[Jonovision]

There has been a fair amount of talk about these lands over the past few weeks and now finally an article with real information about what will be happening. Sounds great to me! And the information meeting for this is Monday the 15th at 7pm in the auditorium at DHS.

Highrises planned in Starr area


By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor

A three-building residential de velopment proposed for down town Dartmouth that’s estimated to cost as much as $60 million is about to get a public airing.

Darrell Dixon’s plan includes building a seven-storey complex on Ochterloney Street, beside the former Greenvale School, which

Dexel Developments is tur ning into a complex of 36 loft-style apartments.

Dixon, who didn’t return calls Friday, also wants to build a 14-storey tower on the corner of Queen and Pine streets, and a 22-storey building on a vacant lot behind the former school off the Pine Street Extension.

“We want to get as many people living downtown as we can," said Coun. Gloria McCluskey (Dartmouth Centre).

A public information meeting on the project is slated for 7 p.m. Monday at Dartmouth High School.

Sobeys Land Holdings Ltd . owns the chunks of property where Dixon plans to erect the seven storey and 22-storey buildings.

“They were going to put a gro cery store there," McCluskey said. “They only did it because they thought that Atlantic Super sto re

was going to buy part of the Starr Manufacturing property. And, of course, (the city is) not selling the Starr property, so So beys dropped it."

A numbered Nova Scotia com pany headed by Dixon owns the other nearby property where he wants to build.

“This developer has the Sobeys land under agreement, so he has a purchase-and-sale agreement with them," said Mitch Dickey, a city planner.

Under the current zoning, Dix on could now construct a 24-unit building on each of the four lots. The buildings could be as tall as 21 metres.

But Dixon, a construction man ager who does work for Shannex,

wants to create about 300 units, Dickey said.

The developer hasn’t told the planner whether they’ll be apart ments or condominiums. “That’s something he’ll let the market de­cide," Dickey said.

Dixon is asking the city for an amendment to the municipal planning strategy that would al low the three buildings he’s pro posed.

“What guides us on that is com munity feedback," Dickey said.

A lot of low-rise buildings have gone up in downtown Dartmouth over the past decade, he said.

“Generally the feedback is not good on how they look or what their quality is like," Dickey said. Locals who have already com mented on Dixon’s plan want to make sure the project is attrac tive and of good quality, he said.

“He’s proposing very modern buildings. The renderings are at tractive," Dickey said.

“He’s proposing a more tradi tional design for the Ochterloney Street building — something that would complement Greenvale School with a brick finish on it. And then the other two buildings would be more modern and con temporary."

The downtown plan calls for pe destrian- friendly streets. It aims to ensure new development brings people off the sidewalk right into a business, Dickey said. The plan wants to promote “lively streetscapes . . . with a va riety of architecture," he said.

“At the sidewalk level, build ings should really not exceed three storeys in height. They would have to step back for any level above the third floor, and that’s what (Dixon’s) showing for this proposal."

The city will likely require him to have commercial space in the largest building, which abuts the former Starr Manufacturing site. Besides the former skate facto ry, levelled a decade ago, the site also borders the Shubenacadie Canal.

As part of his proposal, Dixon is offering to fund improvements to the public space called the Canal Greenway, which runs down Prince Albert Road from Sulli vans Pond to Halifax Harbour.

(clambie@herald.ca)