HomeDiagramsDatabaseMapsForum About
     

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Atlantic Provinces > Halifax > Halifax Peninsula & Downtown Dartmouth


Reply

 
Thread Tools Display Modes
     
     
  #181  
Old Posted Mar 7, 2017, 9:42 PM
Keith P.'s Avatar
Keith P. Keith P. is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,982
What's the backstory on this? Who is the developer?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #182  
Old Posted Mar 8, 2017, 3:27 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
Honored Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Toronto area (ex-Nova Scotian)
Posts: 5,558
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
It looks good, I just wonder about the chances of it ever being built?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #183  
Old Posted Mar 8, 2017, 2:30 PM
Drybrain Drybrain is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Posts: 4,115
I'm not too crazy about the way the Bloomfield School appears to be somewhat facaded, and the other historic school seems to have disappeared. Also, what's with this trend toward interrupting the massing of towers at the halfway point. Makes them look like chunky spaceships.

But there's still a lot to like here, and at this point I'm almost willing to accept anything, especially the use of mostly solid, non-glass cladding materials at ground level.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #184  
Old Posted Mar 10, 2017, 5:05 AM
Colin May Colin May is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,481
Bottom right has a tall bearded man with a female in full black costume, head to toe ???
Note the only young child bottom right.... and then there are the hipsters and the old folk.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #185  
Old Posted Mar 10, 2017, 6:29 AM
counterfactual counterfactual is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 1,796
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin May View Post
Bottom right has a tall bearded man with a female in full black costume, head to toe ???
Uhm. Pretty sure that's a Muslim man walking with his wife, who is covered with an abaya...
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #186  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2017, 3:51 PM
beyeas beyeas is offline
Fizzix geek
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: South End, Hali
Posts: 1,303
Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin May View Post
Bottom right has a tall bearded man with a female in full black costume, head to toe ???
Note the only young child bottom right.... and then there are the hipsters and the old folk.
Not quite sure what your point is. Can you elaborate?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #187  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2017, 5:08 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
I like the heavily motion blurred car close behind the skateboarder. Is this meant to portray the last few seconds of his life?

The woman with a stroller also looks like she might be headed into the roadway. She must really like this development, because she appears in both renderings.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #188  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2017, 5:49 PM
Keith P.'s Avatar
Keith P. Keith P. is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,982
Quote:
Originally Posted by someone123 View Post
I like the heavily motion blurred car close behind the skateboarder. Is this meant to portray the last few seconds of his life?

The woman with a stroller also looks like she might be headed into the roadway. She must really like this development, because she appears in both renderings.
Those two, along with the cyclist, appear to already be deceased since you can see through their bodies to the landscape and buildings behind them, so they are obviously ghosts.

Still wondering where these renderings came from, unless Lydon Lynch did them on spec.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #189  
Old Posted Mar 12, 2017, 10:48 PM
Colin May Colin May is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2014
Posts: 1,481
Quote:
Originally Posted by beyeas View Post
Not quite sure what your point is. Can you elaborate?
At first I thought it was piece of street art, and then I thought it was an artistic error. Hence the question marks. Where is the skateboarder ?
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #190  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2017, 3:18 AM
counterfactual counterfactual is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Parts Unknown
Posts: 1,796
The guy in the wheel chair is also about to commit suicide and launch down the set of stairs.

Perhaps like the skateboarder, this rendering is suggestive of death -- the death of the old Imagine Bloomfield project. And, of course, after death there is rebirth and life-- hence this new proposal.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #191  
Old Posted Mar 13, 2017, 2:17 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is online now
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 8,424
FWIW, the bicyclist looks like he's about to do a 180 front pivot in traffic, the wheelchair is about to go down a wheelchair ramp, and most of the people in the rendering are translucent.

All that said, not a bad proposal overall. I have similar concerns to drybrain about the 2 oldest schools, but at this point anything is better than what has been happening lately (nothing).
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #192  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2017, 2:46 AM
pblaauw pblaauw is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Halifax, Nova Scotia
Posts: 529
As a chair user myself, my guess is that guy is wondering how the heck he's going to get to that door.

(Looking at the reflection on the glass facade, there does not appear to be a ramp where the guy in the chair is sitting.)
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #193  
Old Posted Mar 14, 2017, 5:19 AM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is online now
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2010
Posts: 8,424
Quote:
Originally Posted by pblaauw View Post
As a chair user myself, my guess is that guy is wondering how the heck he's going to get to that door.

(Looking at the reflection on the glass facade, there does not appear to be a ramp where the guy in the chair is sitting.)
I was guessing a ramp as you'd need that kind of distance to get an acceptable grade, but it's really not all that clear from the rendering.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #194  
Old Posted Jun 12, 2017, 8:41 PM
Dmajackson's Avatar
Dmajackson Dmajackson is offline
Moderator
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: B3K Halifax, NS
Posts: 9,310
Regional Council will be debating how to proceed with the sale of this property;

http://www.halifax.ca/council/agenda...0613rc1414.pdf
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #195  
Old Posted Mar 9, 2020, 12:58 PM
IanWatson IanWatson is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,222
Zane Woodford reports that the Bloomfield site will go up for sale in April:

Quote:
The Centre Plan uses a maximum density calculation to decide what’s allowed on the site, adding up to more than 500,000 square feet of developable space. It’s also subject to the overall maximum height in the plan -- 90 metres or about 28 to 30 storeys -- and the guidelines of Imagine Bloomfield.

“The proposed development through the sales listing will offer a range of public and community components including a 20,000 square foot community and cultural space; a signature urban park; dedicated bike lane on Almon Street and transit corridor on Robie Street; pedestrian connections through the site; and an allocation of 10% of the units on site as affordable housing,” municipal spokesperson Budden wrote in an email.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #196  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2020, 10:59 AM
Keith P.'s Avatar
Keith P. Keith P. is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,982
So here we go again, with the albatross that is Bloomfield perhaps finally being removed from around HRM's neck with a big sack of gold in return:

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/ne...operty-509423/

Quote:
The rumoured sale of the Bloomfield Centre property in north-end Halifax may be premature but some local residents want clarity on the issue.

“Staff gave a recommendation of who they want to sell it to,” said Lindell Smith, who is seeking re-election Saturday to regional council for the Halifax Peninsula North district that encompasses the former school property.

Smith said municipal staff are working with the prospective buyer to determine if the conditions of sale can be met.

On his Facebook page, Smith posted that he would like to clarify misinformation about the sale of the 1.2-hectare property, adding that HRM has “consulted the community for 15 years” regarding the site’s future.

Smith posted that the potential buyer must meet the conditions of the sale and the principles of the municipal Centre Plan.

Smith pointed out that his motions at regional council ensured that conditions for the sale would include: a minimum of 10,000 square feet of commercial space, targeted to the creative industry; a minimum of 20,000 square feet of affordable community and cultural space; a minimum of 20 per cent of the site be reserved for open space, both public and private; that the Fielding building be considered as the site for any cultural hub component; and that 10 per cent of the residential units on the site be allocated to affordable housing.

Smith’s post included a timeline about the centre, beginning In 2002 when the site located in the block bordered by Agricola, Robie and Almon streets and home to three brick buildings, was deemed surplus property, followed by efforts to create a site master plan that was eventually adopted by council in 2009.

The master plan was to transform the Fielding building into a cultural centre to be owned and managed by the city, to have the Commons building managed by non-profit community groups and construction of a new four-storey building to host arts events, two 10-storey apartment buildings and 20 townhouses, with 20 per cent all of the housing to be dedicated as affordable units.

The timeline continued into 2012, when a sale to the Nova Scotia Housing Development Corporation was approved, followed four years later by the termination of that agreement.
Plans for a new junior high on the site or a school run by the provincial Francophone school board were also scuttled.

In 2018, Imagine Bloomfield and Wonder’neath Arts Society submitted a business plan for the site in support of a community and creative hub.

David Fright, who lives across the street from the centre, challenged some of the councillor’s assertions of what is to happen with the site, which has not been used by the municipality for the past seven years.

“By his (Smith’s) own timeline, there have been no public consultations since 2008,” said Fright, who has lived in the area for nearly two decades.

“General discussions on the Centre Plan have no specific bearing on the Bloomfield Centre as a community asset. As he states, the 20 per cent open space is public and private. Since the entire site is to be sold, it will all be private with public access to some of it (20 per cent or less). If a small portion of it is ‘returned’ as publicly owned land, it will be done through a density bonus. Since there is already a public park about the size of the portion that could be returned to the public, we are gaining nothing.”

Fright said the Fielding Building likely “will not be chosen" for a community hub but instead will be demolished.

“I'm not sure how targeting space to the creative industry has any bearing on the community benefits of the project, although I have no problems with the creative industry, and 20,000 square feet of community space is about the size of the current tennis court,” Fright said.

“Moreover, under the Centre Plan, developers can pay out their affordability requirements to the city, and rent the units at the market rate for their target clientele and make substantial amounts of net revenue even on these. Three affordable units were built last year according to the Centre Plan's annual reporting requirements, so 40 to 60 may be a big improvement -- but it's still not much considering this property represents the most we'll ever be able to do and at nil cost.”

Smith said he is not at liberty to divulge the name of the proposed buyer but If that buyer can prove that it can meet the listed conditions, the proposal will come back to council.

“Then, it will be sold,” Smith said, adding that any sale would not happen before a new council is sworn in.

The rumoured sale price is $37 million.

A debacle of the scale that could only be created by HRM.

Just one more reason to clean house of this Council during the election.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #197  
Old Posted Oct 15, 2020, 2:20 PM
Good Baklava's Avatar
Good Baklava Good Baklava is offline
Somewhat Pretentious
 
Join Date: Apr 2016
Location: Someplace somewhere
Posts: 501
It’s nice to see we’re closer to shovels in the ground, hopefully talks with the developer won’t fall through.
__________________
Haligonian in exile.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #198  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2020, 11:35 AM
IanWatson IanWatson is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,222
Quote:
Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
A debacle of the scale that could only be created by HRM.

Just one more reason to clean house of this Council during the election.
I’m not sure the Municipality deserves the bulk of the blame here. I can’t imagine they expected (nor would likely many RFP authors) the Province to bid literally double what all the other bidders did, and then completely drop the ball on execution.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #199  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2020, 2:33 PM
Keith P.'s Avatar
Keith P. Keith P. is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 7,982
Quote:
Originally Posted by IanWatson View Post
I’m not sure the Municipality deserves the bulk of the blame here. I can’t imagine they expected (nor would likely many RFP authors) the Province to bid literally double what all the other bidders did, and then completely drop the ball on execution.
I suspect the left-wing Council could not imagine their good fortune at having a NDP govt dangle a big bag of taxpayer cash in front of them, and did not worry about what they would do with the site after that. Of course they managed to bungle the sale so they didn't even get the money before everything went sideways.
Reply With Quote
     
     
  #200  
Old Posted Oct 16, 2020, 5:16 PM
someone123's Avatar
someone123 someone123 is offline
hähnchenbrüstfiletstüc
 
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Vancouver
Posts: 33,677
Quote:
Originally Posted by IanWatson View Post
I’m not sure the Municipality deserves the bulk of the blame here. I can’t imagine they expected (nor would likely many RFP authors) the Province to bid literally double what all the other bidders did, and then completely drop the ball on execution.
It seems like either the city or province fumble just about every one of these redevelopments. The old library building is still sitting empty, many years later. None of the school redevelopments (4 or more on the peninsula?) seem to have happened yet. Meanwhile, there's tons of privately led construction all over the city. Develop NS is very slow too.

It has gotten to the point where most of these underused sites on the peninsula involve the government in some way. For each big empty lot there is some story about why it couldn't be developed for 10-20+ years.
Reply With Quote
     
     
This discussion thread continues

Use the page links to the lower-right to go to the next page for additional posts
 
 
Reply

Go Back   SkyscraperPage Forum > Regional Sections > Canada > Atlantic Provinces > Halifax > Halifax Peninsula & Downtown Dartmouth
Forum Jump


Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump


All times are GMT. The time now is 5:26 AM.

     
SkyscraperPage.com - Archive - Privacy Statement - Top

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.