Quote:
Originally Posted by HarbingerDe
Can confirm by hearsay. A friend of mine lives here and chats with the developer who is on-site pretty regularly.
The second building has been reduced to somewhere between 8-11 stories. The Council and their fear of heights strikes yet again.
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It's not a Council fear of height. This site is as-of-right and the rules allow a higher height, but at the same density (FAR of 4.5). You can choose to build the allotted density tall and thin or low and thicker, depending on target market. This is exactly how FAR is supposed to function as a tool - give the flexibility to the developer to choose what works best for them. In this case AllNS reports the developer saying they chose to go lower to keep per unit costs down and target a more affordable market.
I really like the podium of the first building. The tower is indeed generic, but that is perfectly okay in my mind - it's not an offensive design, it does what it needs to do in terms of providing housing, and it otherwise fades into the background.
It's also interesting comparing this build to 222 Portland, just up the street. That one was a fairly big deal for the time because it was a new build at a time when DT Dartmouth had seen very little investment; however, when you contrast with 186 Portland it's very much apparent how much the quality of builds has increased over the intervening years.