[Dartmouth] Greenvale Lofts | ? m | 4 fl | Completed - Page 3

hfx_chris · #41 Posted **Apr 7, 2009, 10:46 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Ummmm......I don't know what plans you guys were looking at but i lifted this off the PDF for the main floor. I highlighted the elevator.

City_of_Lakes · #42 Posted **Apr 8, 2009, 2:10 PM**

This is interesting. I've always liked this building and i'm glad it's being preserved. Go Dartmouth!

Keith P. · #43 Posted **Apr 9, 2009, 1:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonovision

Ummmm......I don't know what plans you guys were looking at but i lifted this off the PDF for the main floor. I highlighted the elevator.

Oh, good. They must have fixed it.

Dmajackson · #44 Posted **May 7, 2009, 7:25 PM**

Any progress reports on this one?

kph06 · #45 Posted **May 7, 2009, 7:31 PM**

I drive by a few times a week, definately work being done, but at a quick glance it must be all interior work. Mainly looks more run-down for the moment.

miesh111 · #46 Posted **May 20, 2009, 5:22 PM**

I just got off the phone with Dexel's project manager, was talking to him on somthing else, anyway, he says they are just working on permits and should start full scale construction as soon as everything is ready to go. He said a matter of weeks, not months.

Jonovision · #47 Posted **May 22, 2009, 1:25 PM**

Here's some pics I took two weeks ago of the site.

And just another one of the surrounding neighbourhood.

JET · #48 Posted **May 22, 2009, 2:05 PM**

Interesting to note that the Sobeys property east of Greenvale is for sale. Be nice to see something there, in scale with the neighborhood. JET

Dmajackson · #49 Posted **May 28, 2009, 7:30 PM**

Greenvale site active again
After years of waiting, construction has started at the old school site

Halifax News Net

By Joanie Veitch – The Weekly News
After years of waiting and wondering if anything other than further decay and deterioration was going to happen to the old Greenvale School building, a construction crew with Dexel Developments Ltd. is working at the site.
“The project is moving forward. We’ve got all the development permits in place and the work crew is in there now getting it construction ready,” said Erin Sparrow, a spokesperson with Dexel Developments.
The project, called the Lofts at Greenvale, will cost as much as $6 million to create 36 rental units, 13 in the existing structure and 23 in an addition planned for the rear of the building.
The project was first announced five years ago when developer Louis Lawen reached an agreement in principle with HRM to develop the site. Dexel didn’t, however, actually get ownership of the property until late 2007 due to problems that had to be worked out with the city in regards to an old sewer line at the exterior of the property.
Lawen took the project before a council committee in 2005 and again in 2006 in regards to a protective exterior cladding system he proposed for the building. In 2007 Lawen was back at the Harbour East Community Council with proposed amendments to a portion of the development proposal.

While the delays have meant further deterioration to the 94-year-old building, Lawen said the end result is that “the shape and form of the building will remain as it is.”
The building will be clad with an Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), a rigid foam insulation and cladding material that gives a stucco-like finish (such as the MEC building in Halifax).
Built in 1915 to replace the original school that had been destroyed by fire in 1914, the red brick Greenvale School building is a well-known and much-loved landmark in downtown Dartmouth. Although downtown residents have long hoped to see it saved and used for some public purpose, it has stood empty since the Dartmouth school board’s music department moved out in 1987.
On the project website — theloftsatgreen vale.com — Dexel Developments bills itself as a landmark restoration expert “focused primarily on residential apartments and the regeneration of existing heritage properties … with a knack for maintaining historical character.”

Site History:

* Opened in 1915, one of four buildings in the city designed by architect Andrew Cobb.
* Following the explosion in the Halifax Harbour on Dec. 6, 1917, Greenvale was used as a sanctuary and infirmary for the injured and homeless.
* From 1934-59, Greenvale was Dartmouth’s only high school. It reverted to an elementary school when Dartmouth High School opened.
* Finally closed its doors in 1987. Proposed as home for new Dartmouth library in the early 1990s, but the idea was rejected in favour of the waterfront site.
*Dexel Developments reached an agreement in principle with HRM in 2004 to buy the building, pending approval of the plans.

jveitch@ns.sympatico.ca

Jonovision · #50 Posted **May 28, 2009, 8:27 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bedford_DJ

[I]Greenvale site active again

Lawen took the project before a council committee in 2005 and again in 2006 in regards to a protective exterior cladding system he proposed for the building......While the delays have meant further deterioration to the 94-year-old building, Lawen said the end result is that “the shape and form of the building will remain as it is.”
The building will be clad with an Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), a rigid foam insulation and cladding material that gives a stucco-like finish (such as the MEC building in Halifax).

I'm interested in what this might look like. I'm a bit sad they aren't able to maintain the brick facade.

someone123 · #51 Posted **May 28, 2009, 9:41 PM**

That sounds really unfortunate. I had just assumed they would be restoring the brick exterior, not covering it up, particularly given the fact that they are also building an addition.

The kind of cladding being proposed invariably looks cheap and suburban. I wish more care went into maintaining the appearance of heritage buildings. It really does feel like the city's environment is steadily being cheapened on some level.

Jonovision · #52 Posted **May 28, 2009, 11:36 PM**

But at the same time its a Louis Lawen project. And he is such a good developer. So I'm hoping it will still look good. I have a lot of faith in him.

Keith P. · #53 Posted **May 28, 2009, 11:51 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonovision

But at the same time its a Louis Lawen project. And he is such a good developer. So I'm hoping it will still look good. I have a lot of faith in him.

What else has he done?

sdm · #54 Posted **May 29, 2009, 12:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith P.

What else has he done?

His family has done the waterford, w suites and some other buildings in the city.
Does very nice projects, but if greenvale goes stuco i think its a step back. Brick for that project fits.

JET · #55 Posted **May 29, 2009, 12:16 PM**

The original proposal was to cover the brick with a brick veneer, which might have been OK.
MEC: http://www.mec.ca/Main/content_text....34374302881712
They have excavated around the basement of the existing building, probably water sewage work. The building has lovely detail, which will hopefully overcome the loss of the brick exterior. JET

something_witty · #56 Posted **May 29, 2009, 1:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jonovision

I'm interested in what this might look like. I'm a bit sad they aren't able to maintain the brick facade.

Let's just be thankful the days of vinyl siding are over...

Waye Mason · #57 Posted **May 29, 2009, 2:00 PM**

It really is beat to crap, I drive it every day. It is too bad, the brick was lovely, the building is really historic, but I don't see how you could possibly fix the exterior now, it is that bad, frost and ice has pushed bricks out of the corners and the bricks have started to shed pieces.

The city of Dartmouth should have made it a rec centre in the 80s, at least then it would have been heated the last 20 years. Greenvale has been "an issue" since I was in grade school, as far as I can recall.

Jonovision · #58 Posted **May 29, 2009, 3:49 PM**

Louis Lawen is also behind the proposal for the addition on top of City Centre Atlantic on Dresden Row as well as The Vic proposal for the corner of Hollis and Morris. I have met with him a few times and he does genuinely care about the city and really wants to work towards increasing density is an avid supporter of good design and recognizes that this city very much lacks good design for the most part in its buildings.

Takeo · #59 Posted **Jun 3, 2009, 8:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by something_witty

Let's just be thankful the days of vinyl siding are over...

Stucco is on par with vinyl in my books. 100%. It's ugly and has no place here. This is Nova Scotia, not New Mexico. The decision to cover Greenvale with stucco is absolutely tragic. Unbelievable.

Phalanx · #60 Posted **Jun 3, 2009, 10:10 PM**

Stucco can work just fine if the design of the building allows for it.

The biggest problem is that it tends to be used with unsympathetic designs, or just completely overused. I blame the 60s and 70s for the stucco hate.