[Dmajackson]

From the Herald today:

Convention centre bid list pared to two

By AMY PUGSLEY FRASER City Hall Reporter
Fri. Oct 24 - 4:46 AM
The city and province have narrowed the list down to two for a new convention centre.

Sources say the short list contains the former Herald site on Argyle Street, now owned by Joe Ramia’s Argyle Developments, and the Cogswell Street Interchange site proposed by the Hardman Group.

A panel of provincial and municipal appointees took the last few months reviewing the six firms who responded to a spring call for a new convention centre.

The list included Bird/Rideau Construction and Southwest Properties, EastPen Inc., Halifax Port Authority and Anwyll Fogo Architects.

Reached Thursday, Mayor Peter Kelly wouldn’t confirm the site selections but did allow that there were only two names remaining on the list.

"I’d have to reserve comment pending council’s approach in dealing with that," he said.

He says the city and province have been working "very well" on the convention project and were planning to meet next week to discuss it.

"It’s time to move that one forward and with a co-operative approach, I think we can bring forward some great opportunities to expand the convention market and to further enhance the business market as well."

The plan is to replace the existing trade centre on Argyle Street. A new centre would have a minimum of 150,000 square feet, nearly three times the size of the trade centre.

Fred McGillivray, president and CEO of Trade Centre Limited, said this week that he hadn’t been in on the discussions.

He’s merely waiting to hear that the new site can accommodate the required specifics.

He’d rather see a new building sooner than later, which has some people wondering about the viability of the Cogswell Street site.

However, downtown Halifax business commission head Paul MacKinnon says the city plans to hire a consultant to look at the "nuts and bolts" of what the land would look like at the end of the day.

"Actually demolishing the interchange and putting the roads back in is not a lengthy process at all. It can be done in a matter of months," he said.

Hardman group vice-president Colin Whitcomb confirmed this week that their analysis indicates the interchange work would take about 16 months from beginning to finish.

"That’s to take it down and then reintegrate the street network and put it back in place," he said.

There is no specific date for requests for proposals, he said, adding that their proposal would likely take 3 1/2 to four years to complete.

"We want to submit. We think we have a good proposal and we think it’s something that deserves to be heard in the community and it deserves to be considered," he said