[Halifax] The Jade & Green Lantern (1595 Barrington) | Completed

[HRM]

Originally Posted by sdm

thats the DA, there is also an agreement with WDCL

WDCL's April 28,2010 letter to HRM states that the agreement between Centennial and WDCL requires that only footings be in place by May 31, 2011. WDCL does not note the requirement that foundations also be in place by May 31.

[ScovaNotian]

Here's a site that says that construction schedules will be announced this month:
http://www.dailycommercialnews.com/c...region=eastern.

[musicman]

I think these 2 last post may be for the Medjuk waterfront project not for 1595 barington...

[Dmajackson]

Proposed Development Agreement for 1595 Barrington Street

[sdm]

This proposal is far suprerior the roy building proposal.

Maybe they can take a page from this and make some changes.

[-Harlington-]

This will definitely inject some much needed help into barrington st

[someone123]

Thanks for posting this.. I've been looking forward to more info since they talked about the design changes. I think this will be a great development. Glad to see that they're going forward with the residential version -- residents will bring more positive changes to Barrington than more office space, and right now there is a glut of office proposals. No way that they'll all be built.

I am kind of skeptical about United Gulf but if those towers go up this proposal will go well with them as a medium-sized transitional building.

[halifaxboyns]

I'm hopeful that they stick with residential - but the proposal has changed a lot and is quite impressive.

[Jonovision]

The proportions look much better now. For some reason the curved glass didn't look good to me when it was taller, but it works at this level and I like that they added a roof feature.

[fenwick16]

This looks great to me. Hopefully there won't be the usual opposition from the Heritage Trust.

Personally, I feel that if the Nova Centre proceeds then it will create more faith in the future of downtown Halifax and we will see more of these residential developments go ahead.

Thanks for the link Dmajackson. I copied this image from the report:
(source: http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/Dist.../Case01231.pdf )

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

This looks great to me. Hopefully there won't be the usual opposition from the Heritage Trust.

Personally, I feel that if the Nova Centre proceeds then it will create more faith in the future of downtown Halifax and we will see more of these residential developments go ahead.

Thanks for the link Dmajackson. I copied this image from the report:
(source: http://www.halifax.ca/boardscom/Dist.../Case01231.pdf )

I'm hoping that Nova Centre isn't dead - we'll have to see. It's a pretty short election, so who knows...

This proposal has changed drastically and it's really come in under the viewplane height. What disappoints me in the report is the section that I mentioned in the Roy building report; that is lacking in this one. The staff report for the Roy Building went out of the way to talk about the whole 'adjacent' height to the citadell issue and went so far as to note the UARB's decisions on Midtown and then Twisted Sisters. I think that will help defuse the heritage trust arguments over height - but it wasn't included in this one. So who ever presents this at council will need to defuse that more in the presentation, then in the actual report. Personally, I would probably do both (but that's me).

I get a feeling this will probably get the usual HT 'canned' response and then get approved. Hopefully if any appeal is launched, it will be a quick UARB go away response and let it go forward.

[spaustin]

Originally Posted by halifaxboyns

I get a feeling this will probably get the usual HT 'canned' response and then get approved. Hopefully if any appeal is launched, it will be a quick UARB go away response and let it go forward.

Doesn't this just go to the Urban Design Taskforce now? Since HRM By Design came in, I thought the opportunity to drag these proposals out was gone?

EDIT: Right! It's proceeding under the old regulations, I remember now. It'll be just like old times

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by spaustin

Doesn't this just go to the Urban Design Taskforce now? Since HRM By Design came in, I thought the opportunity to drag these proposals out was gone?

EDIT: Right! It's proceeding under the old regulations, I remember now. It'll be just like old times

You know; it's funny you said that because I thought the same thing...but then I remembered too. But still anything new might proceed quicker because of just going to the design review committee? But it wouldn't be that quick if they wanted to say change the map for a post bonus height.

[Keith P.]

My first thought in reading this was that residential would be great - I'd be right across the street from Obladee, which would be cool; close to a lot of other useful things... but then I thought about what it might be like to live there. It would be noisy as hell, especially if the building wasn't air conditioned and you had to have operable windows. There is no real greenspace within any short distance. It seems like a pretty limited location for residential over the long term, though I can see it being OK for short-term or part-time residents like the old Canada Permanent building across the street above Starbucks. But I don't know if the lifestyle it offers would be very attractive as a permanent residence.

[someone123]

I thought that this was 100% old process, so now design review committee, whereas Nova Centre for example was just a special exemption for height under HbD.

It seems really likely that the HT will want to fight this since it's right on Barrington.

[spaustin]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

My first thought in reading this was that residential would be great - I'd be right across the street from Obladee, which would be cool; close to a lot of other useful things... but then I thought about what it might be like to live there. It would be noisy as hell, especially if the building wasn't air conditioned and you had to have operable windows. There is no real greenspace within any short distance. It seems like a pretty limited location for residential over the long term, though I can see it being OK for short-term or part-time residents like the old Canada Permanent building across the street above Starbucks. But I don't know if the lifestyle it offers would be very attractive as a permanent residence.

Well it's not going to be an attractive residential location for anybody who wants a backyard and we're not New York City so there are few people who see raising kids in apartment type structures as desirable. Still, I think there is an upscale market that it can tap. University students (some of them like law students have cash), young professionals, chidless couples or old people whose kids are raised and gone and are looking to downsize. The noise from Barrington might be a real nusiance on the lower levels, but up high in the tower, it might not be a big deal. It's amazing the way sound quickly spreads out and dilutes. Access to green space isn't that bad. Citadel Hill is only a few blocks up and the waterfront, although it doesn't offer greenspace, has plenty of places to sit and relax. I don't see this location as all that different in terms of surrounding amenities from what's on Spring Garden.

Hopefully this residential element will be the first of many. If the Roy goes through, it would be nice to have it switch to residential. The age of the Downtown as the office centre is slipping by because the number of business that really have to or want to be Downtown is diminishing. The idea of an all office CBD is kind of dead. Time to adapt and sell our Downtown as a mixed-use destination. The Downtown office market may be limited, but people still want to live down there. The same thing is kind of happening across North America. With a few exceptions, most new large buildings in Downtowns across the US and Canada have been condos (boomtowns like Calgary excepted of course!)

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

My first thought in reading this was that residential would be great - I'd be right across the street from Obladee, which would be cool; close to a lot of other useful things... but then I thought about what it might be like to live there. It would be noisy as hell, especially if the building wasn't air conditioned and you had to have operable windows. There is no real greenspace within any short distance. It seems like a pretty limited location for residential over the long term, though I can see it being OK for short-term or part-time residents like the old Canada Permanent building across the street above Starbucks. But I don't know if the lifestyle it offers would be very attractive as a permanent residence.

You know it's funny you wrote this; I just got off the phone with my mom and we had a debate about my decision to eventually adopt a child and how I would raise him/her.

I was raised in suburban Halifax, but I happily live in downtown Calgary for my job. I honestly love living in downtown because I enjoy how busy the traffic is, the people running around and at night how busy it can be. Even the shouting drunks makes me feel the city is alive with activity. So for me, I'd happily raise a child in a condo and don't need a garden or a backyard. More people are realizing that they can do that and adapt in different ways. In this case, instead of a backyard - you'd have the waterfront! Or you could walk up Spring Garden to the Public Gardens. I guess each person's way they decide to live is different.

I wouldn't use Calgary as a great example spaustin - but it's slowly improving. I'm waiting to see the building across from me taken down and a new tower go up, so that should be interesting. But places like Victoria Park (near the stampede) and the Mission/17th Avenue/Beltline are very high activity areas which are great to live in.

[sdm]

Originally Posted by spaustin

Well it's not going to be an attractive residential location for anybody who wants a backyard and we're not New York City so there are few people who see raising kids in apartment type structures as desirable. Still, I think there is an upscale market that it can tap. University students (some of them like law students have cash), young professionals, chidless couples or old people whose kids are raised and gone and are looking to downsize. The noise from Barrington might be a real nusiance on the lower levels, but up high in the tower, it might not be a big deal. It's amazing the way sound quickly spreads out and dilutes. Access to green space isn't that bad. Citadel Hill is only a few blocks up and the waterfront, although it doesn't offer greenspace, has plenty of places to sit and relax. I don't see this location as all that different in terms of surrounding amenities from what's on Spring Garden.

Hopefully this residential element will be the first of many. If the Roy goes through, it would be nice to have it switch to residential. The age of the Downtown as the office centre is slipping by because the number of business that really have to or want to be Downtown is diminishing. The idea of an all office CBD is kind of dead. Time to adapt and sell our Downtown as a mixed-use destination. The Downtown office market may be limited, but people still want to live down there. The same thing is kind of happening across North America. With a few exceptions, most new large buildings in Downtowns across the US and Canada have been condos (boomtowns like Calgary excepted of course!)

The roy building should be just renovated as it sits now to a loft apartment building. It would be a hit in my opinion.

That said, if the development isn't feasible then allow some addiitonal height, but keep it residential. The current scale of what is proposed is in my opinion pushing it, and the design is sub standard compared to 1595 barrington. Some tweaking could gain some great results for the area.

There is a lot of people in the industry (real estate development) that are stating that downtown will be a place to live and play, losing the the elements of work (live and play).

[halifaxboyns]

Originally Posted by sdm

The roy building should be just renovated as it sits now to a loft apartment building. It would be a hit in my opinion.

That said, if the development isn't feasible then allow some addiitonal height, but keep it residential. The current scale of what is proposed is in my opinion pushing it, and the design is sub standard compared to 1595 barrington. Some tweaking could gain some great results for the area.

There is a lot of people in the industry (real estate development) that are stating that downtown will be a place to live and play, losing the the elements of work (live and play).

I don't quite understand about the losing the work element? Can you explain?

[DigitalNinja]

He means that more and more businesses in the commercial buildings are moving out to places that have cheaper rent like Burnside.