[someone123]

Glass awnings are common here in Vancouver and would probably work well in Halifax.

Arcades would maybe be fine as well but when they're too short and below street level they look very private and uninviting (which is definitely not a good thing if you've got storefronts behind them). Hills complicate things as well.

I like what I've seen of the proposed tower for the South end of the brewery lot. The Lower Water St elevation up on the HRM website currently shows an attractive curved corner entrance plus some storefronts built right up to the street.

The proposed Halkirk House building unfortunately suffers from the same issues of proportion mentioned earlier. Its ground floor is only 2/3 as tall as that of Benjamin Weir house next door and shorter than the upper floors, making it look unbalanced. If it were bumped up by about 50% the building would look much nicer, even if this came at the expense of having a lower roofline than Keith Hall (which is almost insignificant, though I could see people getting worked up over this).