General Updates and News

[Jonovision]

I was not able to attend the second engagement session for Spring Garden West but the presentations and updates have been posted:

http://www.livewellonsgw.com/the-latest/public-spaces-session-2

The design has evolved and has taken inspiration from the star shape of the Citadel.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Hali87

A dramatic break from the established aesthetic in Highfield Park:

Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr

What the hell is that?

Even the "modernist" strip malls in the business parks / big box are ugly as sin.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

What the hell is that?

Even the "modernist" strip malls in the business parks / big box are ugly as sin.

I stumbled onto that yesterday. It is quite jarring to see in that location.

It appears to be a strip mall with office space upstairs.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I stumbled onto that yesterday. It is quite jarring to see in that location.

It appears to be a strip mall with office space upstairs.

Terrible.

[stevencourchene]

I love everything that is planed so far for the SGW Project!!!!

I cant wait and hope to see this and many more come to life!

my only question is why have we not seen many vacant lots and such be used around are city fist before tearing down peoples businesses and home that are already standing.

I know it has to happen and I think its to better our city but when we have this vacant land lets use that and build up and not out as much and to the advantage the height we have and build higher density.

every day I drive past the lot by superstore on young street and Windsor and think "what an eye sore" and theses so many other places we could and should be filling in.

other then that all the on this project for SGW from me.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Terrible.

It's actually quite nice in person (except the typical suburban sea of parking).

[curnhalio]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

I was not able to attend the second engagement session for Spring Garden West but the presentations and updates have been posted:

http://www.livewellonsgw.com/the-latest/public-spaces-session-2

The design has evolved and has taken inspiration from the star shape of the Citadel.

Wow! That is quite the striking proposal. I sure hope this one goes forward!

[dtown]

I really like that SGW proposal. That Spring Garden, Robie, Summer Sreets area always kind of reminded me of Halifax's way way miniature version of the Bloor-Young area of Toronto. Right on the outskirts of downtown, but where a lot of people live that work downtown. It would be nice to see some more developments like this one in this area.

[someone123]

I like it too. There are also a couple of other changes coming for that area. The Garden Crest street frontage along Spring Garden Road is going to get renovated, adding more space and reducing the setback, and there is a ~20 storey tower proposed across from SGW.

There is also a development rumoured for the little red brick building next to Summer Gardens that houses Domus Realty, next to Just Us.

Two big strikes against the area are the tower-in-the-park design of Summer Gardens (concrete tower on the corner of Summer Street, built circa 1990) and the tower-behind-a-parking-lot configuration of 5770 Spring Garden Road. I think 5770 is rental and it doesn't seem far-fetched to imagine a medium-sized building to replace the parking out front. I doubt anything can be done about the grounds around Summer Gardens, but then again they are not nearly as bad as a parking lot.

[Hali87]

New awning tacked on rather gracelessly to the Pacific Building:


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


It doesn't look like it's 100% complete so maybe it will look fine once it is.... not holding my breath though. It looks pretty awful at this point, IMO.

[Hali87]

Also the small building that shares a parking lot with the Queen Street Sobeys has been completely vacated and looks like it might be coming down:


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr

[Metalsales]

That is the location of the new NSLC store

[hokus83]

Originally Posted by Hali87

New awning tacked on rather gracelessly to the Pacific Building:


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


Untitled by Hali87, on Flickr


It doesn't look like it's 100% complete so maybe it will look fine once it is.... not holding my breath though. It looks pretty awful at this point, IMO.

You have to be shitting me. That is going to be atrocious looking

[OldDartmouthMark]

It's cheaper to build an (ugly) awning to keep falling bits from hitting somebody than it is to actually fix the problems. Way to go DongDu International...

I hope they don't own it for long.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scoti...uilding-loop-chives-barrington-1.3537802

[Drybrain]

I'm not even sure why DongDu would be allowed to build their awning. Would they have needed some sort of city permission?

It's clearly a way to avoid fixing the problem, and it looks awful. Such an embarrassment for a purported heritage district.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

I'm not even sure why DongDu would be allowed to build their awning. Would they have needed some sort of city permission?

It's clearly a way to avoid fixing the problem, and it looks awful. Such an embarrassment for a purported heritage district.

I'll reserve final judgement until work on the awning is complete but the lack of information around this is pretty worrisome. At one point, the Pacific Building was one the list of properties that were given heritage tax rebates. Do they have any intention at all of restoring the facade? How come there was so little public information around a change like this awning that has so much of a visual impact on a heritage district? So far the appearance of the awning doesn't seem compatible with the heritage design rules around signage, fenestration, etc. that were proposed for the district way back when.

The city needs to take an active role in making sure that property owners coordinate to make districts like this as good as they can be. The laissez-faire attitude isn't going to work if the city is to have decent heritage or commercial districts on par with comparable cities.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by someone123

I'll reserve final judgement until work on the awning is complete but the lack of information around this is pretty worrisome. At one point, the Pacific Building was one the list of properties that were given heritage tax rebates. Do they have any intention at all of restoring the facade? How come there was so little public information around a change like this awning that has so much of a visual impact on a heritage district? So far the appearance of the awning doesn't seem compatible with the heritage design rules around signage, fenestration, etc. that were proposed for the district way back when.

The city needs to take an active role in making sure that property owners coordinate to make districts like this as good as they can be. The laissez-faire attitude isn't going to work if the city is to have decent heritage or commercial districts on par with comparable cities.

Given their track record elsewhere, and the fact that the company apparently won't even fix leaky pipes, I doubt if they're going to put in the considerable dollars required to fix the facade. It also makes me worry about other building systems. (Like an electrical fire taking out the whole block or something. That kind of thing isn't unheard of...it's probably what started the Queen West fire in Toronto in '07.)

It's pretty obvious,I think, that DDI's global real estate investments amount to a kind of shell game, and they probably have very little if any interest in fixing this building. Did they even pay for the awning, or did the city pay for it as a public-safety measure?

It's all a bit pathetic.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by someone123

I'll reserve final judgement until work on the awning is complete but the lack of information around this is pretty worrisome. At one point, the Pacific Building was one the list of properties that were given heritage tax rebates. Do they have any intention at all of restoring the facade? How come there was so little public information around a change like this awning that has so much of a visual impact on a heritage district? So far the appearance of the awning doesn't seem compatible with the heritage design rules around signage, fenestration, etc. that were proposed for the district way back when.

The city needs to take an active role in making sure that property owners coordinate to make districts like this as good as they can be. The laissez-faire attitude isn't going to work if the city is to have decent heritage or commercial districts on par with comparable cities.

In the case of the David Stott building in Detroit, DDI insisted all along that they were going to restore the building and convert it into residential. In the end they let the building deteriorate and eventually sold it for a profit. I don't know what their intentions are for the Pacific Bldg, but from their track record I'd say it doesn't look good. In my opinion, from the surface it appears that their intentions all along were to simply flip it, meanwhile creating a smoke screen of, well, lies - to keep everybody at bay while they waited for values to increase.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/2015/05/03/chinese-ddi-uralli-feud-detroit-buildings/26195987/

http://www.crainsdetroit.com/article/201...on-for-david-stott-clark-lofts-buildings

Regarding the Pacific Building, Halifax's incentive program for the BSHCD indicated the following scope of work to be completed:

15-02
1537 Barrington St. Pacific Building
Storefront restoration including the reinstatement of original configuration of main entrance and shop fronts, and the full restoration/replacement of badly deteriorated terra cotta at the upper building levels.

https://www.halifax.ca/council/agendasc/documents/150721ca1141.PDF

If one is to take the above description of the work required at its face value, the end result should have a similar appearance to this 1941 photo from the archives or from some other point in its early history:



https://novascotia.ca/archives/EastCoastPort/archives.asp?ID=2074

Obviously, this awning looks nothing like anything that has ever been on this building before - it's a typical Halifax 'falling masonry protection system'. I would expect that this is due diligence in avoiding lawsuits and the city likely agreed in order to prevent issues from potential injuries that could result (purely conjecture on my part).

The hopeful part of me is wanting to believe that this is the first step to restoration - an awning to allow businesses to continue operating while restoration work continues above. However, it looks a little too permanent for that, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What I can't understand is that with a potential $260,000 available to them in grants and tax incentives -free- from the government, it almost doesn't make sense for DDI to not do the restoration work - one would think that this would raise the value above whatever amount they might have to invest in the project.

I'm left scratching my head on this one...

[counterfactual]

Geez, perhaps we can cross our fingers and hope Starfish come in with a strong offer to buy it from them for profit?

Ugly awning and treating excellent tenants badly.

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

The hopeful part of me is wanting to believe that this is the first step to restoration - an awning to allow businesses to continue operating while restoration work continues above. However, it looks a little too permanent for that, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.

What I can't understand is that with a potential $260,000 available to them in grants and tax incentives -free- from the government, it almost doesn't make sense for DDI to not do the restoration work - one would think that this would raise the value above whatever amount they might have to invest in the project.

I'm left scratching my head on this one...

I was discussing this with Waye on Twitter, and he said that the restoration of the facade could cost up to $1.5 million and may even involve taking it down brick by brick before putting it back up.

The awning is the first part of this, apparently, to prep for more restoration work.

But I agree, DDI's track record, and apparent negligence with regards to basic repairs so far, lead me to think nothing will ever really be done with this as long as they own it. And the city has no power to conduct the repairs necessary and basically the send the bill to the property owner, as is the case in many other cities in emergency situations.