General Updates and News

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

The ad I saw said the corner of Almond and Robie, so maybe they own the whole line of buildings?

I think you're right. If I remember correctly he bought Acadian Lines a year or two ago, and a month or so ago they announced he bought a lot of properties from Joe Shannon (Shannex).

[Colin May]

Nov 30 2015 he bought 6050 Almon, 6070 Almon, 61,00 Almon, 6061 St Albans, for $6,000,000.
Add in the bus station and a few adjacent properties and he now has a large development opportunity. In November and December he spent over $10,000,000 buying the Almon properties and Ben's.

Or it could be proposed development following the sale of Colonial Honda on Robie, the 8 properties were bought February 1 2016 for $9.19 million : 2657 Robie and 2671 Fern Lane & 2692 FERN LANE

[Keith P.]

Interesting. Those properties in that section of town have always been shabby commercial space for the most part, which probably served a purpose for the types of businesses that were found there - marginal local operations, but the low rent probably allowed them to survive. Those properties are immediately adjacent to Gladstone Ridge but I hope he doesn't just recycle those designs. Whatever goes there, it will certainly transform this section of the city.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Colin May

Nov 30 2015 he bought 6050 Almon, 6070 Almon, 61,00 Almon, 6061 St Albans, for $6,000,000.
Add in the bus station and a few adjacent properties and he now has a large development opportunity. In November and December he spent over $10,000,000 buying the Almon properties and Ben's.

Or it could be proposed development following the sale of Colonial Honda on Robie, the 8 properties were bought February 1 2016 for $9.19 million : 2657 Robie and 2671 Fern Lane & 2692 FERN LANE

I'm predisposed against Westwood because of the BS Chedrawe is pulling on Spring Garden, but genuinely, I'm not sure it's healthy for one property owner to own so much in a particular area. Besides that the neighbourhood's fortunes are far too tied to the whims of one company or individual, it also means that inless the developer is especially committed to good design (which Westwood certainly isn't) it's almost a guarantee of monolithic development rather than a real finer urban scale.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I'm predisposed against Westwood because of the BS Chedrawe is pulling on Spring Garden, but genuinely, I'm not sure it's healthy for one property owner to own so much in a particular area. Besides that the neighbourhood's fortunes are far too tied to the whims of one company or individual, it also means that inless the developer is especially committed to good design (which Westwood certainly isn't) it's almost a guarantee of monolithic development rather than a real finer urban scale.

I don't know who bought the Colonial Honda properties but I do know that HRM has long term plans to widen Robie Street from West Street to Almon. It will be interesting to see how HRM handles development proposals for properties on both sides of Robie from North to Almon.
HRM is now faced with protecting or abandoning their interest in widening Robie.
An interesting situation.
Council has shown no interest in aesthetics, I doubt many of them have stepped in an art gallery in the past decade. Someone should ask each councillor to name their 3 favourite towns/cities, with reasons. Or ask them if they know the name Frank Gehry.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I'm predisposed against Westwood because of the BS Chedrawe is pulling on Spring Garden

Yes, we need to protect the view of the AC unit and service shack on the roof of the NSSL building for the library patrons sipping their lattes!!

Originally Posted by Colin May

I don't know who bought the Colonial Honda properties but I do know that HRM has long term plans to widen Robie Street from West Street to Almon. It will be interesting to see how HRM handles development proposals for properties on both sides of Robie from North to Almon.
HRM is now faced with protecting or abandoning their interest in widening Robie.

It is certainly desperately needed from Charles north to Almon. That is a true bottleneck for the main N-S street in the city. There is little of architectural value in that area to prevent a tear-down and the commercial properties could certainly afford to sacrifice a few feet for a wider ROW.

[Colin May]

The Rob Steele purchase of Colonial Honda closed on February 1 2016.
http://www.steeleauto.com/colonial.html

[Ziobrop]

Originally Posted by Colin May

I don't know who bought the Colonial Honda properties but I do know that HRM has long term plans to widen Robie Street from West Street to Almon. It will be interesting to see how HRM handles development proposals for properties on both sides of Robie from North to Almon.
HRM is now faced with protecting or abandoning their interest in widening Robie.
An interesting situation.
Council has shown no interest in aesthetics, I doubt many of them have stepped in an art gallery in the past decade. Someone should ask each councillor to name their 3 favourite towns/cities, with reasons. Or ask them if they know the name Frank Gehry.

Colonial Honda was Purchased by Steele - it will remain a Honda dealarship
The properties in question in part include the one and 2 store metal sided commercial buildings on Almon across from Canada post. I know one business was told to vacate at the end of april.

[Colin May]

Originally Posted by Ziobrop

Colonial Honda was Purchased by Steele - it will remain a Honda dealarship
The properties in question in part include the one and 2 store metal sided commercial buildings on Almon across from Canada post. I know one business was told to vacate at the end of april.

Are you referring to my earlier post re the Almon properties or the properties on Fern, May and Robie ? I presumed Westwood bought the properties on Almon.

Steele bought up other properties on May and Fern since 2014.
The Colonial property was bought by one of his companies, Dynamic Properties.
I haven't finished checking the all the May street properties from Robie to Fern but he does own 2696 May and 2697 Robie. I'll take a guess and say he owns all the properties bounded by Colonial, May and the west side of Fern.
On the east side of Fern he owns 2671 Fern as part of the purchase of Colonial, on the west side the deal included 2692 Fern.
A choice location for new residential development, a better use than an auto dealership.
And then there is the north side of McCully.

[Northend Guy]

I'm not sure what order Westwood is intending to develop the properties in this area. I have however, seen details on what they are planning for this property. (6100 Almon) 6 storey, 30 unit, with ground floor retail.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6560084,-...zrYvPM6idy795PgODJ8hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

[hokus83]

Originally Posted by Northend Guy

I'm not sure what order Westwood is intending to develop the properties in this area. I have however, seen details on what they are planning for this property. (6100 Almon) 6 storey, 30 unit, with ground floor retail.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@44.6560084,-...zrYvPM6idy795PgODJ8hg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

Lol might as well leave that building as is, will look just as tacky as whatever Westwood puts in place

[OldDartmouthMark]

Halifax's Emera Oval sees more visits this year, so far

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/skating-up-at-oval-1.3454478

From the article:

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Halifax's Emera Oval sees more visits this year, so far

Drove past it this beautiful sunny afternoon, virtually deserted.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Drove past it this beautiful sunny afternoon, virtually deserted.

Perhaps the patrons were working or in school?

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Perhaps the patrons were working or in school?

Perhaps. Or perhaps there just aren't many patrons.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Perhaps. Or perhaps there just aren't many patrons.

Can't argue with that... however I wonder how this compares to other forms of entertainment.

For example, how many people would you expect to find in a movie theatre on a weekay afternoon? Or, how many Metro ...errrr... Scotiabank Centre events are held on weekday afternoons? etc. etc.

I'm thinking, like most forms of entertainment, that the bulk of attendance happens on evenings and weekends.

I wouldn't exactly call over 100,000 visits from December to February a dismal failure...

[Aya_Akai]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Drove past it this beautiful sunny afternoon, virtually deserted.

That's like driving past a bar at 9am on a wednesday and going "well, looks like nobody's there drinking, that place is clearly pointlessly existing"

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by HaliStreaks

That's like driving past a bar at 9am on a wednesday and going "well, looks like nobody's there drinking, that place is clearly pointlessly existing"

So you are suggesting it only gets people using it on weekends and holidays?

I would have expected a much broader appeal for the $15 million it cost.

[TheNovaScotian]

You're still beating that dead horse?

[musicman]

I've gone about a dozen times this year and it has been crazy busy every single time, weeknights and weekends. They do most of their maintenance during the day. They also have adult speed skating, and other various things that generaly would not pull in huge crowds.

The horse is dead and buried. Give it up.