General Updates and News

[johnny_boy]

meh.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by haligonia

My facts are facts statement was directed towards Tim's most recent piece, which is excellent and well-researched.

But the point is that he has already demonstrated that he is capable of taking "facts" and twisting them, misinterpreting them, not fully disclosing their context, or doing other things to distort them to make them suit his pre-established premise. The aforementioned convention center nonsense is a good example of that. Just read his coverage of the bus strike - it is easy to conclude that all the drivers are hardworking, downtrodden, honest sods while the MT management is utterly corrupt and inept. I suspect the truth is neither of those things. If you follow his live blog of HRM council proceedings it is even worse. The only ones who are capable of saying anything worthwhile are apparently Sloane and Watts. He has zero credibility and this story has a long way to go before I am willing to accept his presentation.

[planarchy]

Plans for renovation of the NSLC property on Agricola seem to have hit bottom. From mixed use infill to suburban strip mall. Let's hope this doesn't happen...



More info here

[cormiermax]

Terrible mess, who ever designed that should be shot. This does not belong even in a suburb, never mind the freaking peninsula.

[planarchy]

Originally Posted by cormiermax

Terrible mess, who ever designed that should be shot. This does not belong even in a suburb, never mind the freaking peninsula.

These guys are responsible (under the client's direction) - http://www.tfai.com/. Seems like they do a lot of this type of stuff. It looks like they just chopped a piece of this beauty - and so many pedestrians!

[Keith P.]

My understanding is that it is just a reno of the existing building while staying within the current building envelope, essentially a condo-ization of the NSLC space. It is better than what's there now at least. I hear that the back parking lot is still being targeted for a new residential development.

[someone123]

Yeah, it was pretty disappointing to watch this devolve from the original proposal into a renovated strip mall. Agricola's awfully dumpy looking.

[RyeJay]

What a horrible waste of space and opportunity. Very disappointing.

[haligonia]

I saw that on Twitter the other day and thought it was a joke. Guess not.

[scooby074]

Ugg. Awful.

Prime land being used as a strip mall in a neighbourhood in the process of being revitalized. Such a waste

[alps]

I actually kind of prefer the existing building to this silly-looking mess...

[halifaxboyns]

I'd prefer the current Nova Centre site to this to be brutally honest...(bodies included).

[eastcoastal]

so disappointing to see this. It's completely inappropriate for an urban lot.

[bluenoser]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

WDCL is conducting a large week long public engagement session next week for their lands in Dartmouth Cove. Should be really interesting. More info here: http://my-waterfront.ca/dartmouth/events-dartmouth?event=30 And there is a facebook event for it as well.

I think this has a lot of potential. It would be great if there are any interesting old industrial buildings that could be re-purposed to complement new ones.

Dartmouth Cove aims to be new Granville Island
CBC News Posted: Feb 21, 2012 1:56 PM AT Last Updated: Feb 21, 2012 2:09 PM AT Read 0 comments0


City planners hope to change Nova Scotia's Dartmouth Cove into an East Coast version of Vancouver's famous market area Granville Island.

Granville Island's allure is its combination of residential and commercial properties with a splendid waterfront location.

Dartmouth Cove, located between Alderney Drive, Portland and Maitland streets, has the location, but is populated by vacant lots and industrial sites.
...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/story/2012/02/21/ns-dartmouth-cove-development.html

(I'm pretty sure some of those Granville Island scenes in the video aren't actaully from Granville Island but the Vancouver waterfront; I could be wrong though.)

[haligonia]

If the Dartmouth Cove area ever gets redeveloped, property values at King's Wharf (especially units which face the canal/cove) would probably raise even higher.

[halifaxboyns]

This could be very interesting - and work well with King's Wharf. Like I posted in my comment on CBC, you could do a total farmers market day! Start out on the Halifax side at the Seaport market, watertaxi or ferry over to the Dartmouth side and go to the market there. You'd spend a day along the water.

Any redevelopment will also improve the taxi base - which HRM needs if it's going to deal with the growing needs of transportation and infrastructure with the coming population boom.

[someone123]

Yep, some many of those shots are not Granville Island. That first shot is of the convention centre. Granville Island itself has older looking, brightly coloured buildings.

The seawall in Halifax is already very similar to Granville Island.

I worry that organizations like the WDC aren't very focused. It feels like they are constantly studying development all over the place but ultimately fail to implement much. Halifax in general has a huge number of development proposals mired in problems. Practically every site has some kind of plan but there is rarely ever action. Halifax is 90% talk and red tape.

For now, in Dartmouth, the King/Alderney site is by far the most important empty site because it can tie King's Wharf in with downtown Dartmouth.

In the Halifax side given that the Salter development failed the most realistic sites seem like Cunard and Cable Wharf. They're both small but I am far more interested in seeing actual construction there than in hearing about more high-level plans that may or may not ever be implemented.

[CorbeauNoir]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

I think this has a lot of potential. It would be great if there are any interesting old industrial buildings that could be re-purposed to complement new ones.

Interesting considering that the Seaport is apparently heavily inspired from Granville Island itself. In fact they share many of the same services (farmer's market, microbrewery, art school...).

[Hali87]

Stumbled on this rendering on the Seaport website. I remember hearing plans to redevelop this warehouse between Pier 21 and the Cunard Centre a couple years ago, I'm not sure how recent the rendering is:



According to the site the plans are to transform it into "first class office accommodations and retail space."

Ground floor retail would tie the area together well; maybe sometime along the line the parking lots across the street could be developed.

[haligonia]

Here's a picture of Gottingen Street that Tim Bousquet posted to Twitter:


Source

The building at Cunard and Gottingen is coming along quickly! Hopefully the materials are decent quality.