Developer rethinks north-end plans
Talking to architects on uses for Agricola site
Tue, Sep 20 - 4:54 AM
A developer who pulled the plug earlier this year on a $20-million project once slated for north-end Halifax is mulling over the idea of building luxury apartments on the large site that’s now home to a liquor store.
Ontario developer Rick Tomulka had planned to build 110 apartments and about 1,858 square metres of commercial space at the Agricola Street location now occupied by the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. But he scrapped those plans earlier this year, which involved an eight- to 10-storey complex.
"We’re not doing that plan," Tomulka said Monday in a telephone interview from Toronto.
"There were just too many hurdles to go through."
Tomulka said he’s not planning to sell the site, which covers more than half a hectare.
"It’s underutilized. That’s why we’re looking at different scenarios on it right now."
That area of the city is improving, he said.
"If we can get a nice plan on there, it will improve it even more."
Tomulka said he’s talked to city officials about different possibilities for the land and has architects working on various designs.
"I’m evaluating the whole site right now with architects . . . and we’re just trying to get some ideas and some feedback from the city to see what we should be doing there. I think our plan with (Halifax architect Richard) Kassner was maybe too large."
Kassner, of Kassner/Goodspeed Architects Ltd., said he hasn’t had any dealing with Tomulka since the spring.
"He called me and said, ‘I’m going to pull the plug,’ " Kassner said Monday. "We haven’t heard from him since."
If the Irving-owned Halifax Shipyard wins one of two contracts in the offing for billions of dollars in federal government shipbuilding work, predicted to provide up to 4,000 direct jobs in Nova Scotia over 30 years, Tomulka indicated the prospect of building new luxury apartments on Agricola could brighten.
"I think Halifax, if they get all those new jobs they’re talking about, the area’s only going to get better," he said.
"There’s going to be a demand for better-quality apartments. That’s why there’s a lot of stuff being built. You need to replenish with better up-to-date units. Give the tenants a modern building instead of the older housing stock."
But Tomulka said his plans don’t hang on a Halifax win on the shipyard contract.
"We’re going to go ahead with something regardless. Even if you put a shovel in the ground, it’s going to take you two years to do anything."
The liquor corporation likely wants to stay at that location, he said.
"We have a whole slew of other tenants that are interested in going in there if we do something. So I don’t think it’s a problem finding tenants for that location."
The site would be suitable for a mixed-use development that combined rental accommodations and commercial space, he said.
"I don’t think it’s a condo site, personally. I don’t think you can get the value out of it with a condo."
City spokeswoman Shaune MacKinlay said zoning on the land is residential on the Maynard Street side and commercial on Agricola.
The developer could apply to subdivide the land on Maynard and build up to four units on each 8,000-square-foot lot with a minimum frontage of 80 feet, MacKinlay said in an email.
Rest of the story is
here.
To say I'm disappointed is at minimum...yet again another opportunity wasted.
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