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

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

I am so happy this is finally public I am posting it myself.

From the staff report:

The Barrington Street commercial frontage will be reinstated following the original intention of the 1896 design. Granville Street will be revitalized with a commercial façade at pedestrian level. The Granville Street façade as well as the vertical addition will be simple in design and detail so as not to overwhelm the historic character and importance of the original building. Rhythm, materiality and scale of the new portion of the building will be complimentary to the original structure as well as the surrounding historical city fabric.

There will be 63 total residential units plus approximately 3,900 sq. ft. of commercial space at grade. A total of 29 parking stalls are provided, this represents less than a 2 to 1 unit to parking ratio.

I worked for two years trying to get the former owner to act. He kept backing away from acting saying it was an impossible site, which given the insurance money and snow load money he had coming at him made no sense to me. The price he wanted was frankly too high for the developable space the project yields, and the only way it worked was the Ghosn's doing this at the same time they do the Zellers/Discovery next door.

The Ghosn's have become really strongly committed to the heritage restoration part of this project, and it just makes sense for them to do it all at the same time. The Zellers project is going ahead as scheduled at the end of the extension. That corner will be transformed. Very excited.

Great work, Waye. This looks fantastic to me.

The design complements some of the Starfish work on the street, with facades retained with setbacks, adding residential density while retaining historical character of the street.

I'm loving The Barrington Revival.

[eastcoastal]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The addition on top looks terrible from the Barrington side. Reminds me of the kind of undersized additions that owners of old buildings used to erect in the '50s/'60s. No doubt it is constrained by the height-phobic restrictions imposed on d/t though so this is what we are stuck with.

By contrast, the Granville side finally looks like something you would want.

I LIKE that the addition on top is small. I certainly think the addition on top of Sam the Record Man bldg on Barrington is nice (though I wish the design there was a little calmer and timeless), and think this could be just as successful (and hopefully FASTER).

The Granville side is the real win though. That street needs some serious help at the moment.

[Waye Mason]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

The addition on top looks terrible from the Barrington side. Reminds me of the kind of undersized additions that owners of old buildings used to erect in the '50s/'60s. No doubt it is constrained by the height-phobic restrictions imposed on d/t though so this is what we are stuck with.

By contrast, the Granville side finally looks like something you would want.

They had a much more avante garde version of the penthouse in the last version I saw before today, looks like they took teh safe route. I hope the DRC review pushes them to go back to the more asymmetrical lantern top I saw before.

That said you cannot see either from street level...

[Waye Mason]

Originally Posted by fenwick16

Waye, another great project for Barrington Street is the NFB building. Can you give an update on the progress, please?

There were some issues with an unpermitted honey pot on Barrington and the dumpster obstructing the sidewalk and not really being used, but after a brief bunfight with staff, the dumpster is now tucked into the alley remenant between NFB and neptune and the honey pot is inside. They were working inside with a small backhoe when I went by yesterday.

[Waye Mason]

Originally Posted by Drybrain

Maybe, but it could simply be a desire to maintain the historical massing as seen from Barrington Street.

Anyway, for a building that was being written off as a teardown only 12 months ago, I'm not going to nitpick what looks like a generally excellent restoration.

Exactly. It is a heritage conservation district, the heights reflect that, but that said, the building will be significantly larger than before, no more light well on Granville, three stories taller, this is all good. I really like the Granville side, it is very well done.

Zellers will have 2 retail spots on Granville, this will have 2-3, this will transform Granville from a service alley to a real street (again, finally)

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Exactly. It is a heritage conservation district, the heights reflect that, but that said, the building will be significantly larger than before, no more light well on Granville, three stories taller, this is all good. I really like the Granville side, it is very well done.

Zellers will have 2 retail spots on Granville, this will have 2-3, this will transform Granville from a service alley to a real street (again, finally)

When is the Zellers/Discovery development moving forward?

[Waye Mason]

Originally Posted by counterfactual

When is the Zellers/Discovery development moving forward?

Something like 12-14 months. They are ready to move in with no further delays or extensions.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

There were some issues with an unpermitted honey pot on Barrington and the dumpster obstructing the sidewalk and not really being used, but after a brief bunfight with staff, the dumpster is now tucked into the alley remenant between NFB and neptune and the honey pot is inside. They were working inside with a small backhoe when I went by yesterday.

Thank you for the update. It is good to hear that it is moving forward.

It was kind of cheeky for them to put a honey pot along Barrington Street . For those of you who don't know what a honey pot is (I had to look it up) it is a portable toilet as shown here - http://amandashoneypots.com/wp-conte...se-Rentals.jpg

[terrynorthend]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

Something like 12-14 months. They are ready to move in with no further delays or extensions.

I suppose this makes sense. This development can't move forward until the Discovery Centre moves to its new home @ Emera.

[Jonovision]

Originally Posted by Waye Mason

They had a much more avante garde version of the penthouse in the last version I saw before today, looks like they took teh safe route. I hope the DRC review pushes them to go back to the more asymmetrical lantern top I saw before.

That said you cannot see either from street level...

While I never saw the other version your talking about I was really hoping for a strong juxtaposition between the new and old in this project. I know there was a rendering that Geoff Keddy did for this project that had something super contemporary on the Granville side. I think that would be great for this building.

[kph06]

Its interesting in the DRC Report found here, the three levels of parking will be connected to an adjacent development. Construction of this will have to be tied into the Zellers/Discovery Centre somewhat.

[counterfactual]

Originally Posted by kph06

Its interesting in the DRC Report found here, the three levels of parking will be connected to an adjacent development. Construction of this will have to be tied into the Zellers/Discovery Centre somewhat.

This is phenomenal thinking/planning. EXACTLY what Barrington-- and more areas of the downtown-- really need.

I can't wait to be able to tell all the "there's no parking downtown" crybabies that there's three level underground parking along Barrington, where you can park and access, underground, two different areas of downtown.

[Nouvellecosse]

What exactly is this "Zellers/Discovery Centre" project?

[MeEtc]

Originally Posted by terrynorthend

I suppose this makes sense. This development can't move forward until the Discovery Centre moves to its new home @ Emera.

Correction, this development can't move forward until the Discovery Centre leaves its current building. I suspect there will be some significant down time between closing and re-opening at the new spot.

[fenwick16]

Originally Posted by Nouvellecosse

What exactly is this "Zellers/Discovery Centre" project?

This is a 15 storey tower at 1595 Barrington Street that is described in this thread - http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=165187

[Nouvellecosse]

Thanks ^^

[MeEtc]

Originally Posted by MeEtc

Correction, this development can't move forward until the Discovery Centre leaves its current building. I suspect there will be some significant down time between closing and re-opening at the new spot.

Found some more info: the current Discovery Centre will be closing April/May 2016, and re-open around September 2016. JW Lindsay was awarded the construction contract just last week for the new location.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by MeEtc

Found some more info: the current Discovery Centre will be closing April/May 2016, and re-open around September 2016. JW Lindsay was awarded the construction contract just last week for the new location.

Strikes me as odd timing, as I figured they would be busiest in summertime when kids are out of school. Maybe I'm off base with that. I don't understand how the place survives anyway.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Didn't comment on this sooner as I was away. Good to see a positive future for the Green Lantern.

[Jonovision]

Waye Mason posted this earlier on his FB. Apparently they have found remnants of the original retail framing behind the wood that is there now so that it can be fully restored.