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  #361  
Old Posted Mar 1, 2020, 11:45 AM
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Keith P. Keith P. is offline
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Originally Posted by FuzzyWuz View Post
But they would still be doing that wherever this was built.
I have no idea what you mean.
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  #362  
Old Posted Mar 2, 2020, 1:51 PM
IanWatson IanWatson is offline
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So looking at the DA, they currently have to build to the full 78 metres because that's what the schedules show. The schedules also tie them to the general architectural appearance. The materials specifications are pretty broad though, so I wouldn't hold my breath in terms of living up to the renderings in terms of materials. There is nothing tying them to the willow leaf pattern on the glass.

There's a provision allowing them to do a non-substantive amendment (no public involvement, pretty quick) to change the schedules to reduce the height to 62 metres. In theory they could sneak architectural changes in with a height reduction.

What is interesting is the DA requires 50% of the units to be 2+ bedrooms. I'm curious how that fits in terms of the senior housing model. Also, the DA references the C-2C Zone in the Halifax Peninsula Land Use Bylaw for what's allowed in terms of commercial uses. That's a little short-sighted because that zone should be going away as part of Centre Plan Package B adoption at the end of this year.
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  #363  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2020, 2:06 AM
FuzzyWuz FuzzyWuz is offline
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Originally Posted by Keith P. View Post
I have no idea what you mean.
The new building at the willow tree will not generate any more senior migration to apartments.
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  #364  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2020, 2:22 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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Originally Posted by FuzzyWuz View Post
The new building at the willow tree will not generate any more senior migration to apartments.
But by logic, wouldn't building any new accommodations, regardless of for which age group, increase living capacity for the city? People will be moving into them, which means they will be moving out of somewhere else.
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  #365  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2020, 8:20 PM
Patrick Matthews Patrick Matthews is offline
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Originally Posted by Drybrain View Post
Seniors' housing is needed, but given Shannex's track record I don't hold out much hope for anything with much curb appeal, nor anything that does much to enliven the neighbourhood. And this at one of the most important intersections in the city. Disappointing.

Place in Moncton looks great IMO.
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  #366  
Old Posted Mar 3, 2020, 8:21 PM
Patrick Matthews Patrick Matthews is offline
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Originally Posted by stevencourchene View Post
this is a huge disappointment what a waste!!! i know we need more seniors housing but doesn't have to be in a location such as this.
Where should they be?
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  #367  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 1:55 AM
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About the existing building on the site- How old is it? I haven't been able to find out, but I know it's been around at least as long as I have, and I'm 40 years old.
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  #368  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 2:58 AM
worldlyhaligonian worldlyhaligonian is offline
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Originally Posted by Amanita View Post
About the existing building on the site- How old is it? I haven't been able to find out, but I know it's been around at least as long as I have, and I'm 40 years old.
It opened in 1969 according to page 15 of this thread: https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...211689&page=15
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  #369  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 6:56 AM
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Thanks, so ten years older than me. I remember my art teacher saying that its facade reminded her of corkboard, that she wanted to stick pins in it. I'll have to get some pics before it comes down.
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  #370  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 9:04 AM
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TheNovaScotian TheNovaScotian is offline
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Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark View Post
But by logic, wouldn't building any new accommodations, regardless of for which age group, increase living capacity for the city? People will be moving into them, which means they will be moving out of somewhere else.
Yes, most of these will be built for single occupancy and some shared. So it will be higher density than planned.
The location makes sense, close to the new and improved Infirmary, amenities galore, all within a walking distance of Quinpool's restaurants and shops.

My issue is that we need more housing for people that don't have homes. These people have homes already and the housing they are leaving might not be in Halifax which doesn't help the affordability problem here as much.

To continue the growth that we're enjoying, we need to bring down housing costs in this city. If mismanaged we can squander our good fortunes pretty quick by pricing new families out of the market, who usually rent before they buy a home. The lower cost of living offsets the lower delivery of serviceswe offer compared to other urban jurisdictions. Halifax also needs to be cheaper for people to rent or we also lose a powerful tool in having a creative population. They usually rent over own. As great as home ownership is, some people are here for a good time, not a long time.


To be completely honest I expected this board to be a lot busier during a housing crisis. To meet the current housing needs we need 100 new threads of buildings going up, especially due to the lower height allowances.
We need new money that has the capital to build because the few large developers in the city are juggling multiple projects in various stages. Which rushes the projects and produce bland designs. The sale of this project just exacerbates an ongoing problem in Halifax, where our priorities are backwards a lot of the time.
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  #371  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 9:33 AM
Hali87 Hali87 is offline
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There are some concerning things going on in the housing market here for sure but there's also a huge number of units currently under construction, whether you're looking at just the Peninsula or the greater metro. Just in the immediate area of this development there's the highrise going up next to the Atlantica, plus the Ben's redevelopment (both currently U/C), and then at least 2 other buildings planned for that end of Quinpool, plus the adjacent site on Robie, plus the St. Pat's site. Part of the Ben's redevelopment is geared towards seniors I think but even then there are enough units coming onto the market just in the Robie/Quinpool area over the next few years that I don't really see a huge problem with this one being geared towards seniors as well.

We do need to be taking housing affordability issues seriously as well, but in this case the developer was willing to pay extra in order to not have to worry about affordability

Your statement about bland design might have been true 10 or even 5 years ago but at this point I'd actually have to disagree. Even the "bland" new buildings are decent these days and the majority are very good in a Canadian and probably even North American context. On reflection, this might be part of what's driving prices up.

Last edited by Hali87; Mar 4, 2020 at 9:47 AM.
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  #372  
Old Posted Mar 4, 2020, 12:13 PM
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It is highly unlikely that new "affordable" housing units will be built on the peninsula. The land costs are just too high. The closest thing we have seen were the Southport units on Barrington St which may or may not have been profitable for the developer. If you are talking govt subsidies then you are dealing with a whole different set of issues. Building public housing is a terrible idea - nobody wants another Uniacke Square as the issues with any kind of similar developments are always the same. If you are mixing in subsidized units with full-price units then you have a whole other set of issues. I don't have the amswer but it may be a goal that is almost impossible to attain.
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  #373  
Old Posted Mar 5, 2020, 2:58 PM
OldDartmouthMark OldDartmouthMark is offline
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One would think that enough new buildings are built to outpace our growth rate, than the increased vacancy rate should drop prices overall, especially in the older, less-desirable buildings.

I don't have any data to prove whether that will happen though, but it seems like a simple supply/demand situation. Hopefully this will improve soon, as I would hate to see Halifax trending towards a Vancouver/Toronto situation, where it becomes too expensive for the average person to find a decent place to live.
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  #374  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2020, 6:52 PM
FuzzyWuz FuzzyWuz is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark View Post
But by logic, wouldn't building any new accommodations, regardless of for which age group, increase living capacity for the city? People will be moving into them, which means they will be moving out of somewhere else.
I didn't consider people moving to Halifax to spend their retirement so that is a thing, yes.
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  #375  
Old Posted Mar 6, 2020, 6:57 PM
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Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark View Post
I don't have any data to prove whether that will happen though, but it seems like a simple supply/demand situation. Hopefully this will improve soon, as I would hate to see Halifax trending towards a Vancouver/Toronto situation, where it becomes too expensive for the average person to find a decent place to live.
Halifax is in a very different situation from Toronto or Vancouver. Halifax has basically infinite land. The only challenge is to make sure that the infrastructure is there to service it correctly and allow people to move around the city.

One worrying factor is that there are people who seem to lobby for every piece of wilderness near the city to be preserved. This just pushed development farther out to similar wilderness areas that require longer commutes.

Toronto and Vancouver are surrounded by protected farmland and are large enough that commuting from the outer areas is a real pain. On top of this Vancouver has mountains so there's very little developable land within a given radius of the urban core.

I am not sure it'll happen but Halifax is a great spot for a major metropolitan area. It's actually very lucky in NS that the best agricultural land is 30 minutes to an hour north of the major city. This was liability back when farmers shipped things by boat or oxcart.
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  #376  
Old Posted Apr 16, 2020, 4:45 PM
terrynorthend terrynorthend is offline
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There appears to be concrete barriers going up around at least the parking garage portion of Armco. Demolition coming soon?
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  #377  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2020, 11:18 AM
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Both parts of this site, garage and tower are now fenced for demolition.
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  #378  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2020, 2:47 PM
toones toones is offline
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I wonder if there will be a realignment of Windsor st where it meets Quinpool as part of this redevelopment. The current layout definitely needs improvement.
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  #379  
Old Posted Apr 29, 2020, 5:07 PM
midasmull midasmull is offline
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Originally Posted by toones View Post
I wonder if there will be a realignment of Windsor st where it meets Quinpool as part of this redevelopment. The current layout definitely needs improvement.
Doubtful. If it wasn't in the DA, it won't get done.
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  #380  
Old Posted May 11, 2020, 6:05 PM
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