[Halifax] The Maple | 72 m | 21 fl | Completed

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Ziobrop

...
its a nice little mid-century modern building, and still pretty faithful to its original appearance - as worn as it is...

I agree, I like this little mid-century building. Halifax doesn't have a ton of good examples of this style (at least, not that I can think of)

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by eastcoastal

I agree, I like this little mid-century building. Halifax doesn't have a ton of good examples of this style (at least, not that I can think of)

I always liked this building. I wish I could see some shots of the interior/lobby - I never have, and never was inside it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I always liked this building. I wish I could see some shots of the interior/lobby - I never have, and never was inside it.

It's a nice building. My mother worked there for a few years and I vaguely remember a nice stone lobby inside. I could be imagining it, but then again AllNS reported that they're trying to salvage marble from the interior. How many nice stone 1950's buildings does Halifax have? Birks was another one and it is already gone.

I think the new building will be nice but I also have a feeling there will be some regret about losing the Bank of Canada building. It should probably be a heritage building (and the city could in exchange let Southwest build up to 30 storeys or whatever -- a trivial problem to solve, but likely too complicated for HRM). It's also kind of sad that this is being torn down when there are so many parking lots nearby, but that's how it works when different developers own different plots. That problem is something that can only really be solved by the municipal and provincial governments (which own about 2/3 of the lots), not by individual developers.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

(http://southwest.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1583-Hollis-focus-group-handout-web-2.pdf)

There is an amount of surface parking that shall remain?

[ScovaNotian]

The development won't front on Lower Water, will it? It's only the western half of the block that it occupies.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

The development won't front on Lower Water, will it? It's only the western half of the block that it occupies.

The parking lot on Lower Water is owned by the province. They keep mumbling about it being the site of a new Justice center/Courthouse, but never seem to actually do anything about that.

[ILoveHalifax]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The parking lot on Lower Water is owned by the province. They keep mumbling about it being the site of a new Justice center/Courthouse, but never seem to actually do anything about that.

What a wealth of knowledge. When will the young ones learn to express more respect?

I had not heard of this prospect; must have been mentioned back when I lived outside the country. I would hope they might find a better location for a justice center. No need to have it that close to the waterfront. I would prefer some more touristy venues, or cultural venues in that area.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

What a wealth of knowledge. When will the young ones learn to express more respect?

I often wonder where Keith P. gets all his information; sometimes I wonder if he might be an HRM councilor or work for some other government office. But I guess we will never know.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

What a wealth of knowledge. When will the young ones learn to express more respect?

I think most people here respect Keith. Respecting someone isn't the same as agreeing with them about everything.

Those who don't, tend to come off as disrespectful in general. Their disrespect is often reciprocated by others, and much facepalming ensues.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Hali87

I think most people here respect Keith. Respecting someone isn't the same as agreeing with them about everything.

Those who don't, tend to come off as disrespectful in general. Their disrespect is often reciprocated by others, and much facepalming ensues.

Well said. Disrespect tends to breed more disrespect in return. It should not be tolerated. Keith has a point of view that needs to be expressed and he has valuable insight into the goings on in HRM. I find a lot of his contributions to be ironic and humorous. He should be allowed to say his piece without being disparaged or ridiculed by others.

I too appreciate Keith for his contributions.

[eastcoastal]

kumbaya

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by ILoveHalifax

What a wealth of knowledge. When will the young ones learn to express more respect?

I had not heard of this prospect; must have been mentioned back when I lived outside the country. I would hope they might find a better location for a justice center. No need to have it that close to the waterfront. I would prefer some more touristy venues, or cultural venues in that area.

It was being discussed during the consultations of HRMxD. During that process the provincial Justice people were quite vocal; they wanted the new library site for their new Justice Center. That was met with much outcry and in the end they dropped their claim. But the concept of consolidating the old SGR courthouse and the poorly sited Law Courts on the harbour's edge by the ferry terminal led them to the parking lot site. I doubt if they have any plans drawn up or anything beyond the idea itself. It would be an expensive project but if it resulted in the demo of the Law Courts site on the harbourfront in favor of some more favorable use there, that might be a good trade-off.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

I often wonder where Keith P. gets all his information; sometimes I wonder if he might be an HRM councilor or work for some other government office. But I guess we will never know.

Councillor??? Ha! Not bloody likely. I am unelectable. My info comes from being a veteran in the business community and paying attention to what is going on regarding development.

I appreciate the many supportive comments.

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by ScovaNotian

The development won't front on Lower Water, will it? It's only the western half of the block that it occupies.

With the new property line, I was sort of hoping the remaining eastern portion wouldn't retain its parking status. Something green would have been nice, in the meantime. The city hasn't much say though.

In any case, it's great that we're getting a tower that's similar in size to the BMO tower.

[dtown]

drove past this building tonight, and noticed a big red sign that said "demolition zone no entry" on the doors. Wasn't able to take a picture, but thought it was interesting.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Well said. Disrespect tends to breed more disrespect in return. It should not be tolerated. Keith has a point of view that needs to be expressed and he has valuable insight into the goings on in HRM. I find a lot of his contributions to be ironic and humorous. He should be allowed to say his piece without being disparaged or ridiculed by others.

I too appreciate Keith for his contributions.

Yes, let's all hold hands and sing.

But seriously, who has ever disrespected or ridiculed Keith on here? I've not seen it. I've called him out from time to time, ripped his arguments, but I've never attacked him personally.

He's likewise attacked my arguments, my knowledge, whatever, but that's what a nice discussion forum dust up is all about.

And aren't we getting off topic? Back to kumbaya and the Bank of Canada development.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Yes, let's all hold hands and sing.

But seriously, who has ever disrespected or ridiculed Keith on here? I've not seen it. I've called him out from time to time, ripped his arguments, but I've never attacked him personally.

He's likewise attacked my arguments, my knowledge, whatever, but that's what a nice discussion forum dust up is all about.

And aren't we getting off topic? Back to kumbaya and the Bank of Canada development.

Oh there have been a number of spirited discussions, not just with Keith (others were in it too). So we've all had our fair share of 'moments'. I appreciate Keith's business sense - he's got a level of knowledge along that line I don't and I don't always agree with him or others. But I respect their opinion and right to have their opinion. I think Keith and others who have a business sense will always approach things from that perspective and that's fine, it's one of many approaches.

Just like myself and others who have a background in Geography/planning will come at things from that perspective. Granted as a planner for 10 years; I have that experience too hehe.

I have always believed that if planners, business people and community residents actually sat down in a room and talked about our communities we would get so much more done. One of the communities out here in Calgary (Hillhurst/Sunnyside) is one of our fastest and most successful Transit Oriented Development Neighbourhoods. Their community association has struggled dealing with all the development and has created a multi-stakeholder task force of planners (city, planners for developers, planners for the community association), the business association leaders and long term residents to approach development. It's been an amazing experience because they are tough, frank discussions (sometimes can be quite heated). But in the end, all sides are being respected and given a fair opportunity to be heard. It's actually producing some amazing discussions and some of the developers are seeing the passion residents have and starting to see that if they go a bit of the extra mile, their process is a lot easier and faster.

[RyeJay]

The conversation this thread is currently experiencing is unnecessary because no incident of disrespect has occurred just now.



But you were so hoping, eh, ILoveHalifax?

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Yes, let's all hold hands and sing.

But seriously, who has ever disrespected or ridiculed Keith on here? I've not seen it. I've called him out from time to time, ripped his arguments, but I've never attacked him personally.

He's likewise attacked my arguments, my knowledge, whatever, but that's what a nice discussion forum dust up is all about.

And aren't we getting off topic? Back to kumbaya and the Bank of Canada development.

I have never seen you express disrespect to anyone before. It is natural for people to feel as though they're being disrespected by someone when that someone is proving them wrong, especially if that someone is effectively using rhetorical devices. And you certainly do.

[ns_kid]

Originally Posted by bluenoser

I'm not sure if these have already been posted but here are a couple of different angles of this development - the SE corner (the brochure describes lighting in the wall and under the walkway):


(http://southwest.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/1583-Hollis-focus-group-handout-web-2.pdf)

The Southwest website somehow overlooks the historical fact that the south end of the planned building is the site of the former Queen Hotel at 115 Hollis Street. (The front door of the Bank of Canada Building, at 1583 Hollis Street, is roughly the equivalent of 123 Hollis under the original civic numbering system.) History buffs will know that 28 people died when the Queen Hotel burned in 1939, one of the worst fires in the city's history aside from the 1917 explosion.



http://www.halifax.ca/archives/QueenHotelFire.html