Quote:
Originally Posted by eastcoastal
...seems to have divorced the collective cultural value of a significant building from the monetary value he could have leveraged from it...
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That is a very well-stated summary of the problem with private-sector city building, not just in Halifax, but everywhere.
Obviously developers are in the game to make money, and to operate successful businesses, and we all want them to succeed, otherwise there'd be no development. But the role they occupy in the city means there are other major factors to think about besides profit, and the city should absolutely hold Starfish to account. They own a lot of this city's heritage properties, and they've done a good job as caretakers to many of them—but not all (ex: the Roy Building, which I simply don't believe is as unsalvageable as it's made out to be).
Halifax actually doesn't have especially onerous heritage laws: We have only one conservation district, a meagre stock of listed heritage properties (which developers are allowed to demolish if they simply wait long enough), and incidents like the Morse's situation go unpunished. Developers won't flee town if the city starts laying down the law a little more severely over transgressions. We're building (and to some degree, preserving) a city, not selling it to the highest bidder.
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