General Updates and News

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The other thing that can make a sewer upgrading into a "Big P Problem" (I like that term!) is Halifax Water itself. You would think they would be able to handle replacing/adding pipes in the ground since that is mostly what they do, but their ineptitude and slow-moving bureaucracy often seems to take center stage and make a little problem into a Problem.

Speaking of sewer upgrades and Halifax water in general- I've heard the latest on Costco #3 is that Middle Sackville is a no go. Beford Commons seems most likely now, followed by Truro.
My guess is the service area politics has been a factor.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Depends on where in the city. Generally, there’s no overall capacity issue, but there are localized capacity issues. E.g. development of the Young Street area has been held up by servicing capacity issues.

Also, any servicing problems are little-p problems, not Problems. HRM considers servicing as part of approvals and sometimes upgrades need to be made, but it’s not like the commenters are highlighting some big roadblock to development like they think they are.

For sure, thanks for the information. It's being used as a scare tactic, as if their comments on FB (which I don't use btw, just look at the development pics without an account) will halt progress.

There must also be some benefits to scale... many projects are happening on greenfield properties in areas with low density.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by HalifaxRetales

there was permit request submitted to
renovate this office building into 70 residential units

71/73 Tacoma

Fencing went up around this building a few weeks ago with signage for Maritime Demolition. (I first encountered the barrier when I tried my usual convenient cut through to Tacoma Drive from the Shell station at 130 Main Street. I saw a guy try to do the same maneuver today so people are still being surprised by the fence.)

According to their website, Peakhill Capital is redeveloping the property for Valour Investments. The plan is to transform the eight-storey former commercial building to mostly residential, with 70 units. No mention of any affordable units. There'll be one commercial space on the ground floor and a west facing solar wall. The project is expected to take 14 months. I haven't noticed any sign of significant activity to date.

As per the image in the original post by Halifax Retales, the building, which is circa 50 years old, has been in dismal shape for some time. Among the last tenants, 091 Indian Food store and Gunners Tattoo Shop, appear to have moved out by last summer. I might have been excited to see the structure refreshed, but the rendering on the Peakhill Capital website is uninspiring, with small windows and black or dark brown metal siding with orange accents.


Source: Peakhill Capital

[OldDartmouthMark]

^ Egad! That’s one building that I had hoped would be torn down!

[Saul Goode]

I first encountered the barrier when I tried my usual convenient cut through to Tacoma Drive from the Shell station at 130 Main Street. I saw a guy try to do the same maneuver today so people are still being surprised by the fence.

Tangential comment: is access to the car wash at that station not one of the most effed-up things you've ever seen? I'm surprised that HRM allowed that configuration.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Tangential comment: is access to the car wash at that station not one of the most effed-up things you've ever seen? I'm surprised that HRM allowed that configuration.

Yes! I used it one time and never returned, after the debacle that is access to the wash. The c-store inside gave me a very light-headed feeling as well, as if something wasn't on the up-and-up. I can't explain why, just that it felt odd in there.

As for the office building conversion, my dentist used to be in there and I vaguely remember going to one other tenant on another floor years ago. Even then the building seemed odd, with the elevator lobby on the ground floor seemingly an afterthought and the building having a feeling of being quite shabby overall. If the minimal parking out front was full as it often was you had to park out back in a gravel/dirt lot and then trek all the way around to the front since there was no rear entrance. Not a good setup.

[ArchAficionado]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Yes! I used it one time and never returned, after the debacle that is access to the wash. The c-store inside gave me a very light-headed feeling as well, as if something wasn't on the up-and-up. I can't explain why, just that it felt odd in there.

As for the office building conversion, my dentist used to be in there and I vaguely remember going to one other tenant on another floor years ago. Even then the building seemed odd, with the elevator lobby on the ground floor seemingly an afterthought and the building having a feeling of being quite shabby overall. If the minimal parking out front was full as it often was you had to park out back in a gravel/dirt lot and then trek all the way around to the front since there was no rear entrance. Not a good setup.

You had to walk all the way around the perimeter of a building? Oh, the horror! /S

Jokes aside, that does sound like a poor setup and while this conversion leaves much to be desired still looks like an improvement on the net. Architecturally, they are constrained by the current structure re: window sides etc.

[Saul Goode]

The rendering is ugly - but not as ugly as the existing building.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ArchAficionado

You had to walk all the way around the perimeter of a building? Oh, the horror! /S

In winter with lots of packed snow and ice it was both hazardous walking and quite unpleasant. A rear entry to the building would have helped, but nooo…

[someone123]

Not to beat a dead horse but as somebody following local news from afar I find it legitimately hard sometimes to tell when there's some kind of serious problem or not. The Halifax Water story has been around for years with a subtext that there's some kind of imminent calamity. I suspect Halifax is probably average or above average for water service efficiency, quality, and maintenance. That's not to say that it's excellently managed, just that a lot of places get by with deferred maintenance and inefficiencies. Ageing postwar infrastructure is incredibly common across North America.

Every year there is the same "HRM is almost broke and needs to raise taxes" story.

It repeats across practically any area. When the submarine announcement happened instead of the CBC or Globe and Mail running stories about the positive impact, there were a bunch of "Halifax is in crisis and how will the beleaguered place handle this" type stories which seemed to have been written by local correspondents. I don't really see this type of treatment given to other places.

In yet another area I keep seeing "Halifax is the least affordable place in Canada". Real estate purchase prices and incomes are about mid pack for Canadian cities. It's really a story about a portion of the population experiencing pressure from rising rents.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by someone123

Not to beat a dead horse but as somebody following local news from afar I find it legitimately hard sometimes to tell when there's some kind of serious problem or not. The Halifax Water story has been around for years with a subtext that there's some kind of imminent calamity. I suspect Halifax is probably average or above average for water service efficiency, quality, and maintenance. That's not to say that it's excellently managed, just that a lot of places get by with deferred maintenance and inefficiencies. Ageing postwar infrastructure is incredibly common across North America.

Every year there is the same "HRM is almost broke and needs to raise taxes" story.

It repeats across practically any area. When the submarine announcement happened instead of the CBC or Globe and Mail running stories about the positive impact, there were a bunch of "Halifax is in crisis and how will the beleaguered place handle this" type stories which seemed to have been written by local correspondents. I don't really see this type of treatment given to other places.

In yet another area I keep seeing "Halifax is the least affordable place in Canada". Real estate purchase prices and incomes are about mid pack for Canadian cities. It's really a story about a portion of the population experiencing pressure from rising rents.

That Globe story had a fine broad premise (what a city with a lot of growing pains and infrastructure needs has to do to handle a big source of future growth) but blew it up basically, into "Is little old Halifax even capable of leveling up?"

I thought it was ludicrous that the story led with the brief boil-water incident last January as an example of our allegedly fragile infrastructure (it was not). I could not help but compare the situation to Calgary, which has actually had TWO separate massive, months-long water shortages, complete with mandatory water restrictions, in the past three years, due to ACTUAL collapsing water infrastructure. I have yet to see the Globe dispatch a reporter to Calgary to ask if the west's boomtown is really ready for growth. The difference is very signicantly one of perception.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Nah, the 2 water purification system failures that I was talking about happened in the summer, one year apart. The first one was on Canada Day, don't recall the date of the second one. The cause was roughly the same, a brief power failure kicked the system out, and its backup power source didn't function as it was supposed to. This let below-standard water into the system, and the boil water advisory was in effect until all the "bad" water was flushed through the system. TBH, the water was probably just fine, but officially they had to do what they had to do to maintain minimum standards (Walkerton and all that).

The first time was excusable, but the second seemed like an indication that insufficient attention was given to the first. It was inconvenient, meaning that we had to use bottled water for a couple of days, and the usual public panic of buying a month's worth a bottled water... you know, just in case... so all the store shelves were stripped of it for anybody who didn't get there early. Certainly not the level of Calgary's 'boondoggle' (thanks Keith, for making this word relevant again), but it seems strange to say that all water system failures are basically meaningless because they were not as bad as one of the big infrastructure planning failures in the history of Canada (maybe an exaggeration?). Certainly not a sign that Halifax's infrastructure is 'fragile', but isn't that just the state of the media today? Not to mention all the attention and outrage over what some average joe blow posts on facebook. If it weren't for the internet, people would grumble among their friends and neighbours and nobody else would ever hear about it. I really think we put too much value on the postings of the vast majority of people on the internet these days (mine included).

So yeah, maybe Halifax isn't any worse than Vancouver's. I haven't the motivation to check my old water bills, but my costs have gone up significantly in a time when everything else is more expensive, but maybe ours has been unusually low (or others too high?). No biggie... first world problems. I half thought of nixing my HW post after I posted it, but thought I'd throw it against the wall and see what happens. No complaints from Keith, so it can't be that bad.

Thanks for reading my ramblings. Tomorrow's another day in paradise. I'll find some other lame topic to gripe about I'm sure.

[JET]

This link has a photo of what the Royal Bank on Portland should look like when finished, looks good: https://sidewalkred.ca/projects/rbc-building/

[Saul Goode]

Originally Posted by JET

This link has a photo of what the Royal Bank on Portland should look like when finished, looks good: https://sidewalkred.ca/projects/rbc-building/

Maybe I'm missing something, but except for a new treatment of the sidewalk-level link between the two sections of the building, it looks pretty much the same to me.

[JET]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Maybe I'm missing something, but except for a new treatment of the sidewalk-level link between the two sections of the building, it looks pretty much the same to me.

The current front at street level is quite brutalist, imho; the proposed front is much more inviting. I’ve always viewed it as a butt ugly building, it is looking much improved.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Maybe I'm missing something, but except for a new treatment of the sidewalk-level link between the two sections of the building, it looks pretty much the same to me.

I concur. It's a minor improvement over the existing, but hardly life-changing.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Saul Goode

Maybe I'm missing something, but except for a new treatment of the sidewalk-level link between the two sections of the building, it looks pretty much the same to me.

Seems most of the changes will be interior - part of the change to residential.

[OldDartmouthMark]

More residential in the downtown sounds like a positive to me!