Here's a couple possible new developments
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Source:
The Chronicle Herald
Church property may be in play
By ROGER TAYLOR Business Columnist
Fri. Oct 16 - 4:46 AM
HOLY SMOKES. As if overseeing a $300-million redevelopment of the former Halifax Herald property in downtown Halifax wasn’t enough for Rank Inc., the company may have another downtown construction project on the go at about the same time.
Peter Browne, the financial administrator for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax, told me Thursday that the archdiocese has signed a letter of intent with Rank to develop church-owned lands adjacent to St. Mary’s Basilica on Spring Garden Road.
Halifax businessman Joe Ramia heads Rank Inc.
"At this point, we entered into an early-stage agreement with Rank and we’re trying to come up with something that we can build in the space that will give us some income and also provide us with some pastoral mission," Browne says. "But exactly what shape that will take, we’re not sure at this time."
He says the church hopes to have at least a preliminary idea of what the building will look like by mid-2010.
"Part of the reason we’ve been held up a little longer than we thought is that the parking lot for the cathedral has been swept up in the Barrington (Street) heritage designation. So there are limitations on that, even though it is essentially . . . nothing, it is still involved in that heritage district."
The church hopes to have the parking lot at the corner of Spring Garden Road and Grafton Street excluded from the Barrington Street Heritage Conservation District in order to expand development options for the site, he says.
I understand, however, that despite the concerns from the church, when the plans for the property are finally revealed, it will include development of the parking lot, a courtyard behind the church and the building that now houses the diocese administration offices at 1521 Grafton St.
The church hopes development of the lands will create an income stream that could be used to help defray the cost of maintaining the cathedral and the neighbouring glebe house at the corner of Barrington Street and Spring Garden Road. The glebe house is designated a historic property.
The other goal would be to create low-income housing and some space for ministry work, says Browne.
The church is also trying to incorporate into any new development the kinds of things recommended in the municipality’s HRM by Design plan, he says.
Rank was chosen by the church after the archdiocese put out a request for proposals last year. Rank had an advantage, he says, because it already owns the neighbouring Barrington Gate apartment building at the corner of Barrington and Blowers streets, as well as 5220 Blowers St., a skateboard shop that backs onto the church courtyard.
The courtyard behind the cathedral has limited access from any of the surrounding streets, says Browne, so creating new access points will be important.
The only real way to get into the courtyard now is through a narrow passageway between the church and the church administration building on Grafton Street, he says.
Most of the courtyard would be part of the development and the cathedral parking lot would probably be used as well, he says.
There isn’t a firm deal yet, but Browne says the church is optimistic the project will be able to go ahead as planned.
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Source:
THe Chronicle Herald
Big dreams for Shannon Park
Canada Lands sees modern residential complex sprouting on old military site
By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor
Fri. Oct 16 - 4:46 AM
IMAGINE THE DAY when you could live in a new environmentally friendly home in Shannon Park where a wine bar was just a short stroll away.
Canada Lands Co. is talking to the Department of National Defence about making that a possibility someday on the 42.5-hectare property on the Dartmouth side of Halifax Harbour.
"We are slated to be receiving the Shannon Park property," said Gordon McIvor, a vice-president of the Crown corporation.
If the arm’s-length, self-financing body does acquire Shannon Park, Mr. McIvor said he suspects there will be a lot of interest from developers.
"It’s a big, very well-situated property," he said. "It’s right next to the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. It’s right under the bridge."
He wouldn’t put a price tag on the land, but said Canada Lands would likely have to pay DND millions of dollars for the "valuable and complex" property.
"We actually can engage in zoning with the city," Mr. McIvor said. "We’ve done 13 military base re-conversions across the country. So, obviously, we’re very interested in continuing that type of work because we’ve developed a lot of expertise in it."
Former bases lend themselves to mixed-use development, "with a very heavy accent on residential and green space," he said.
"We’ve won a lot of environmental awards."
The plan is to develop a master plan, then sell the property to a developer to build.
"Our concept is to reduce the impact of the automobile basically as much as possible," Mr. McIvor said.
"We try and create a property where people potentially could live, work and play in close proximity. So you want to worry about access to public transit. You want to think about, OK, can people on a Friday and Saturday and Sunday night, could they walk to a restaurant or a movie theatre or to wherever they want to go — to a wine bar? You want to get people so that they’re back walking and bicycling and not necessarily taking their car to go everywhere."
Shannon Park is one of the "opportunity sites" identified in Halifax’s regional municipal planning strategy. It could accommodate significant future population growth, said Andy Fillmore, the city’s urban designer.
"So that’s all fantastic. Inside the regional centre means it’s accessible by local transit. You can get there on a bicycle. In the future, you could get there on a ferry. You don’t necessarily have to own a car if you’re going to live there. You’re close to all kinds of recreation. You’re close to that tremendous view of the harbour. (It would be) a huge lifestyle boon to live in the Shannon Park area — a big draw."
In a telephone interview from Sweden, where he’s touring sustainable communities, Mr. Fillmore waxed poetic about the Scandinavian country’s sustainable elements. And he stressed the same ideas could be used to rebuild Shannon Park.
"What we’re seeing are large-scale new communities close to downtown cores on bike, pedestrian and public transit routes, holding huge amounts of people," Mr. Fillmore said. "We’re talking about mid-rise, anywhere from two- to eight-storey buildings, arranged around central common greens with plenty of bicycle parking, plenty of community gardens and daycares."
The Swedish communities use "district heating," he said, "so rather than every building having a huge boiler or every house having a furnace in the basement, there would be one central heating plant with hot water pipes to every unit. It’s hugely efficient. You can run the district heating plant on wood pellets."
Shannon Park could also make use of solar and wind power.
"You know the wind just howls up that harbour," Mr. Fillmore said. "Shannon Park is ideal."
At its peak, several thousand military personnel and their families lived and worked in the 113 buildings on the property. But now it’s mostly abandoned, save for the arena and a school the military handed over to the Halifax Regional School Board.
Halifax developer Wadih Fares was cautious about the potential for a Shannon Park redevelopment in the near future.
"If they bring it (forward) in the next couple of years, I don’t think it will fly. But probably in five years or more than that, it may be something that a lot of us would be interested in," Mr. Fares said.
"I am very optimistic there’s a big potential in Halifax. But we’ve got to take it easy and go slowly. You can’t dump everything on the market all at once."
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I saw them putting the sign up when I was coming home today. Nice to see this moving forward as the building has been an empty shell for quite a while.
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