[Halifax] Skye Halifax (1565 Granville) | 66 m | 2 x 21 fl | U/C - Page 43

Waye Mason · #**841** Posted **May 28, 2012, 12:16 PM**

Wanted to add: The most offensive parking lot to me is the old Birks site, George and Barrington. Lots of the time we say "they should do this" but the government doesn't really have the power to compel the private owner to do anything much at all. In this case, the lot is owned by the government, I believe the province holds it now, traded it for the library site? But whether it is provincial or municipal, the fact that they are holding that land for parking on Barrington is frustrating. If we want downtown revitalized, we need government on all levels to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

halifaxboyns · #**842** Posted **May 28, 2012, 3:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Wanted to add: The most offensive parking lot to me is the old Birks site, George and Barrington. Lots of the time we say "they should do this" but the government doesn't really have the power to compel the private owner to do anything much at all. In this case, the lot is owned by the government, I believe the province holds it now, traded it for the library site? But whether it is provincial or municipal, the fact that they are holding that land for parking on Barrington is frustrating. If we want downtown revitalized, we need government on all levels to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

It's more than what you are saying though. Look at what happened with Texpark. HRM decided to sell the land, but in doing so put no conditions on the sale that gave them any ability to force the development proceed. There was no teeth.

So if government (Municipal or Provincial) is going to sell land to inspire development to occur, it needs to look at the Sisters sites as an example of a successful Request for Proposals (RFP) process that not only got a lot of interest, but seems to have the teeth to require development occur (granted the bidders wanted to start that development as quickly as possible so that isn't an issue in the Sisters Site case).

If the RFP for the TexPark site had conditions on it to push the development forward, this discussion would be mute - the building would've been built by now. All the complaining aside, this is a learning experience for HRM. They haven't had much experience in doing land releases, now they can learn from the mistakes and make sure they aren't repeated.

someone123 · #**843** Posted **May 28, 2012, 6:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

If the RFP for the TexPark site had conditions on it to push the development forward, this discussion would be mute - the building would've been built by now. All the complaining aside, this is a learning experience for HRM. They haven't had much experience in doing land releases, now they can learn from the mistakes and make sure they aren't repeated.

Yeah, that was exactly the problem with United Gulf. The TexPark sales process was highly problematic -- for one thing, council approved the land sale to a developer, and then they had to turn around and decide whether or not to permit the same developer to build on that lot.

There was talk of building provincial offices at Barrington and George but it basically sounds like it is a form of land banking for the province. Do they pay municipal taxes for the property? The province seems to do a lot of heavy-handed planning like that with zero regard for financial efficiency or the effect they have on their neighbours.

The provincial offices in the ground floor of the former Eatons building is the kind of perverse effect you get when government picks up a building and then considers any use of it "free". They don't necessarily feel the pressure to use a building or site to its full potential or sell it off like a private business does.

Keith P. · #**844** Posted **May 28, 2012, 9:05 PM**

The parking lot on the former Birks site was planned to hold a large extension to One Government Place to accommodate provincial offices moving out of the Joe Howe Building. With the province now shipping bureaucrats out to East Rubber Boot I doubt if they will be building anything in Downtown anytime soon.

Haliobserver · #**845** Posted **May 29, 2012, 1:55 PM**

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/101387-bankruptcy-registrar-moves-against-greater-homes-inc

This actually looks quite serious.

worldlyhaligonian · #**846** Posted **May 29, 2012, 3:22 PM**

Soo shady... Skye will never happen. I hope this lot is sold and something proposed by a real developer.

RyeJay · #**847** Posted **May 29, 2012, 10:19 PM**

An awful lot of facebook status updates from Skye Halifax recently, especially considering it was very rarely updated before, for months on end...... Hmmm...

Updates include:

Skye would like to congratulate all of those students who are graduating this month NSCAD University, Dalhousie University, MSVU, Nova Scotia Community College & Saint Mary's University Halifax!

And more recently...

Hoping all those attending the Hedley concert enjoy themselves!

cormiermax · #**848** Posted **May 29, 2012, 11:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyeJay

An awful lot of facebook status updates from Skye Halifax recently, especially considering it was very rarely updated before, for months on end...... Hmmm...

Updates include:

Skye would like to congratulate all of those students who are graduating this month NSCAD University, Dalhousie University, MSVU, Nova Scotia Community College & Saint Mary's University Halifax!

And more recently...

Hoping all those attending the Hedley concert enjoy themselves!

Thats just weird.

Northend Nerd · #**849** Posted **May 29, 2012, 11:38 PM**

I have also noticed this over the past few days. First they tied a Metro News article in to be relevant but the shout outs have gotten a little weird now.

Waye Mason · #**850** Posted **May 30, 2012, 12:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northend Nerd

I have also noticed this over the past few days. First they tied a Metro News article in to be relevant but the shout outs have gotten a little weird now.

There was a new poster on another message board (locals) who was all "hey young people, support this, right?" Seemed like a plant, or ringer. I think maybe United Gulf hired a social media firm, ie, some college kid, to do this stuff....

Northend Nerd · #**851** Posted **Jun 22, 2012, 6:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

There was a new poster on another message board (locals) who was all "hey young people, support this, right?" Seemed like a plant, or ringer. I think maybe United Gulf hired a social media firm, ie, some college kid, to do this stuff....

I think they have even gone as far as buying "Likes" for their page. It went from 200 to 900 in about a week. You can view the stats page and see the obvious spike all at once. Most popular city is Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skye-Halifax/222364611134766?sk=likes

I think running a strong social media strategy is very important to build support, but buying likes isn't the way to do it.

Waye Mason · #**852** Posted **Jun 22, 2012, 8:19 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Northend Nerd

I think they have even gone as far as buying "Likes" for their page. It went from 200 to 900 in about a week. You can view the stats page and see the obvious spike all at once. Most popular city is Karachi, Sindh, Pakistan...

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Skye-Halifax/222364611134766?sk=likes

I think running a strong social media strategy is very important to build support, but buying likes isn't the way to do it.

Hah. I just posted a screencap of that to twitter... thanks for the heads up.

spaustin · #**853** Posted **Jun 23, 2012, 2:07 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Hah. I just posted a screencap of that to twitter... thanks for the heads up.

Perhaps this project is just what the average young Pakistani wants

Too funny!

Waye Mason · #**854** Posted **Jun 23, 2012, 1:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by spaustin

Perhaps this project is just what the average young Pakistani wants

Too funny!

I was just accused of paying the Pakistani kids to like Skye to manufacture an incident because I am a politician...

Amazing.

someone123 · #**855** Posted **Jul 12, 2012, 10:21 PM**

Wow, this is a stretch even by recent standards at The Coast: http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/pie-in-the-skye/Content?oid=3218273

Jstaleness · #**856** Posted **Jul 12, 2012, 11:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

Wow, this is a stretch even by recent standards at The Coast: http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/pie-in-the-skye/Content?oid=3218273

The persons commenting on it are setting it straight. What is wrong with the media in Halifax?

FuzzyWuz · #**857** Posted **Jul 13, 2012, 12:37 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jstaleness

The persons commenting on it are setting it straight. What is wrong with the media in Halifax?

The coast is not 'media'. It's a 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵.

CorbeauNoir · #**858** Posted **Jul 14, 2012, 1:20 AM**

edit: nevermind

q12 · #**859** Posted **Aug 26, 2012, 3:04 PM**

http://skye.callsos.info/images/yootheme/Skye_arial-2.jpg
http://skyehalifax.ca

^^
I don't think this was posted yet.

Haliobserver · #**860** Posted **Sep 3, 2012, 11:13 PM**

And these guys are going to build Skye Halifax. Ha! More likely they are on the first plane to Switzerland ASAP.

http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/13...r-incommunicado-in-bankruptcy-proceeding