[Dartmouth] King's Wharf (16 Kings Wharf Place) | 85 & 49 m | 27 & 15 fl | U/C

[JET]

Originally Posted by resetcbu1

I totally agree with that 100%, it's kind of a shame that that the bridge crossing is not very efficient, nor is the ferry..... but I'm sure the traffic on both will increase. As you said, I like the way it is integrating the two downtowns into one sort of mega downtown.

I think this would have to be one of the most exciting developments and Canada, maybe not as much recognition outside of our region but nonetheless it is huge and of the utmost quality and probably on par with some of the other major developments taking place throughout the country.

Fares had planned for a private water taxi/ferry from Halifax to Kings Wharf; hopefully that will still happen

[halifaxboyns]

King's wharf is a great example of Transit Oriented Development. Taking his water taxi out of the equation, it's a large mixed use/high density community located within walking distance of frequent transit service (ferry).

This sort of thing can be easily replicated throughout HRM in places like Quinpool, Agricola, Robie/Young, etc. in advance of the construction of say an LRT or a streetcar and be required to pay into the cost of that service construction if the regional centre LUB/MPS are done right (with bonusing for transportation).

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

King's wharf is a great example of Transit Oriented Development. Taking his water taxi out of the equation, it's a large mixed use/high density community located within walking distance of frequent transit service (ferry).

Unless you are working downtown it isn't particularly attractive. Because most buses run along Barrington, the handful that serve the ferry terminal are not particularly useful. MT's failure to integrate ferry and bus service is one of the great failures of that organization. The same holds true on the Dartmouth side. You cannot get to points north of the ferry in any sort of useful manner.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

King's wharf is a great example of Transit Oriented Development. Taking his water taxi out of the equation, it's a large mixed use/high density community located within walking distance of frequent transit service (ferry).

Yes it is! The transit options are an attractive asset for downtown residents. The added density, in return, will provide further incentive for transit improvements.

Perhaps shorter walking distances for those less able?

[resetcbu1]

If they ever go back to work. I say fire them all, and take the money they save on wages to improve bus service in and around the city's core.

Way overpaid for a bunch of puppy makers if you ask me .

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Unless you are working downtown it isn't particularly attractive. Because most buses run along Barrington, the handful that serve the ferry terminal are not particularly useful. MT's failure to integrate ferry and bus service is one of the great failures of that organization. The same holds true on the Dartmouth side. You cannot get to points north of the ferry in any sort of useful manner.

I think this is only partially true. When I worked for PWGSC (in the Old Post Office Building on Bedford Row) one thing I noticed was in summer just how many people walked up from the ferry terminal. It was huge in numbers, particularly if the ferries came in one after the other. But Spring/Summer and Fall are only about 7 months of the year (at best) - so I agree, during the winter its more difficult.

This is why my suggested routing for any downtown streetcar had it only one block up from the ferry terminal and then stopping at the ferry terminal outbound. For those of you who hadn't seen the concept - the idea was that 2 routes (one from the Hydrostone and one from Mumford/Windsor street) would meet up on a common section of track running from North Park, down Cogswell and through the newly 'redone' Cogswell Lands (depending on configuration) and then share the track down Hollis Street (inbound) and share the track outbound on Lower Water Street. The idea was that between the two systems - you'd have a very high frequency of service in the core, making it attractive to office workers who wanted to take a short trip and could accommodate people coming up from the ferry, or going to it.

I mentioned this to Jonovision - we had one of the speakers that was a part of the "it's more than buses' out here in Calgary to speak on urban gondola transportation - it got huge media attention (made the front page - I'm tickled, since I organized the event hehe). Anyway, one thing he and I talked about was Halifax and he liked the system but pointed out the flaws and one was the multi-modal connections. He was the same was you Keith - he felt the ferry was off on it's own to a certain degree. He liked my idea as a starting point, but I got the impression that he would be a combo of my streetcar idea and someone123's LRT concepts. Either way, he's all about multi-modal systems and the gondola idea is quite interesting.

Btw, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this (it was a bit of hot topic in the Calgary thread) - but a gondola cost between 5 to 10$ million a KM versus LRT which is typically $150 million/km.

Anyway, if you want to see the brief story on Calgary CBC Late night on our session you can click here. (It's around the 3 minute mark and you can see me eating around 3:16 in the upper corner).

[Hali87]

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet:



Source: The Chronicle Herald

[Wishblade]

Originally Posted by Hali87

I'm not sure if this has been posted yet:



Source: The Chronicle Herald

That is the most modern lighthouse I have ever seen. Maybe theres hope for those things yet .

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by resetcbu1

If they ever go back to work.

work? you mean between the average 18+ sick days each?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Btw, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned this (it was a bit of hot topic in the Calgary thread) - but a gondola cost between 5 to 10$ million a KM versus LRT which is typically $150 million/km.

Gondolas are interesting, although of course they only work in particular areas. I just spent a week in San Francisco/Portland/Seattle and Portland's gondola looked interesting, although I didn't ride it. Vancouver had plans for a gondola up to Simon Fraser University, which is built on a large hill and difficult to serve with buses, but I think they might have been shelved.

A modernized version of San Francisco's Muni streetcars are similar to what I think might work in Halifax. Old lines like the N Judah line that I took were first set up in the 1920s or earlier and then were updated in the 1970s with modern underground stations downtown and new rolling stock. Some Muni stations have elevated platforms while others are just along the street. Halifax can't afford anything like a subway but a mixed system where money can be directed toward solving specific bottleneck problems is ideal.

One thing I really liked in SF was their system of RFID-based transit cards. You can buy a card at a machine and, more importantly, when loading onto a transit vehicle you can go in any door and pay your fare by putting your card near the reader.

As for the multi-modal aspect, I've always thought that Halifax should have one big downtown transit terminal that connects ferries and buses and is protected from the elements. Maybe that will be possible if they tear down the law courts and the old ferry terminal. If the Cogswell interchange were redeveloped there would also be some room for improvements. Maybe some sort of short bus tunnel could be built.

[kph06]

A rendering is online of the Aqua Vista and it will have a different design than the Keelson.


Source

[someone123]

Nice find. Again I would say that this design is above average for Halifax.

Am I right in thinking this is the second condo building that will soon be built along with a second apartment building?

[kph06]

Originally Posted by someone123

Nice find. Again I would say that this design is above average for Halifax.

Am I right in thinking this is the second condo building that will soon be built along with a second apartment building?

I like they have altered it from the Keelson design (which I still really like), but still kept the same feel, I imagine the red brick will be replaced with stone like on the Keelson.

Yes, this is the second condo, I think the plan is to swap out the office component of the fourth building with residential from another phase. I am not sure if they have announced if it will be condo or rental, but I think rental would be a safe bet.

[someone123]

Interesting. I wonder if the 4th residential building will be constructed at the end of the row where an office building was originally planned, or if they will keep that spot for office and build one of the other structures.

It will be great to see this take shape as a "district" rather than one small development or a row of buildings.

Once they have four or five residential buildings perhaps they'll start looking at the commercial/retail spaces as well. Some kind of full service urban format grocery store similar to Pete's would be a great asset, but it takes a lot of population density to make that work. If Dartmouth does get to that point I think it will really take off.

[beyeas]

Originally Posted by kph06

I like they have altered it from the Keelson design (which I still really like), but still kept the same feel, I imagine the red brick will be replaced with stone like on the Keelson.

Yes, this is the second condo, I think the plan is to swap out the office component of the fourth building with residential from another phase. I am not sure if they have announced if it will be condo or rental, but I think rental would be a safe bet.

I really like the design, but just wish that there was a bit more variation in height. Would be more interesting if there wasn't such a ceiling effect with all the buildings basically being the same height (with the notable exception of course being signature building). I do really like the finishings etc though. Definitely a step above the typical for Halifax.

[kph06]

Originally Posted by someone123

Interesting. I wonder if the 4th residential building will be constructed at the end of the row where an office building was originally planned, or if they will keep that spot for office and build one of the other structures.

I think the plan is to make the 4th building in the row residential. The office compoent will be moved to another building.

[halifaxboyns]

But doesn't this building rendering show commercial at grade? Or am I looking at the diagram incorrectly? It appears commercial on the ground floor - so you could have an urban format store. I don't recall any rules in the DA that restricted the storefront size.

This development continues to impress me. The quality of the finishes and the fact it's actually going forward - very good. This is something that in the future can be held up as an example of well thought out, quality development and used as a good example. Frankly, if we saw most new development in HRM's regional centre occuring like this (of course at varrying densities and heights), I wouldn't be upset. In a way, this is kind of setting out Halifax's 'typical style' - much like the glass/steel condos in Vancouver. At least, I think...

[FuzzyWuz]

Originally Posted by beyeas

I really like the design, but just wish that there was a bit more variation in height. Would be more interesting if there wasn't such a ceiling effect with all the buildings basically being the same height (with the notable exception of course being signature building). I do really like the finishings etc though. Definitely a step above the typical for Halifax.

The variation in height comes when you travel west to east. The whole area will be hill shaped with 18 story buildings across the road from the 12 story ones being built right now and then less height right on the water.

[fenwick16]

The picture below was posted by FuzzyWuz on Oct 19, 2009. It was a picture of a model at an open house. It is a good illustration of how large the completed project will be. Once the the iconic tower and Marina is completed then this will look like a bit of Miami (however, I have only seen Miami in pictures, so I am just fantasizing).

(source: FuzzyWuz, Oct 19, 2009)

[RyeJay]

Does anyone know details about that modern lighthouse? It would be great if the public had access to it -- a perfect platform for picture taking.