[Halifax] Nova Centre | 65-58-58 m | 16-15-14 fl | Completed - Page 228

Colin May · #**4541** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 12:07 AM**

And the rumour is the BMO logo will appear at the Friday press conference. I see the Big 5 are laying off and reducing space across the country, have to keep increasing dividends.
Did BMO provide construction financing ? CIBC was/is heavy into Kings Wharf and with big margins.

fenwick16 · #**4542** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 12:09 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Notes from the meeting yesterday with area merchants and DHBC.

2-3 weeks for steel work to be done, big crane leaves the street
main line and municipal services go in Nov/Dec with partial closures and stop and go starting on Prince, up to Market, down Sackville.
Market closed tomorrowish to Sunday or Monday to remove one of the hotel side cranes
weather tight (temporary tarps, not glass) before December
Blue box (convention room) glass in before xmas
Some glass goes in elsewhere before xmas but rest after worst winter weather over.

Argyle 2 blocks and Grafton Prince to Carmichael should all be streetscaped in late summer next year.

This sounds very promising. Maybe it really will open late in 2016?

counterfactual · #**4543** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 2:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

I've never heard that one. What is the reference?

Stan Rogers' song Fisherman's Wharf.

A classic!

OldDartmouthMark · #**4544** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 1:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by counterfactual

Stan Rogers' song Fisherman's Wharf.

A classic!

As a born and bred Maritimer, I am embarrassed to admit that my knowledge of Stan Rogers' work is a little deficient.

Thanks, I'll have to give it a listen!

bluenoser · #**4545** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 2:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colin May

And the rumour is the BMO logo will appear at the Friday press conference.

Nova Centre’s first major tenant, Bank of Montreal, to move in next year
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/13...nt-bank-of-montreal-to-move-in-next-year

Quote:

BMO will move into the Nova Centre in December 2016. They have signed a 10-year lease with a 20-year extension.

...

The bank has also signed an agreement with Argyle Developments to name the financial component of the Nova Centre the BMO Tower.

The deal means 200 bank employees will occupy two floors and 36,000 square feet of the office tower.

In addition, the main Halifax BMO branch will occupy 4,200 square feet of the first floor of the Nova Centre office tower.

Good news, I guess. I wonder if the branch will be on the Grafton or Argyle side, although 'first floor' probably indicates Argyle. A bank seems somewhat uncool for that block but maybe that's just me...

someone123 · #**4546** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 3:21 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drybrain

It's funny; I was thinking of the "tall=big city" equivalency during the past few weeks, when I was on vacation.

I spent a week in Amsterdam, and it's easily at least as much of a "real city" as any place in North America, but its city centre has virtually no tall buildings whatsoever. Almost all the skyscrapers are sequestered in far-flung corners of the city, and even there, there aren't very many.

Urbanity is more about what the streets look like at eye level than what the skyline looks like from a distance.

I would agree with this, although highrises can be nice at eye level too. A lot of the new ones in Halifax are.

Amsterdam has much more densely built up older sections, so I think it's a bit different. In Halifax it won't be possible to have a vibrant downtown core and also preserve comparatively low density areas like Schmidtville (plus the large public spaces like the Commons) without some higher density new construction.

Drybrain · #**4547** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 3:25 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by someone123

I would agree with this, although highrises can be nice at eye level too. A lot of the new ones in Halifax are.

Amsterdam has much more densely built up older sections, so I think it's a bit different. In Halifax it won't be possible to have a vibrant downtown core and also preserve comparatively low density areas like Schmidtville (plus the large public spaces like the Commons) without some higher density new construction.

Definitely true: we NEED selectively places highrises for density simply because our old stock isn't built to a sufficient density. Really, heritage advocates should be pro-skyscraper, since you can house a lot of people in a small space, thereby reducing demolition of existing building stock.

I was just tickled a bit by the notion that skyline=big city.

OldDartmouthMark · #**4548** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 4:11 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Definitely true: we NEED selectively places highrises for density simply because our old stock isn't built to a sufficient density. Really, heritage advocates should be pro-skyscraper, since you can house a lot of people in a small space, thereby reducing demolition of existing building stock.

I was just tickled a bit by the notion that skyline=big city.

I don't think that being pro-skyscraper and a heritage advocate are mutually exclusive. In fact ideally we all should fit in both categories with the common goal of having the best city possible.

Sometimes we get our priorities a little messed-up, though, in thinking that a pretty skyline composed of a lot of gleaming, tall skyscrapers is more important than the actual functionality and feel of the city from the ground. Therefore, I think your initial point is spot-on.

Keith P. · #**4549** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 5:33 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluenoser

Nova Centre’s first major tenant, Bank of Montreal, to move in next year
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/13...nt-bank-of-montreal-to-move-in-next-year

"BMO will move into the Nova Centre in December 2016. They have signed a 10-year lease with a 20-year extension.

...

The bank has also signed an agreement with Argyle Developments to name the financial component of the Nova Centre the BMO Tower.

The deal means 200 bank employees will occupy two floors and 36,000 square feet of the office tower.

In addition, the main Halifax BMO branch will occupy 4,200 square feet of the first floor of the Nova Centre office tower. "

Good news, I guess. I wonder if the branch will be on the Grafton or Argyle side, although 'first floor' probably indicates Argyle. A bank seems somewhat uncool for that block but maybe that's just me...

So now we will have similar absurdity as we have for the harbor bridges? "The old BMO Building" and "The new BMO building?" Because you just know that people will still call the George St building the BMO Building.

Hali87 · #**4550** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 9:41 PM**

In theory the bank branch could also front onto Sackville or Prince, or more likely Grafton.

ScovaNotian · #**4551** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 10:12 PM**

There's a picture on CBC that suggests that it's the corner of Argyle and Prince.

Hali87 · #**4552** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 10:41 PM**

That would actually be great for Argyle (and its restaurants/bars), as long as that doesn't become "Bank Corner"

teddifax · #**4553** Posted **Oct 23, 2015, 11:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hali87

That would actually be great for Argyle (and its restaurants/bars), as long as that doesn't become "Bank Corner"

I would really like bars and restaurants along the Argyle St. side to continue what is already there and put the street-facing bank elsewhere (Grafton).

someone123 · #**4554** Posted **Oct 24, 2015, 12:48 AM**

It seems unlikely that a lot of banks would set up shop around there. Some of the buildings are registered heritage properties and they're not well-suited to large commercial tenants. Hopefully this will result in a bit more mixing; maybe the old BMO building can be converted to another use like residential.

Here's the rendering:

Source

The Nova Centre will definitely make this feel like part of the downtown business district, whereas in the past it felt like downtown petered out a couple blocks below Brunswick. I always thought it was too bad that Halifax wasn't quite large enough that the old town site below the Citadel was fully developed with medium-sized brick and stone heritage buildings. That would have been a great "old town", with the modern office district to the west. The same could be said of the peninsula as a whole. It was mostly developed before WWII and before the era when most people had cars, but it wasn't so large that development was heavily constrained by the geography. That is only really happening now because traffic is becoming inconvenient. During the streetcar era and the early era of cars there was plenty of land and densities were fairly low.

teddifax · #**4555** Posted **Oct 24, 2015, 1:04 AM**

Now we have to find out what brand of Hotel will be going there!

counterfactual · #**4556** Posted **Oct 24, 2015, 5:19 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

As a born and bred Maritimer, I am embarrassed to admit that my knowledge of Stan Rogers' work is a little deficient.

Thanks, I'll have to give it a listen!

Yeah, the great photo inspired me. It's one of his best ones.

counterfactual · #**4557** Posted **Oct 24, 2015, 5:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Definitely true: we NEED selectively places highrises for density simply because our old stock isn't built to a sufficient density. Really, heritage advocates should be pro-skyscraper, since you can house a lot of people in a small space, thereby reducing demolition of existing building stock.

I was just tickled a bit by the notion that skyline=big city.

Dry, you should run for director of the Heritage Foundation. How about a common sense heritage advocate in there?

counterfactual · #**4558** Posted **Oct 24, 2015, 5:30 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Originally Posted by bluenoser View Post
Nova Centre’s first major tenant, Bank of Montreal, to move in next year
http://thechronicleherald.ca/busines...e-in-next-year

"BMO will move into the Nova Centre in December 2016. They have signed a 10-year lease with a 20-year extension.

...

The bank has also signed an agreement with Argyle Developments to name the financial component of the Nova Centre the BMO Tower.

The deal means 200 bank employees will occupy two floors and 36,000 square feet of the office tower.

In addition, the main Halifax BMO branch will occupy 4,200 square feet of the first floor of the Nova Centre office tower. "

Good news, I guess. I wonder if the branch will be on the Grafton or Argyle side, although 'first floor' probably indicates Argyle. A bank seems somewhat uncool for that block but maybe that's just me... View Post
Nova Centre’s first major tenant, Bank of Montreal, to move in next year
http://thechronicleherald.ca/busines...e-in-next-year

"BMO will move into the Nova Centre in December 2016. They have signed a 10-year lease with a 20-year extension.

...

The bank has also signed an agreement with Argyle Developments to name the financial component of the Nova Centre the BMO Tower.

The deal means 200 bank employees will occupy two floors and 36,000 square feet of the office tower.

In addition, the main Halifax BMO branch will occupy 4,200 square feet of the first floor of the Nova Centre office tower. "

Good news, I guess. I wonder if the branch will be on the Grafton or Argyle side, although 'first floor' probably indicates Argyle. A bank seems somewhat uncool for that block but maybe that's just me...

I think this is awesome for this area of downtown. Sounds like BMO is centralizing operations and concentrating more bodies in one place.

Jringe01 · #**4559** Posted **Oct 25, 2015, 2:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by portapetey

What ever do you mean?

I'd say they nailed it.

Of course, we're still waiting for the destruction of the remainder of our heritage, as they've predicted:

Because like yeah...if we lose the view of the Oil Refinery well that just ruin's everything

Jringe01 · #**4560** Posted **Oct 25, 2015, 2:15 PM**

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-centre-bmo-tenant-1.3285665

Seeing much the same article on the CBC...however the CBC seems to suggest that BMO "...will relocate its Atlantic Canadian headquarters and support services, as well as its main bank site to the downtown Halifax complex."

Makes it seem like the move is bigger than it is