Quote:
Originally Posted by Takeo
I'm no fan of the "typical nay-sayers" but that kind of ideological, black and white discussion only inflames tensions and serves no one. The bottom line is, there are valid points on BOTH side with this one. Up until now, the HT was almost always fighting against in-fill development on empty lots. Ridiculous to say the least. This development is very different. We're talking about gutting half a dozen heritage properties. Blind support of anything and everything is no better than blind opposition to anything and everything.
Here are what I see as the main points.
1. No one wants to see these buildings demolished. I can't imagine it... but you never know. It could happen since Halifax's heritage buildings have almost no protection whatsoever.
2. The buildings are not in danger of falling down on their own... so they could be saved... but we have to accept that a restoration is simply not in that cards... not with the current owner.
3. The interiors are apparently a disaster of maze-like mismatched floors.
4. The proposed addition is an ugly and uninspired design from a by-gone architectural era. Bauhaus / International Style stopped being "modern" over half a century ago. I agree with the principles of early modernism of course, but can we do something a little more interesting please? This design is a dud.
Overall... I think that developing the buildings into modern office space may be the lesser of two evils. And unlike the old warehouses across the street which were successfully converted to office space without a radical gutting of the interior... here were have a mishmash of non-contiguous internal spaces that just won't work as offices. So maybe we have to accept that any plan with the current owner will involve gutting these buildings... but I would really like to see the designers burn their plans and go back to the "drawing board".
|
here here. I feel bad for the heritage trust. They expended so much political capital fighting lesser proposals and that they have a real case they have a harder time getting taken seriously. It's a shame and the city is poorer for it. I actually felt that Pacey came off pretty well this evening. Passionate and articulate of their case (which they have this time). At the same time, after this evening, I'm pretty much ready to dismiss Fusion as the flip side of the coin. We challenge the Heritage Trust to find a development downtown that they actually support, but I also will be interested to see how long we go before Fusion actually finds something they don't like! This polarized debate is unfortunate.
I'm still mulling this one, but in general I don't like it. If we're not going to protect heritage here, really we're not going to protect it anywhere. This city doesn't have many blocks that have survived to today and this is one of them which to me requires special consideration. I don't think it's impossible to build on top of these buildings, but the design that has been proposed stinks. One thing that I have been wondering is whether their whole approach is well wrong. Instead of trying to jam office space here, maybe the answer is to go condos. The mismatched and difficult shapes, if done right, could actually appeal to condo buyers. As office it's a liability, but as condos it could be an asset. I don't know, just a thought. This one isn't a simple case.
At the end of the day, with International Place getting ready to go and NSP preparing to move to Electropolis, I don't think we need to approve this one just because we haven't had any office development downtown in recent years.