General Updates and News

[musicman]

If anybody wants to read an interesting, (depressing, funny, ridiculous, and completely half baked) article, check out the coast this week.. There is a wonderful article about basically a study of all the studies and downtown plans... When is this going to end and actually get something done...

[Jonovision]

Was walking by Scotia Square this afternoon and noticed a second development application sign. Crombie is planning on renovating and adding onto the Barrington Frontage. It looks like it will run from the base of Barrington Tower over to the base of the Hotel tower.

More info here: http://www.halifaxdevelopments.com/scotia-square.php

[someone123]

Interesting. Here's what this part of the facade looks like now: http://goo.gl/maps/yNnVU

The new addition will be separated from the rest of Barrington by the big blank wall to the south, but it is a busy area for transit.

The International Place lot is right across the street, and there's a lot of potential for other improvements when Cogswell is torn down.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Was walking by Scotia Square this afternoon and noticed a second development application sign. Crombie is planning on renovating and adding onto the Barrington Frontage. It looks like it will run from the base of Barrington Tower over to the base of the Hotel tower.

More info here: http://www.halifaxdevelopments.com/scotia-square.php
.
.

Its looks like it will make a big improvement. Having retail along the Barrington Street side will hopefully attract pedestrians to that end of Barrington Street.

[RyeJay]

Well, well !!

I wonder if this could be proceeding concurrently with the previously proposed Scotia Square addition? I wasn't expecting these changes to take place so quickly! I'm quite thrilled about this development

[someone123]

By the way, the rendering PDF also suggests a new addition beneath Cogswell tower that would be farther north along Barrington, and what look like 2 additions along Albemarle (one on the corner, and one on top of what's currently a parking garage). It's also missing an existing tower.

Here are some images from Jonovision's link above:

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by someone123

This rendering re-kindles my longing to see International Place happen.

[Jstaleness]

This looks as though the "mall" may become a mall again. Looking at the additions there would be room for some high square footage stores. Maybe the idea of a downtown mall isn't dead here yet.

[cormiermax]

Things are changing so quickly these days in Halifax, I wonder what the city will be like by the end of the decade. Perhaps we should start looking at hosting a major event to give the city a better worldwide image.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

This rendering re-kindles my longing to see International Place happen.

There's no sign that it will happen anytime soon, but the same was said of Waterside back in 2010 or so.

I think IP would make this area "work" a lot better. Right now Granville Mall and Scotia Square just feel like dead ends, and the whole area is a disaster for pedestrians.

Soon there will be 2 big hotels on the Citadel Hotel site, but there won't be any short, clear, attractive path to Scotia Square's shops, even though it could be a 5-minute walk away.

On Barrington, there's almost half a kilometre of street frontage north of Freak Lunchbox but there is very little reason for most people to walk that way, and it's not very attractive. No visitor is going to look up that way and decide to go there right now. In the future if something good is built at George Street, the TD building turns out nicely, IP goes in plus this Scotia Square expansion and some good streetscaping happens then maybe it will be a different story. Add in half a dozen or so residential highrises and a nice transit terminal and it would really be something.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by cormiermax

Things are changing so quickly these days in Halifax, I wonder what the city will be like by the end of the decade. Perhaps we should start looking at hosting a major event to give the city a better worldwide image.

Well, we don't have a stadium, our arena is 35 years old and totally obsolete, and the convention center is still a ways off. Don't know where you'd put it.

[cormiermax]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Well, we don't have a stadium, our arena is 35 years old and totally obsolete, and the convention center is still a ways off. Don't know where you'd put it.

Such events typically generate such venues.

[RyeJay]

Halifax will not be holding any major international events anytime soon. We need to continue infilling the downtown and grow our economy to more easily justify investing in sports infrastructure. As the population grows, people will become more vocal for a stadium (and we already have a pro-stadium mayor).

At the moment, however, public transit expansion is certainly prioritised above a stadium. I would be disappointed to see funds go toward a stadium without vital plans worked out for dealing with Halifax's growing traffic crisis.

The City's next big moment will be at the national level, in 2017, to commemorate the Halifax Explosion. I wonder if the federal government will want to organise and/or fund any special events for the occasion?

The Nova Centre must be finished before this time. Ideally, I'd like to see those Barringtons towers (Roy and the Dis. Centre) up as well.

I want Canada to see Halifax as an actual city, not just some naval town with universities.

[teddifax]

Originally Posted by someone123

By the way, the rendering PDF also suggests a new addition beneath Cogswell tower that would be farther north along Barrington, and what look like 2 additions along Albemarle (one on the corner, and one on top of what's currently a parking garage). It's also missing an existing tower.

Here are some images from Jonovision's link above:

I would love to see a re-working of the blank wall currently on the south end of Scotia Square, ending at Duke St. It would be nice if this new North End could just be continued all along, creating a true streetscape the whole length of Barrington St.

[resetcbu1]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

Halifax will not be holding any major international events anytime soon. We need to continue infilling the downtown and grow our economy to more easily justify investing in sports infrastructure. As the population grows, people will become more vocal for a stadium (and we already have a pro-stadium mayor).

At the moment, however, public transit expansion is certainly prioritised above a stadium. I would be disappointed to see funds go toward a stadium without vital plans worked out for dealing with Halifax's growing traffic crisis.

The City's next big moment will be at the national level, in 2017, to commemorate the Halifax Explosion. I wonder if the federal government will want to organise and/or fund any special events for the occasion?

The Nova Centre must be finished before this time. Ideally, I'd like to see those Barringtons towers (Roy and the Dis. Centre) up as well.

I want Canada to see Halifax as an actual city, not just some naval town with universities.

I love to show people here in Calgary pictures of the Halifax skyline , they are quite often blown away if they have never been out that way and most say it is beautiful with interesting buildings and that it looks much larger than they had thought it was ............ this reaction will be more common in the near future I would suspect

[Empire]

Originally Posted by someone123

There's no sign that it will happen anytime soon, but the same was said of Waterside back in 2010 or so.

I think IP would make this area "work" a lot better. Right now Granville Mall and Scotia Square just feel like dead ends, and the whole area is a disaster for pedestrians.

Soon there will be 2 big hotels on the Citadel Hotel site, but there won't be any short, clear, attractive path to Scotia Square's shops, even though it could be a 5-minute walk away.

On Barrington, there's almost half a kilometre of street frontage north of Freak Lunchbox but there is very little reason for most people to walk that way, and it's not very attractive. No visitor is going to look up that way and decide to go there right now. In the future if something good is built at George Street, the TD building turns out nicely, IP goes in plus this Scotia Square expansion and some good streetscaping happens then maybe it will be a different story. Add in half a dozen or so residential highrises and a nice transit terminal and it would really be something.

I wonder if one of the obstacles in IP moving forward is the street grade. Part of the site is restricted by the Barrington ramp leading into the Cogswell St. Interchange. If the building were to be developed now at street level and then the Cogswell Interchange dismantled there would be a gap at the North end of the site by approx. 15ft.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by someone123

Right now Granville Mall and Scotia Square just feel like dead ends, and the whole area is a disaster for pedestrians.

I would say that it doesn't feel so much like a dead end as it just turns inward. The easiest way to get around this part of town is through the pedway system and the network of passageways that make up the lower floors of Scotia Square, Barrington Place/Granville Mall, Purdy's Wharf, and the WTCC/Metro Centre. There is actually retail basically all along this stretch (with the exception of the WTCC and the pedways themselves) so it's not as soulless an experience as you'd expect, unless you go through at night when everything is closed. I agree that improving the streetscape and is a good initiative though, and International Place would fill in a gap.

I like this proposal. It's very reminiscent of the Rideau Centre in Ottawa, which was a nice place to catch the bus. I hope that as they build additions to Scotia Square that they also reclad or otherwise update the sections in between. Otherwise the disjointed patches of concrete are going to look pretty weird. I also wish they'd do something with the blank walls facing Barrington. I remember seeing a couple buildings in Vancouver that were simply outlined in neon light tubes (or a more modern equivalent). I think this would work well on Scotia Square. That, or project images/video onto them. I do like the Duke Street frontage though and I hope that they don't drastically change that side anytime soon.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by RyeJay

I want Canada to see Halifax as an actual city, not just some naval town with universities.

This is basically 100% semantics, but I'm just wondering what you mean when you say "an actual city". This is a question that I've been asking a lot of people lately, especially the more that I see of Canada, because different people are looking for different things, and have varying degrees of familiarity with their own region and others. I think you'd be surprised how much Halifax has to offer compared to almost every city in Canada outside of the largest five. Ultimately, the only things that Toronto and Montreal have that Halifax doesn't, at least as far as the average citizen is concerned, are subway systems and major league sports. I guess for a lot of people, these are the deciding factors, but based on those criteria Quebec City wouldn't be a real city (anymore) either. I agree that a major, tangible investment in public transit, beyond just incrementally adding more bus routes and replacing subpar infrastructure, should be prioritized above a stadium, and if we're being real here, is probably a more realistic short term possibility since it would be much more likely to receive federal funding. I'm talking about LRT or something equivalent in terms of both functionality and appeal.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Hali87

This is basically 100% semantics, but I'm just wondering what you mean when you say "an actual city". ... Ultimately, the only things that Toronto and Montreal have that Halifax doesn't, at least as far as the average citizen is concerned, are subway systems and major league sports. ...

I'm not sure I agree. I think that Toronto and Montreal both offer interesting urban neigbourhoods where people can, and do, live while having access to a full range of basic (streetfront grocery) and recreational (neighbourhood rec centres) within walkable distances. They allow young families to be able to afford living somewhere urban (not necessarily "downtown"), without requiring two vehicles per dual-parent household. I have visited and stayed with friends in both cities, and we could actually walk to a decent park to play with their kids without loading them all into car seats, and do it all with only one parent. It's actually a pretty big deal.

Not that I don't agree that Halifax is actually pretty cosmopolitan. I think it is.

For a city of its size.

I think that the concentration of universities and traditional role of a seaport, combined with the fortune (misfortune?) of not having any other cities of reasonable size close by, have left Halifax a de facto centre of culture and commerce. There are certainly exceptions, and other maritime cities do have their pockets of business and arts, but Halifax has much more to offer than many other cities that are similar in size (population size).

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

I'm not sure I agree. I think that Toronto and Montreal both offer interesting urban neigbourhoods where people can, and do, live while having access to a full range of basic (streetfront grocery) and recreational (neighbourhood rec centres) within walkable distances. They allow young families to be able to afford living somewhere urban (not necessarily "downtown"), without requiring two vehicles per dual-parent household. I have visited and stayed with friends in both cities, and we could actually walk to a decent park to play with their kids without loading them all into car seats, and do it all with only one parent. It's actually a pretty big deal.

You can do this in Halifax though. There aren't as many neighbourhoods like that, but think Spring Garden (both ends), Queen and South, Quinpool, Chebucto, the Hydrostone... Many major Canadian cities have even fewer areas like these, and this includes places like Edmonton that are significantly larger.