmidt, one of three sisters who lived in the area that was known as Schmidtville 140 years ago.
Fares wouldn’t say what the partners paid for the property, the first of three properties in the area the municipality plans to sell for development, or when construction might begin.
A confidential May 20 city hall report on the Mary Ann deal won’t be released until the transaction closes.
But Besim Halef of Banc Developments said the partners plan a $30-million, eight-storey commercial-residential development that conforms to the Halifax by Design guidelines. It would include three levels of underground parking.
The ground floor, which may include a Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. outlet to replace the existing Clyde Street store, would be retail space, Halef said Tuesday. The upper floors would contain 120 to 130 apartments.
He also declined to disclose what the property cost the developers.
The municipality received eight bids for the Mary Ann property.
Other bidders included Killam Properties Inc. and Urban Capital Property, Mythos Developments Ltd., Dexel Developments, Universal Properties, Armour Group Ltd., Tony Metlege and Westwood Developments Ltd.
The city will put the nearby Margaretta block at Clyde Street and Dresden Row and the Rosina block, on the Queen Street site of the old Infirmary hospital, up for sale over the next few years.
(
berskine@herald.ca)