[Dartmouth] King's Wharf (Building E) | 85 m | 27 fl | U/C

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Frankly, if we saw most new development in HRM's regional centre occuring like this (of course at varrying densities and heights), I wouldn't be upset. In a way, this is kind of setting out Halifax's 'typical style' - much like the glass/steel condos in Vancouver. At least, I think...

I thought the same thing. Bishop's Landing is another development that has always been held up as an example of effective mixed-use waterfront space, and King's Wharf is fundamentally pretty similar. I think developments like King's Wharf and Bishop's Landing will be increasingly common on large parcels of land, and the Vic, Trillium, and Hydrostone Place on smaller lots. By the sounds of it, the rest of Dartmouth Cove will be developed in a similar character and scale to King's Wharf - low-to-highrise mixed use buildings with an emphasis on pedestrians and active transport. The Plans for the next phase of development at Mill Cove are also pretty similar to King's Wharf or Bishop's Landing.

I like the way that the developer has kept the actual building designs pretty close to what is shown in the models. The development as a whole has a very stylized design which also happens to be very LEED-friendly, so maybe this type of building will in fact become part of Halifax's "signature style" for the next several years in the same way that narrow green-and-silver condos have come to define 21st century Vancouver. Maybe in Halifax it will be fancy blue-and-white boxes? We already have Purdy's Wharf and 1801 Hollis.

[Hali87]

In any case, the middle row of buildings is definitely a better looking study in squares and rectangles than the CD Plus building!

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by FuzzyWuz

The variation in height comes when you travel west to east. The whole area will be hill shaped with 18 story buildings across the road from the 12 story ones being built right now and then less height right on the water.

I had thought it was like that. Essentially like a ( except on it's side.

[kph06]

Just since yesterday they have scaled back the marketing presence of the Aqua Vista on the website. Floor plans are off and there is no link to its own dedicated page - all you can do now is "Register your interest".

[Greenguy]

The Aqua Vista is the fourth building in the row... not the third. First is Anchorage (which is rental apartments), second is Keelson which you see now. Third is Big Sea, or something like that, which is a mirror image of Keelson and finally fourth is Aqua Vista.

Keelson (Bldg B) and Big Sea Bldg C) were always meant to be condos but Aqua Vista (Bldg D) was to be an office building... but its designation was changed in Dec and announced in January 2012 due to the soft commercial space market. So now all three, Keelson, Big Sea and Aqua Vista are all condos.

Aqua Vista was always to look different from Keelson and Big Sea. If you look at the original artist's impression you will see the four buildings all there in a row behind the taller ones which will eventually block all their views of Halifax. Aqua Vista will retaint he best water view... hence the name.

I am told that they will be pouring the concrete for Big Sea and Aqua Visita by month's end... hmmm... that would be next week so I will take that info with a grain of salt. In any case we are suppose to see those two rise at the same time just as Anchorage and Keelson did.

By the way... great photos here. Really great.

[bluenoser]

Welcome Greenguy and thanks for the info! I love this development and this probably isn't a big deal, but I've always found it strange that they decided to put these shorter residential buildings behind the taller ones (relative to the harbour). It looks like the first three buildings will have a pretty hindered view of the harbour / downtown Halifax. I noticed on some renderings that they almost seem to be advertising a view by blacking out future development. Of course, many views would have been blocked even with the shorter buildings in front but at least they're smaller and spaced further apart.

Likewise, it looks like these buildings won't be overly visible from the Halifax waterfront and so they won't really contribute to the Dartmouth skyline from that angle, whereas there could have been a layered effect. On the other hand, if some taller buildings eventually end up at Dartmouth Cove then it would definitely add to the 'skyline' in that area.

[Greenguy]

[QUOTE=halifaxboyns;5602765]
But doesn't this building rendering show commercial at grade? Or am I looking at the diagram incorrectly? It appears commercial on the ground floor -


Yes you are right, there is commercial space ont he first floors of Keelson and the next two buildings (Bldg C "Big Sea" and Bldg D "Aqua Vista". They were always meant to have shops, a pharmacy, hopefully a Starbucks or market. KW is calling those floors "commerical" and some others buildings are designated to have offcie space. One bldg is a hotel. So KW seems to be using the term "commercial" to be the businnes resident on the ground floors of the other buildings which are designated in their literature as Apartment, Condo, Office, Hotel, Conference Centre, etc.

[kph06]

Originally Posted by Greenguy

The Aqua Vista is the fourth building in the row... not the third. First is Anchorage (which is rental apartments), second is Keelson which you see now. Third is Big Sea, or something like that, which is a mirror image of Keelson and finally fourth is Aqua Vista.

Keelson (Bldg B) and Big Sea Bldg C) were always meant to be condos but Aqua Vista (Bldg D) was to be an office building... but its designation was changed in Dec and announced in January 2012 due to the soft commercial space market. So now all three, Keelson, Big Sea and Aqua Vista are all condos.

Aqua Vista was always to look different from Keelson and Big Sea. If you look at the original artist's impression you will see the four buildings all there in a row behind the taller ones which will eventually block all their views of Halifax. Aqua Vista will retaint he best water view... hence the name.

I am told that they will be pouring the concrete for Big Sea and Aqua Visita by month's end... hmmm... that would be next week so I will take that info with a grain of salt. In any case we are suppose to see those two rise at the same time just as Anchorage and Keelson did.

By the way... great photos here. Really great.

Ahhh, that makes sense, thanks for clearing that up. The Aqua Vista floorplans did look just like the floorplate for the 4th building. I would suspect they will have to drive piles for the next couple buildings before any concrete is poured?

[worldlyhaligonian]

Seems like Dartmouth has potential to outpace Halifax downtown development given KW and the WDC and other lots. Time will tell, but we've already got 2 KW buildings up, so things are definitely moving along.

[pblaauw]

Originally Posted by worldlyhaligonian

Seems like Dartmouth has potential to outpace Halifax downtown development given KW and the WDC and other lots. Time will tell, but we've already got 2 KW buildings up, so things are definitely moving along.

It's too bad HRM is all represented by a single council. A little cross-harbour mayoral "my city's growing faster than your city" rivalry would have been fun in an election year.

[worldlyhaligonian]

Originally Posted by pblaauw

It's too bad HRM is all represented by a single council. A little cross-harbour mayoral "my city's growing faster than your city" rivalry would have been fun in an election year.

Yeah, seriously. A little competition in the city would be a good thing.

[-Harlington-]

From Halifax :

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Hali87

I thought the same thing. Bishop's Landing is another development that has always been held up as an example of effective mixed-use waterfront space, and King's Wharf is fundamentally pretty similar. I think developments like King's Wharf and Bishop's Landing will be increasingly common on large parcels of land, and the Vic, Trillium, and Hydrostone Place on smaller lots. By the sounds of it, the rest of Dartmouth Cove will be developed in a similar character and scale to King's Wharf - low-to-highrise mixed use buildings with an emphasis on pedestrians and active transport. The Plans for the next phase of development at Mill Cove are also pretty similar to King's Wharf or Bishop's Landing.

I like the way that the developer has kept the actual building designs pretty close to what is shown in the models. The development as a whole has a very stylized design which also happens to be very LEED-friendly, so maybe this type of building will in fact become part of Halifax's "signature style" for the next several years in the same way that narrow green-and-silver condos have come to define 21st century Vancouver. Maybe in Halifax it will be fancy blue-and-white boxes? We already have Purdy's Wharf and 1801 Hollis.

Bishop's landing is what I would use as an example of a development that responds to difficult sites where viewplanes are around. If you look at the way it's situated, it's virtually covered in a viewplane, except for where the tower portion is. The rest of the site is height capped through viewplane 6. So by responding to that 'problem' - you get a very nicely scaled building with an internal courtyard and then some additional height where it's allowed.

King's Wharf is an example of the same thing - but the viewplanes aren't as restrictive - so you could get 10+ in most of the site, but the iconic tower is where you can really rip it up and go tall as it's out of the viewplane.

Frankly, I don't have a problem with the viewplanes if a few of them are revisited as part of the regional centre plan. Personally, the one from Brightwood is stupid. It's private land - totally unnecessary. If that one was removed, you would see way taller buildings in DT Dartmouth (which makes me wonder if King's Wharf might come in and ask to amend their DA approval to go taller).

I have a sneaking suspicion you are probably right when it comes to the scale of buildings and parcel size. Vic and Trillium are good examples of mid-to-high rise on smaller parcels, where as KW is a good example of mid-to-high on large parcels.

I suspect over the next few years there will be a lot of land deals being done very quietly in many of the areas the Regional Centre Plan will identify for growth and we'll see the level of development go up. Considering HRM moved the Regional Centre up and pushed back the RP+5 because of the ship contract - there is a huge push to really capture a lot of growth in the RC.

[Jstaleness]

Here are a few from my cell. They are extending the filling today.









I think I need a cash incentive to remember an actual camera. Zoom stinks on my cell.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Jstaleness

Here are a few from my cell. They are extending the filling today.

I think I need a cash incentive to remember an actual camera. Zoom stinks on my cell.

Thanks for the updates.

I bought a Cannon Powershot A495 for under a hundred dollars a few months ago. The images are much better than my iPhone.

[someone123]

I wonder what the highrise count in Halifax is today? In the past there were something like 70 buildings with 12 storeys or more. Recently a lot have been built. Soon there will be 4 at King's Wharf, and 4 built as part of the Panorama development in Clayton Park. There might soon be around 100 or so in the Halifax metro area.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

Bishop's landing is what I would use as an example of a development that responds to difficult sites where viewplanes are around. If you look at the way it's situated, it's virtually covered in a viewplane, except for where the tower portion is. The rest of the site is height capped through viewplane 6. So by responding to that 'problem' - you get a very nicely scaled building with an internal courtyard and then some additional height where it's allowed.

The Bishop's Landing situation was disappointing in that it was a great start that fizzled, for whatever reason. There could have been a large scale multi-phase development along 4 major waterfront lots from the power plant to Summit Place (actually Southwest, the Bishop's developer, even bid on the Salter site). Instead we had one waterfront development and then nothing for a decade. Bishop's Landing is still pretty much surrounded by parking lots. The Cunard block redevelopment should get underway next year but two major developments during a period of about 15 years is really unfortunate.

King's Wharf seems like it has a lot more momentum. We will hopefully see a steady stream of construction and basically get a complete new neighbourhood out of the deal. That is the scale of infill that is needed from a regional planning perspective.

[DigitalNinja]

I really like how this development is coming along! I can't wait until it's finished and just walk through the place.

[Jstaleness]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Thanks for the updates.

I bought a Cannon Powershot A495 for under a hundred dollars a few months ago. The images are much better than my iPhone.

Haha! Sadly it has nothing to do with cost. I own 3 digital camera's ranging from point and shoot to somewhat professional. It's just a matter of never having them when I need them. I don't like leaving electronics in my glove box during winter months.

[RyeJay]

I'm glad there are no signs of slowing for this project. It was, after all, commenced before the shipbuilding contract came into the picture.