‘ All-out war’ predicted over convention centre
The new convention centre pro posed for Halifax has its vocal opponents but the downtown business community says build ing it should be a priority.
The Downtown Halifax Busi ness Commission has released the results from a recent survey of its membership and 31 per cent of the respondents said the con vention centre is the most impor tant piece of infrastructure need ed for a more vibrant downtown.
Local developer Rank Inc.
wants to include the convention centre as part of its multimillion dollar Nova Centre complex, along with a hotel and retail and office space, on the site of the former Halifax Herald Ltd. build ing on Argyle Street.
Convention centres are not traditionally stand-alone profit centres. They are used around the world as revenue generators for surrounding businesses, and governments recover their in vestment through increased tax revenue.
That fact has not been lost on downtown Halifax’s business community, which has been suffering through a down period.
The membership has wanted a bigger and better convention centre to be a priority for more than a decade.
But opponents are trying to block the government investment in the convention centre because of the height of the buildings included in the complex, which they argue would block the view of Halifax Harbour from the ramparts of Citadel Hill.
The developer and others say the old Herald property was not included in the original legisla tion that the former City of Hali fax passed to protect sightlines from Citadel Hill, nor was it add ed to Halifax Regional Municipal ity’s new HRM by Design devel opment plan. So highrise construction will happen on the site — with or without a convention centre.
Well-known developer Robert Stapells is angered by the anti highrise position that groups such as the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia have taken. He agrees with convention industry experts who have said the existing World Trade and Convention Centre, designed in the 1970s, lacks basic amenities such as proper exhibition space, dining capacity and loading docks.
“At this very moment, we are on the doorstep of another all-out war of conflicting downtown aspirations involving the anti development gang, who wish to remain quaintly planted in the past, and the pro-development crowd, who wish to create a stag ing ground for a more modern central business district," he says. Stapells, who was a member of the old Halifax city council from 1971 to 1974, says he remembers as a young alderman voting in favour of protecting 11 sightlines from Citadel Hill on the evening of Jan. 31, 1974. He says some of the same people who oppose the convention centre today were urging council at that time to pass the legislation, saying that high rise development would then be allowed on lands that were not included.
“Make no mistake, the Heritage Trust’s new smoke-and-mirrors stance has nothing to do with the economics of the world’s conven tion business, as they now claim," Stapells says. “It remains all about stopping higher-rise enterprise in the downtown.
“These people have a long standing record of anti-devel opment activity. Together they have cost private enterprise, tax payers and our grandkids many millions of dollars, not to mention many thousands of hours of staff time and major damage to our international reputation."
And so the battle continues, until Rank Inc. submits its final proposal for the site to the pro vincial government by July 19 and the government makes a decision on whether to partly fund the convention centre com ponent of the complex. That decision is expected in the early fall.
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