Developers line up to take a crack at Halifax site
By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor
Fri, Mar 25 - 4:54 AM
Mary Ann has plenty of developers looking her way.
WM Fares Group and Banc Developments, Killam Properties and Urban Capital Property, Mythos Developments, Dexel Developments, Universal Properties, Armour Group, Tony Metlege, and Westwood Developments are all interested in acquiring the key downtown property on Clyde Street beside Queen Street from Halifax Regional Municipality. The city dubbed the lot Mary Ann, after one of three Schmidt sisters who lived in the area known as Schmidtville 140 years ago.
"We’re not asking for design proposals; this is just all about financial proposals and qualifications," Andy Fillmore, the municipality’s manager of urban design, said late Thursday.
"If you’ve done a project like this in the past, if you’ve got a good team and if you can show us numbers that make sense, then you’re a contender."
The ground floor on the Mary Ann site will be primarily commercial retail, Fillmore said. Height on the project is restricted to 27.6 metres.
The project, which will hold hundreds of residential units, will be set back 3.6 metres from the sidewalk on Clyde, with a double row of trees on the sidewalk.
"There’s a maximum building envelope that they can do whatever they want to within," Fillmore said. "Then there are some guidelines around quality of materials . . . and active pedestrian streetscapes . . . but you could have very, very different results from different architects."
The municipality’s other Clyde Street parking lot will be up for grabs later, followed by the site of the former Halifax Infirmary on Queen Street, which lies south of the land destined to house the new $55-million library.
There is no schedule for when the other two publicly owned sites will be offered to developers.
The request for proposals closed at 5 p.m. Thursday. The city will not divulge what developers offered to pay for the land until the transaction is complete.
(
clambie@herald.ca)