General Updates and News

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Bilby St seems a very odd site upon which to build a hotel.

There are actually quite a few "hotels" in the North End neighbourhood. Brewery Park as mentioned by eastcoastal, a couple on the 3100 block of Isleville, the room above Compass Distillery, etc.

Basically straddling the line between boutique hotel and Airbnb.

I think the area makes sense if you've visiting Halifax for a chill vacation.

[Drybrain]

There's a lot of accomodation hidden here and there around this area, but a large hotel like this does feel a little odd. I'd also rather this become an apartment or condo build--OTOH, there's clearly a need for new hotel rooms in the city, and as the residential Airbnb ban (which I think is a good thing) takes effect, that need will grow.

[Dmajackson]

New Building - Application Incomplete - 22 BRULE ST, DARTMOUTH - $3'250'000 - Dwelling - Multiple Units - Residential Use - 38 Units - 4 Floors - New construction of a 38 unit, 4 story, slab on grade affordable housing project.

[bartekci]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

New Building - Application Incomplete - 22 BRULE ST, DARTMOUTH - $3'250'000 - Dwelling - Multiple Units - Residential Use - 38 Units - 4 Floors - New construction of a 38 unit, 4 story, slab on grade affordable housing project.

What does affordable housing project mean in this context? Is this government built housing?

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Bilby St seems a very odd site upon which to build a hotel.

I wonder if this is another planning loophole like the supposed hotel on Prince Albert Rd in Dartmouth, where a hotel was allowed to be built much taller than a residential structure.

I saw a story about this lot in AllNovaScotia today: looks to me like the current owners are selling the lot and SAYING a hotel could be built there - they do not appear to be intent on building a hotel themselves.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Major new building permit just got issued;

Mixed Use & Commercial Building Permit - New Building - Issued - 5543 BILBY ST, HALIFAX - $9'331'109 - Commercial - Retail Use - 10 Floors - Commercial Hotel

This is immediately next to NRTH Condos and on the same block as The Camille, The Bilby, The Stackhouse, and Admiral's Corner. Does anyone have information about this?

Oops - replied to the wrong(ish) post...

I saw a story about this lot in AllNovaScotia today: looks to me like the current owners are selling the lot and SAYING a hotel could be built there - they do not appear to be intent on building a hotel themselves.

[someone123]

Halifax Walker has a lot of videos showing the city and the latest shows Tramway facade work happening on Barrington: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0R4CJj2rKR4

Depending on how this turns out it could look dramatically better than how this building has looked for years. I wonder if it just needs restored turrets, parging, and maybe a paint job or if more will be done?

The Jade and Green Lantern are looking good but only with partially occupied commercial units. I have often thought the little stretch along the south end of that block was oddly underdeveloped. Too bad it didn't get some larger development in the early 20th century. The former Orpheus Theatre facade used to look much nicer. Restoring it would be a good heritage district project:


https://caperpics.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/barrington-street-halifax-nova-scotia-1940s/

[bartekci]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Apparently this demolition permit is to make way for this building permit application;

Mixed Use & Commercial Building Permit - New Building - In Review - 3040 OXFORD ST, HALIFAX - $10'000'000 - Dwelling - Multiple Units - Residential Use - 68 Units - 6 Floors - New Multi-Unit Residential building.

Looks like demolition of the top layer is done, mostly. From this morning:

[Empire]

Originally Posted by fatscat

Looks like demolition of the top layer is done, mostly. From this morning:

I wonder if we will finally see a real design or just another cookie-cutter plastic box?

[kph06]

The Wedgewood Motel is now gone.

[JonHiseler]

Originally Posted by kph06

The Wedgewood Motel is now gone.

It was demolished a couple of weeks ago. They're going at a much quicker pace compared to who is demolishing the old Howard Johnson at the corner of Bedford and Larry Uteck

[kph06]

Originally Posted by JonHiseler

It was demolished a couple of weeks ago. They're going at a much quicker pace compared to who is demolishing the old Howard Johnson at the corner of Bedford and Larry Uteck

It had been a few weeks since I was by, the site was looking pretty tidy on the weekend. The Howard Johnson approach seems a little more hands on to preserve materials for possible sale or reuse?

I realize this also isn't really the right section to post this in, as this is in the Peninsula and DT Dartmouth Section. This would warrant its own thread in suburbs once some renderings are available.

[hoser111]

In case you didn't know, there are construction cams for the Cogswell lands here:

https://cogswellproject.photosentinel.photos/gallery/#/

Not live streaming but updated every 15 minutes.

[Dmajackson]

NEW PROJECT!

A construction permit has been submitted for;

215 WYSE ROAD, DARTMOUTH - $54'800'000 - Dwelling - Multiple Units - Residential Use - 203 Units - 9 Floors - New Construction - 9 storey, 3 parking levels, Commercial on street.

This is across from Sobeys and is currently home to Hayden Auto Sales. Looks like a through lot to Rosedale Drive so hopefully ground floor retail is along Wyse and parking entrance along Rosedale.

[kijoma]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Major new building permit just got issued;

Mixed Use & Commercial Building Permit - New Building - Issued - 5543 BILBY ST, HALIFAX - $9'331'109 - Commercial - Retail Use - 10 Floors - Commercial Hotel

This is immediately next to NRTH Condos and on the same block as The Camille, The Bilby, The Stackhouse, and Admiral's Corner. Does anyone have information about this?

Are the values with these permits supposed to be the anticipated property value assessment or cost of construction or what? I'm confused how a 10-storey hotel would only be worth $9 million unless there are only a few rooms per floor.

[kph06]

New NSCC Residents on the waterfront.

[someone123]

Is that a steel frame construction rather than concrete? You tend to see it more for institutional buildings, and it seems to be more common in some regions than in others.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by kijoma

Are the values with these permits supposed to be the anticipated property value assessment or cost of construction or what? I'm confused how a 10-storey hotel would only be worth $9 million unless there are only a few rooms per floor.

Building permit fees are based on "construction value" but I can't find where "construction value" is defined.

[someone123]

Some discussion here about affordable housing around the Cogswell area: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot...dable-housing-cogswell-project-1.6953064

The page links to another story about building a 6-storey Metro Turning Point shelter along Barrington.

Lots of things to consider. They bring up mixed developments with affordable units vs. affordable buildings. I am not opposed to mixed buildings but I tend to think that if we want to move the needle in Canada there have to be large-scale affordable buildings (maybe not bespoke but standard 15-30 storey towers). I wonder what the point is of limiting building heights along that stretch of Barrington. I also wonder what would be required to make the north part of Barrington a real place and not a "traffic sewer". It depends on the design of the street, the public space around it, and the building interactions with the public space, not building heights.

[Empire]

Originally Posted by someone123

Some discussion here about affordable housing around the Cogswell area: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot...dable-housing-cogswell-project-1.6953064

The page links to another story about building a 6-storey Metro Turning Point shelter along Barrington.

Lots of things to consider. They bring up mixed developments with affordable units vs. affordable buildings. I am not opposed to mixed buildings but I tend to think that if we want to move the needle in Canada there have to be large-scale affordable buildings (maybe not bespoke but standard 15-30 storey towers). I wonder what the point is of limiting building heights along that stretch of Barrington. I also wonder what would be required to make the north part of Barrington a real place and not a "traffic sewer". It depends on the design of the street, the public space around it, and the building interactions with the public space, not building heights.

Until an efficient way to include truly affordable units in new developments is devised, why not use sites that already exist. I think a 30 storey building would blend nicely in Mulgrave Park. Federal and Provincial funds could be the catylist and all units would be very affordable.

Mulgrave Park:
https://www.google.com/maps/@44.6676908,...KVcmeBA33sQ!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu