General Updates and News

[Jonovision]

The hole for the new daylighting of Sawmill River is very impressive!

20170925_125543 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20170925_125554 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20170925_130651 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

[Dmajackson]

The current Kent Building Supplies store at Mic Mac Mall will be converted into office space for Irving. The plan is to expand it to include a second floor covering half of or the full amount of the existing footprint. The greenhouse will remain as an employee atrium.

Case 21247 - 35 Mic Mac Blvd

[essaysmith]

Once Kent moves to Dartmouth Crossing it will be the end of me shopping there. My main reason now is so I can carry stuff sticking out of my car and not have to go on the highway, plus it is close and convenient. Dartmouth Crossing is anything but convenient, and I will probably go to Home Depot if I'm being forced up there and save some money.

[alps]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

The hole for the new daylighting of Sawmill River is very impressive!

Cool!

Good post about the project on Sam Austin's blog

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

The current Kent Building Supplies store at Mic Mac Mall will be converted into office space for Irving. The plan is to expand it to include a second floor covering half of or the full amount of the existing footprint. The greenhouse will remain as an employee atrium.

Case 21247 - 35 Mic Mac Blvd

While still very suburban in nature, it is a good reuse and could help to push the area into a more mixed use community and hopefully in the future something more urban with an actual street grid instead of a sea of parking.

[Jonovision]

Plans are up on the cities website for the redevelopment of the Lion's Head Pub on Young St and Demone St. The plan is for a 10 storey building with setback, townhome units along Demone and retail space along Young.

https://www.halifax.ca/business/planning.../case-20360-young-demone-streets-halifax

[Dmajackson]

^Made a thread for the project.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

While still very suburban in nature, it is a good reuse and could help to push the area into a more mixed use community and hopefully in the future something more urban with an actual street grid instead of a sea of parking.

I'm confused about your point. Isn't this located next to Mic Mac Mall? It's already kind of suburban - are you suggesting that the mall should be removed and it be built into a downtown-like area with street grids and a mix of office/retail/residential?

FWIW, I think downtown Dartmouth should get this type of development before the Mic Mac Mall area.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I'm confused about your point. Isn't this located next to Mic Mac Mall? It's already kind of suburban - are you suggesting that the mall should be removed and it be built into a downtown-like area with street grids and a mix of office/retail/residential?

FWIW, I think downtown Dartmouth should get this type of development before the Mic Mac Mall area.

Yes, I think the old model of the traditional suburban shopping mall housed in one large building surrounded by a sea of parking is not long for this world. And they are all in prime redevelopment areas, not just MicMac but also the old Penhorn area and the Halifax Shopping Centre. They are all hubs for transportation with good connections. I think it is a natural and necessary progression to see these areas developed into town centre type neighbourhoods with street grids reintroduced.

[teddifax]

I don't believe either there should be all these huge surface parking lots. The use of any area should be maximized and that means any development should have surface parking at a bare minimum and utilize the space properly.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by teddifax

I don't believe either there should be all these huge surface parking lots. The use of any area should be maximized and that means any development should have surface parking at a bare minimum and utilize the space properly.

So how would customers get to the store and how would they take away their purchases?

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

So how would customers get to the store and how would they take away their purchases?

It was was meant to remain a true retail destination, essentially turning the mall inside out. You could hide a parking structure or two in the centre of a block and have retail at grade around the whole thing.

[teddifax]

That was my intention, always have parking in parkades of course, but NOT large tracts of paved parking.

[Aya_Akai]

Originally Posted by essaysmith

Once Kent moves to Dartmouth Crossing it will be the end of me shopping there. My main reason now is so I can carry stuff sticking out of my car and not have to go on the highway, plus it is close and convenient. Dartmouth Crossing is anything but convenient, and I will probably go to Home Depot if I'm being forced up there and save some money.

There's always the other Kent on Baker Drive. So if you're in Dartmouth.. no highway required..

[essaysmith]

That's true, and it will probably be my new store, but it will actually be farther from my house than the Dartmouth Crossing store and it is smaller and doesn't have the selection. It was a quick trip down 2 back streets to get to Mic Mac, soon I'll have to go down some major streets to get to Baker. Not sure if I hate the Baker Drive area or Dartmouth Crossing more for hassle too. At least it gives me something to complain about.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Yes, I think the old model of the traditional suburban shopping mall housed in one large building surrounded by a sea of parking is not long for this world. And they are all in prime redevelopment areas, not just MicMac but also the old Penhorn area and the Halifax Shopping Centre. They are all hubs for transportation with good connections. I think it is a natural and necessary progression to see these areas developed into town centre type neighbourhoods with street grids reintroduced.

I see your point.

So, who would pay for this, and what would happen to the stores currently located in the mall?

Also, have Mic Mac Mall or the Halifax Shopping Centre proven to be failures on a financial level? What would be the driving force for change?

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I see your point.

So, who would pay for this, and what would happen to the stores currently located in the mall?

Also, have Mic Mac Mall or the Halifax Shopping Centre proven to be failures on a financial level? What would be the driving force for change?

The owner of the mall/property would be the one doing this. It is just a matter of the market changing and I do believe we are starting to see this slowly happen. It's all about reurbanizing our cities and making them places for people first instead of cars first.

You are seeing a lot of this type of development in Toronto these days. There is certainly incentive financially as you diversify the uses on the land. You could house just as many stores, but you could also have apartments and offices.

It is certainly long term thinking but there are opportunities that present themselves every so often to rethink these types of land uses. The redevelopment of the Mumford Terminal being a prime example.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Jonovision

The owner of the mall/property would be the one doing this. It is just a matter of the market changing and I do believe we are starting to see this slowly happen. It's all about reurbanizing our cities and making them places for people first instead of cars first.

You are seeing a lot of this type of development in Toronto these days. There is certainly incentive financially as you diversify the uses on the land. You could house just as many stores, but you could also have apartments and offices.

It is certainly long term thinking but there are opportunities that present themselves every so often to rethink these types of land uses. The redevelopment of the Mumford Terminal being a prime example.

It'll be interesting to see when that happens. I imagine once the business case becomes such that it will be profitable to do, then it'll happen.

I can see it happening more at less-successful malls, like Bayers Road (which is not really a mall anymore), West End, or Penhorn, before HSC or Mic Mac.

HSC has just invested millions in improvements, and Mic Mac Mall is still in a somewhat suburban setting IMHO - mostly single-family homes bound by a lake and a highway.

I still think that DT Dartmouth should be utilized first, though...

[Colin May]

The Quebec Pension Plan owns Mic Mac Mall through the subsidiary Ivanhoe Cambridge.
Deep pockets and a long investment horizon.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

It'll be interesting to see when that happens. I imagine once the business case becomes such that it will be profitable to do, then it'll happen.

I can see it happening more at less-successful malls, like Bayers Road (which is not really a mall anymore), West End, or Penhorn, before HSC or Mic Mac.

HSC has just invested millions in improvements, and Mic Mac Mall is still in a somewhat suburban setting IMHO - mostly single-family homes bound by a lake and a highway.

I still think that DT Dartmouth should be utilized first, though...

It is definitely a long term outlook on the property. I don't think we will see it happen until the downtowns on both side are more built up and available land for larger scale urban development becomes a bit more scarce.

I believe these sites have a special designation in the Centre Plan as future intensification sites. They also include the lades along Dutch Village Rd and Shannon Park.