[Halifax] Nova Centre | 65-58-58 m | 16-15-14 fl | Completed

[coolmillion]

I think the convention centre debate is very complex and has been reduced to the opposition of heritage/aesthetics and economic development. I am not opposed to the idea of a new convention centre but I am not fully in support of the execution of the Nova Centre, in particular the way the decision-making and planning components have proceeded, and in particular the location and emerging design details. For instance, I think that closing Grafton Street to traffic and covering it is a terrible idea - bad planning, basically impossible to execute well. I can't understand why the community consultations insisted that putting the ballroom above ground would be a good idea. Instead of a day-lit street, the public will now have a covered street, likely dead, and a ballroom (with windows!) that most will never step foot inside. Brilliant.
It would be interesting to go back a few years and trace the transfer of the land the Midtown Tavern folks attempted to develop to Rank and then the selection of this site for the convention centre.
I have said this many times (perhaps not here) but it would have made far more sense to put a convention centre on the waterfront which is already a tourism-focused area with large empty lots. Vancouver provides a perfect model for this and Seattle shows how what we're doing, from a planning point of view, is 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.
I think it's a shame that opposition to the convention centre is framed by the idea of "save the view". For me it's more an issue of "save the street". That block of Grafton Street is nothing special but it's treatment is symbolic of a disregard for planning rules developed through important historical precedents. By-laws prevent the consolidation of downtown blocks because we did that to create Scotia Square in the 60s and it was a disaster. Also, symbolically, streets in general are vital to cities as public spaces.
Anyway, I agree that it's unlikely the plans will change. I think, however, that we should maintain a discussion that goes beyond heritage versus development and considers whether this is good design, good planning, and the proper use of public funds, if only to learn from this experience should it prove to not be a success.