Power move:
NSP plans to spend $58.2m on new waterfront offices
By JUDY MYRDEN Business Reporter
Thu. Sep 4 - 5:17 AM
An artist’s view of the planned new Nova Scotia Power offices on the waterfront. Georges Island is in the backgound.
Nova Scotia Power wants to spend $58.2 million to turn an old power generating station on the Halifax waterfront into its new corporate offices.
The privately owned utility says the multimillion-dollar renovation of the abandoned building would be in the "best interests" of its 470,000 customers.
Consumer advocate John Merrick called it "bad timing" on Nova Scotia Power’s part to announce it wants to spend tens of millions of dollars on new headquarters at the same time it is asking the Utility and Review Board for permission to raise residential power rates by 12 per cent next year.
He said most customers may find the request for an increase hard to swallow while the power company is recording record profits.
"It raises the question whether this is an appropriate time to build new headquarters," said Mr. Merrick, who represents Nova Scotia Power’s 440,000 residential customers across the province.
The review board is to begin hearing NSP’s application for a rate increase on Sept. 15. The hike, if approved, would be the fifth in seven years.
Nova Scotia Power Inc. says in documents filed with the government regulator that it would cost less to renovate the old power station than to continue to rent corporate office space.
The proposed $58.2-million renovation is "$5 million less than the second-lowest-cost alternative," building new offices outside the downtown core, the company wrote in 38 pages of evidence.
"The Water Street renovation is the lowest-cost option for NSPI customers," the documents say. "The expenditure rehabilitates a decommissioned NSPI facility in the downtown core of the province’s capital city and improves the esthetics of utility infrastructure located at this site."
The other option Nova Scotia Power considered was to stay at its current location in Barrington Tower at Scotia Square, where it has rented space since 1971. Details of how much it would cost to stay there were blacked out on the documents, but NSP said it would be more expensive to continue to rent than to renovate the Water Street building. The Barrington Tower lease expires in March 2011.
The Water Street building would be renovated to include six floors of office space and meeting rooms, and it would be home to about 400 employees. Until recently, the old power station housed Electropolis Studios, one of Halifax’s premier film production houses. Electropolis moved to a Sackville Street location after failing to reach a deal with NSP last year to stay on Water Street.
The review board also must approve the renovation proposal and Nova Scotia Power is asking for a "timely" decision so construction could begin in January if it gets the green light.
(
jmyrden@herald.ca)