Spring Garden to change again
City will call for development proposals on three sites
By BILL POWER Business Reporter
Halifax Regional Municipality’s call for development proposals for some prime Spring Garden Road area properties will be heard across the country, developer Danny Chedrawe said Thursday. “The pending availability of these properties was already a hot topic among developers," the president of Westwood Developments Ltd . said in an interview.
“I think these days we’re seeing Spring Garden at its worst.
Everybody is excited about turning it around," he said.
Chedrawe has two major projects in the works for the Spring Garden Road area, including a 25,000-square-foot glass structure at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Birmingham Street (formerly Sock It To Ya), and a hotel-condominium and retail complex at a land assembly fronting on Spring Garden Road, and bordered by Brunswick, Queen and Doyle streets (where Second Cup is located).
“The availability of the city properties will add to the energy of the area. It will be very good for us and what we’re trying to accomplish with our projects," said Chedrawe.
The city announced Thursday the first of three properties — collectively known as the Sister Sites — is on the market.
A parking lot to the south of Mills department store and identified as the Mary Ann site is the first to be offered to developers.
The call for proposals closes March 24.
The city will eventually call for
proposals for a second site identified as the Margaretta, fronting on Clyde Street, and a third, called the Rosina, which is the former Halifax Infirmary site.
Collectively, the three properties provide parking for about 200 vehicles, and parking will be a critical component for any projects that move forward, said Peter Stickings, manager of real estate and facility services for the municipality.
“Parking requirements, design expectations, height and landuse requirements were clearly laid out through the planning process. This streamlines the process for developers, making it easier for them to submit proposals," he said.
The Mary Ann development site measures 33,869 square feet and contains 70 parking spaces.
It has 172 feet fronting Queen Street to the east, 201 feet fronting Clyde Street to the south, and 163 feet of frontage on Birmingham Street to the west.
Stickings said any mixed-use development that occurs at the Mary Ann site will be balanced to accommodate the residential area to the south of Clyde Street.
Bob Mussett, senior vice-president with commercial Realtor CB Richard Ellis , said he expects to see interest in the Spring Garden Road area properties from many local developers and some from outside the region. “We should see some very interesting responses to the call for proposals for the first property," he said.
Mussett said he would have preferred an allowance for a greater population density at the Mary Ann site, where the winning developer will be limited to a maximum of eight storeys in the residential component.
Additional information is available at
www.halifax.ca/ SisterSites.
(bpower@herald.ca)