Quote:
Originally Posted by planarchy
You’re delusional. Shaken down?? JONO paid less than market value for the site. He paid less than 1 mil per acre while BANC paid 11 mil per acre for st pats on quinpool. The site is profitable as is with its 4 storey height limit. JONO wants 30 storeys that would effectively give JONO an additional $25 mil or more value. If he wants a huge lift on the land you think it should be given to him for free? Come on. That’s just stupid.
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It's too bad they didn't just auction off this site, no strings attached, then leave it to the developer to build whatever the city approves and the market bears. It's not clear why every piece of old surplus HRM land needs to be turned into a blended commercial and community project. This approach spreads municipal services and resources more thinly as spending gets sprinkled arbitrarily over more and more parcels of land.
It's fine to identify the amenities this neighbourhood needs and doesn't have. It already has the Commons, Uniacke Square park and George Dixon, the Centennial pool, YMCA and library. Then there was that other development site nearby that was supposed to have a playground that was never built and nobody noticed.
It does feel a bit like it's Santa Claus coming to town when these old parcels come up. Then usually nothing gets built for years as people argue over how much stuff their neighbourhood should get or how important it is to make sure developers don't make too much money, and housing costs continue to escalate.