[Halifax] Nova Centre | 65-58-58 m | 16-15-14 fl | Completed

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by someone123

If Halifax keeps spreading everything out in the suburbs it will perhaps technically save money but it will become a very boring, hollowed-out, and car-dependent city. There will be no reason to live there or visit -- without the nice historic core, waterfront, etc., Halifax is just a small town with bad weather.

Agree 100%

I'm obviously a big Moncton booster, but Moncton does have a hollowed out core and it shows.....

If the two hospitals, the two universities and some important government services (like DFO) were in the core, it would give the city an entirely different feel.

I can literally go for months without going downtown in Moncton. That's not necessarily a good thing.....

Hopefully the proposed downtown arena/events centre will change things. There are also several condo propjects in development and a proposed six storey office building at the corner of Assomption/Vaughn Harvey is in the works.

[HRM]

Resetcbu1

The supposed tenants lined up by Rank may not necessarily contribute to increased convention business.

Just a thought but if these "tenants" or some of the "tenants" merely wish to set up dark offices for backup (as some have done in Halifax recently) then the financial benefit to anyone other than Rank is virtually nil.

Just a thought that's been in the back of my mind a bit lately.

[FuzzyWuz]

Originally Posted by HRM

Just a thought but if these "tenants" or some of the "tenants" merely wish to set up dark offices for backup (as some have done in Halifax recently) then the financial benefit to anyone other than Rank is virtually nil.

Just a thought that's been in the back of my mind a bit lately.

That would be awful. Like building a mausoleum in the downtown core. (And not a Taj Mahal that would draw tourism.)

[worldlyhaligonian]

Interesting idea, although the space is a bit high quality and new for that and regardless it would mean lower vacancy in other buildings if companies moved and retained their old space for backup.

I think that one is going out on a limb, it would be more realistic to be concerned about there being tennants at all.

It will be interesting to see how everything unfolds. The proposal for the Midtown site was torpedoed and it seems like this convention center debate is turning into UG round 2. Its all up to the feds, their money makes this proposal viable.

[HRM]

Companies setting up dark offices in Halifax are not Halifax companies. They simply set up redundant office space in the case of emergencies. No fancy offices, furniture or bells and whistles

For example financial companies based in NY set up very basic functional offices in areas deemed low risk for natural disasters/black outs/terrorism/etc. Once set up these offices are not operational on a day to day basis. They just sit empty of people waiting in case they are needed.

Anyway just a thought. Seems odd that "financial services" companies want to come in the future but not sign on now as tenants in say International Place which is ready to go now - once it has tenants.

Only the CC is contingent on Fed $. The site will be developed in an alternative fashion regardless of whether the CC goes ahead or not. The buildings will be lower and the current hole in the ground will take much longer to fill.

[halifaxboyns]

If these are dark offices; that would be horrible. There would be almost no value to building the structure, other than for the new convention centre. The office component would be a waste - I'd rather see it all go residential. But, we can't assume that's going to happen, we have to hope for the best. I'm actually surprised more insurance companies haven't moved into the maritimes what with the impending flood risks from rising sea levels. Personally, if I knew I could make money off of it somehow; I'd be right in there.

[resetcbu1]

Well lets hope none of these "dark offices" end up being the main tenants, although in a building of this stature and status I doubt they would bring in tenants like this(if anything they would take up vacancies left in other buildings due to re locate to a newer modern building , the CC). But at some point they need to go ot on a limb and do something , otherwise doing nothing spawns nothing .....Let's take a chance!

[beyeas]

Wed, Mar 16 - 4:54 AM
CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) — The federal and P.E.I. governments will fund a new $17.5-million convention centre in Charlottetown’s Queen’s Wharf district.

The province announced Tuesday it will contribute $9 million to the project while federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said Ottawa will contribute $8.5 million.

Premier Robert Ghiz said the convention centre will be the centrepiece of a major redevelopment of Queen’s Wharf.

Tenders have already been called for the seawall and demolition of existing buildings. More tenders will be offered in the coming weeks. The convention centre is expected to be completed late next year.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by beyeas

Wed, Mar 16 - 4:54 AM
CHARLOTTETOWN (CP) — The federal and P.E.I. governments will fund a new $17.5-million convention centre in Charlottetown’s Queen’s Wharf district.

The province announced Tuesday it will contribute $9 million to the project while federal Fisheries Minister Gail Shea said Ottawa will contribute $8.5 million.

Premier Robert Ghiz said the convention centre will be the centrepiece of a major redevelopment of Queen’s Wharf.

Tenders have already been called for the seawall and demolition of existing buildings. More tenders will be offered in the coming weeks. The convention centre is expected to be completed late next year.

Well, they pretty much have to fund Halifax's now... considering ours is actually less expensive on a per capita basis than PEI's (Nova Scotia is about 10x the population, 8.5 x 10 = 85 million... the feds aren't even contributing that much to ours).

[fenwick16]

This isn't really much of a news story, but this was on CBC (NS) - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...on-centre.html

Time running out for new convention centre
CBC News
Posted: Mar 17, 2011 5:18 PM AT
Last Updated: Mar 17, 2011 5:18 PM AT

Time appears to be running out for a new Halifax convention centre as its developer, Rank Inc., says the current proposal and price expire April 15.

I am afraid that if there is a federal election called (I have my doubts) then this likely will be dead. I can't see Rank Inc. wanting to have this property tied up for an indefinite amount of time.

[Waye Mason]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

This isn't really much of a news story, but this was on CBC (NS) - http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-s...on-centre.html

I am afraid that if there is a federal election called (I have my doubts) then this likely will be dead. I can't see Rank Inc. wanting to have this property tied up for an indefinite amount of time.

TCL is now tainted by the concert scandal. Their integrity and handling of public money is now in question. This will help the Cons decide to not give money to this project, something they don't really want to do anyway.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

TCL is now tainted by the concert scandal. Their integrity and handling of public money is now in question. This will help the Cons decide to not give money to this project, something they don't really want to do anyway.

Maybe so; but the con's own image is under question with a number of issues including a guy who all the ministers are pretending didn't exist - yet he lobbied them and apparently is engaged to a 22 year old hooker. As soon as that hits all the news, who knows what's going to happen.

Until the decision is made to desolve parliment because it's of failing to pass a confidence motion; this is all speculation. So the project isn't dead yet...time will tell.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

TCL is now tainted by the concert scandal. Their integrity and handling of public money is now in question. This will help the Cons decide to not give money to this project, something they don't really want to do anyway.

Hardly. The Coast is trying to create an issue because they do not want the CC to go ahead. The reality is that the misbehavior here was done by the mayor and HRM. In fact, TCL told the province about the money being flipped to Power Promotions when it occurred. It was HRM who tried to keep it quiet.

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Hardly. The Coast is trying to create an issue because they do not want the CC to go ahead. The reality is that the misbehavior here was done by the mayor and HRM. In fact, TCL told the province about the money being flipped to Power Promotions when it occurred. It was HRM who tried to keep it quiet.

Totally agree. I'd also add that the facebook group that save the view has isn't willing to be open to looking at other points of view as I posted a video TCL did on the benefits of an expanded convention centre.
Without any warning - I was kicked off the group and now can't even see it on my facebook list. Nice...but no surprise.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Totally agree. I'd also add that the facebook group that save the view has isn't willing to be open to looking at other points of view as I posted a video TCL did on the benefits of an expanded convention centre.
Without any warning - I was kicked off the group and now can't even see it on my facebook list. Nice...but no surprise.

I believe TCL will take some negative heat, but most of the heat is clearly in the direction of Mayor Kelly. However TCL won't come out clean as it appears from documents provided that clearly shows this practice was going on for a few years now, only now to be discloused by them? Creditability maybe in question, but ulimately i don't think it will play into the convention centre funding.

Regardless of such, it appears, and as allnovascotia is reporting that the tories are funding projects in the rural areas of the province. To me this makes me believe that they (federal government) are looking to gain seats in the rural areas of the province by spending money that could overwise be allocated to the convention centre.

One always has to remember that Halifax has long been federally a NDP town. Spending money on a convention centre is not going to change that position. Of course this my opinion.

[Keith P.]

I have often posted here that Halifax voters foolish support for useless and impotent NDP candidates like McDonough and Leslie continually causes the city to miss out on federal largesse. Hopefully one day they will wake up and support someone on the govt side who can actually deliver federal projects to the city. Until then, if we get nothing from the feds we can only blame ourselves.

[DigitalNinja]

I agree with everything you said there Keith!

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

I have often posted here that Halifax voters foolish support for useless and impotent NDP candidates like McDonough and Leslie continually causes the city to miss out on federal largesse. Hopefully one day they will wake up and support someone on the govt side who can actually deliver federal projects to the city. Until then, if we get nothing from the feds we can only blame ourselves.

I agree with this completely. It makes no sense to me that the Nova Scotia voters seem to be out of sync with what is happening federally. Voting for Premier Dexter over Premier MacDonald didn't make sense to me. Although some people say he was inexperienced, he seemed to be an honest person with a passion for making Nova Scotia a better place to live. I even agree with his decision to pull out of the overly extravagant Commonwealth Games bid. If he had continued as premier, the Nova Centre would be well underway now, the 2% hike in the HST likely wouldn't have occurred, the 4 pad rink in Bedford might have been funded, and there would certainly be more overall co-operation between the provincial and federal government.

I am just speculating on the Nova Centre being underway with a MacDonald government - I am not sure how much of that delay was due to the NDP, and how much was due to Rank Inc. in finding financing.

[beyeas]

So if the Libs were in power in Ottawa right now you would also be advocating that we are all stupid for not voting Liberal too, right Keith?

The fact is I can not stand political blackmail. Being told by a government that was elected to represent everyone that the decisions will only be made based upon whether or not you vote for them is out-right vote-buying and blackmail.

Apparently it is too much to expect elected officials are going to do the right thing, as opposed to using funding decisions as blackmail. Regardless of the party or the level of government, that just seems pretty much par for the course these days, which is just sad. The mere fact that people seem to think it is acceptable and justifiable practice is even more sad. The reality is that people only actually think it is acceptable when "their party" is in power, and an utter abuse of power when it is another party.

Heck, at least in CB I would get some rum for my vote and it was transparent, rather than politicians pretending that they are in it for the greater good.

[fenwick16]

In my case, I think that Nova Scotia would have been better off with the Conservatives still in power. Based on the latest polls in Nova Scotia, many people seem to think that the NDP government has not lived up to their word. They have also greatly increased the provincial debt by adding money to civil servant pensions instead of negotiating concessions (as with many people in the private sector, I don't even have a pension), the NDP has also increased the HST by 2%. Their policies have gone against what they said they supported in the election campaign.

The Nova Centre may be doomed because of a delay in making a decision by the NDP - this is aside from Conservatives siding with Conservatives.