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  #21  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2010, 10:15 AM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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Which building is the Bio Science building? Is there a different name for this building or does someone know the address?
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  #22  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2010, 1:38 PM
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Originally Posted by fenwick16 View Post
Which building is the Bio Science building? Is there a different name for this building or does someone know the address?
1721 Lower Water St.

It's just at the bottom of Prince St. and Lower Water.
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  #23  
Old Posted Sep 18, 2010, 3:14 PM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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1721 Lower Water St.

It's just at the bottom of Prince St. and Lower Water.

Thank you Jstaleness, I have been wondering what building was the Biosciences building for several months. I think that it is referred to as Bionova (according to the label on Google maps). I attached a link to the Bing Maps bird's eye view for anyone else who doesn't know this building - http://www.bing.com/maps/?v=2&cp=rf7...77&lvl=2&sty=b . Or is it the one to the left (south) of this?

Looking at Bing Maps, Halifax has a world class waterfront (I don't think that this is an exaggeration - it is much better than Toronto's waterfront in terms of accessibility, scenery and vibrancy).
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  #24  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2010, 2:11 AM
musicman musicman is offline
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That is the one. Rather un-interesting bland building that contributes nothing to the waterfront, streetscape, or halifax... Halifax will be better off without it.
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  #25  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2010, 2:41 AM
Phalanx Phalanx is offline
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Indeed. It's pretty much a brick box in a sea of parking lot. I walked past it today on the boardwalk and couldn't really find any redeeming qualities. I won't miss it.
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  #26  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2010, 3:05 AM
worldlyhaligonian worldlyhaligonian is offline
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I think Halifax is having alot of replacement projects... I'm looking forward to the day when more empty lots are developed!

Its hard to see all of the development happening... but I think the SGR and South Park areas have already improved by just the Trillium, and the waterfront is now very impressive.
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  #27  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2010, 8:12 AM
halifaxboyns halifaxboyns is offline
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I think this is a fundamental flaw in how property taxes are structured. Cities like to encourage improvements on land but improvements result in higher taxes - the tax provides a negative economic incentive.

Income taxes are a much better way to go, but it is not within the power of the HRM to levy those. Perhaps they could modify the commercial tax structure a little to raise fees significantly for empty lots and surface parking. This encourages owners either to keep their buildings or to build structured parking in new developments.

The city should also be strict about unsightly premises. If the landlords don't pay up the city can place liens against the property. Eventually they can take the property and auction it off to developers with a time limit after which control reverts to the city.
This was a huge issue for Calgary when the economy tanked. You ended up with all these properties where the buildings had been doozed and to some degree construction began and then stopped. So in some cases you had holes that were barely held together with the supports around the whole. In other cases you just had a vacant parcel.

We (City of Calgary) ended up getting changes to the building code (because that's where the power fell in the Alberta context) to fill in the lots that were big holes when they caused safety issues. We did that for 4 parcels; including one that was causing the building nextdoor to shift. There are liens on the properties now.

As to how to stop the buildings from being demo'ed; I've thought about this one and you make a good point - there isn't really much incentive. Unfortunately; I can't seem to come up with a solution and no one I work with has been able to come up with one either. Although I hope that HRM's economy stays in it's constant strong mode for a long time; should HRM ever really get a boom - I worry that it could suffer the same fate if the bust were to come quickly and they not be ready for this issue.
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  #28  
Old Posted Sep 19, 2010, 1:11 PM
fenwick16 fenwick16 is offline
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The Biosciences building is an unimpressive building but the Waterfront looks great. I am looking forward to seeing the Queen's Square development proceeding.
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  #29  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 1:12 PM
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Waterfront Development CorporationOctober 13, 2010 10:05 AM

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Halifax Waterfront is closer to adding another "star attraction," which could create hundreds of jobs and add millions of tax dollars to the province.

The Waterfront Development Corporation, the province and The Armour Group Limited have agreed on a conceptual plan for Queen's Landing, a major development located in Halifax's central business district on the Halifax waterfront.

"This is a significant project that will enhance the stature of the Halifax Waterfront, create good jobs for Nova Scotians, and help grow our economy," said Economic and Rural Development Minster Percy Paris.

Award-winning developer Armour Group Limited has been granted the development rights to build the project, which includes 100,000 square feet of Class-A office space, a 200-room, 4-star hotel, and underground parking to support the development. Armour Group will now seek municipal approval for the project under HRM By Design.

Armour Group is committed to using green practices and the private-sector component of Queen's Landing will be built to exceed Class A standards. It will be a registered LEED project, designed to meet the standards of the internationally recognized Green Building Certification system.

"For close to 40 years, we have focused on quality developments that create a sense of place," said Armour Group founder and chairman Ben McCrea. "The Queen's Landing development is a project which will have the most positive impact on the Halifax Waterfront since the development of Historic Properties more than 30 years ago.

"The private-sector component is complementary to a bigger vision of creating a star attraction on the Halifax Waterfront -- a destination for the people of Nova Scotia and visitors to learn about our heritage, be entertained and work in a vibrant downtown Halifax."

A preliminary economic impact analysis on the Queen's Landing project in 2006 said it has the potential to create more than 1,300 jobs and $5.95 million in provincial tax revenue.

"We see the Queen's Landing project as the next important step in enhancing the Halifax Waterfront, making the area more accessible, attractive and relevant to the people of and visitors to Nova Scotia," said Colin MacLean, president and CEO, WDCL.

Armour Group Limited is recognized as one of the leading real estate development companies in Atlantic Canada. Its developments represent a mixed asset base ranging from commercial office, residential, retail and hospitality.

Waterfront Development Corporation is a provincial Crown corporation developing the strategic potential of the four waterfronts in Bedford, Dartmouth, Halifax and Lunenburg. Revenues are directly reinvested in the waterfronts to drive economic opportunity, enhance tourism, provide experiences and reflect and protect marine heritage
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  #30  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 6:17 PM
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This is good news although they still haven't really begun work on Waterside Centre. Neither office nor hotel is doing particularly well right now - why aren't they including a residential component?

It's also unclear what public money will go into this project. They just spent some money to renovate the Maritime Museum despite the fact that a major expansion was originally included in the Queen's Landing plans.
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  #31  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 8:08 PM
phrenic phrenic is offline
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Oh good. So now we must be only 5-10 years away from something happening.
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  #32  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 8:34 PM
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Originally Posted by phrenic View Post
Oh good. So now we must be only 5-10 years away from something happening.
Well i know the developer wasn't the hold up, it was the lease extension by the province for the bio science building that caused the biggest part of the delay.
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  #33  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 10:24 PM
Buckey Buckey is offline
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what happened to medjuck

a few years ago in the midst of councile percievd anti development stance a waterfront development of some sort was approved as they had adjusted the design for views etc.I am sure it was Medjuck. It was a nice looking building but it is not on this list

http://halifax.ca/council/agendasc/d...01012cai04.pdf

anyone help me out there.I thought it was significant combined space of some size and not the only medjuck one listed unless he is Halkirk that is #9 on list but that has Stephen Lockyer and some lawley guy. Lockyer is likely the guy that sued the government when his sole sourced immigrant management contract was terminated and also had some other lawsuits and now he is in development. Oh dear His lwyer will be busy
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  #34  
Old Posted Oct 13, 2010, 10:57 PM
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Buckley, I could be wrong but isn't Salter Street Medjuck's development?

Regarding Queens Landing, it's a nice little baby step, but I would hold off on breaking out the champagne. There still needs to be agreement and funding from the three levels of government and right now the market conditions aren't great. If this were residential maybe it would be different, but right now Armour seems to be stopped on little old Waterside. Other projects like Nova Centre will likely proceed before this one further sucking up the demand. Maybe Queens Landing will get tweaked and modified or maybe it'll proceed in bits and pieces, but my guess is the Bio-Science Building will get demolished and turned "temporarily" into more parking and we'll still be talking about this one as a someday project for years to come. Frustrating. Hopefully the end product will be worth the long wait!
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  #35  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 12:39 AM
terrynorthend terrynorthend is offline
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I notice the article and press releases have steered clear of talk about the new museum. I wonder if the plan is to go ahead without the museum portion.
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  #36  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 12:45 AM
sdm sdm is offline
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Originally Posted by spaustin View Post
Buckley, I could be wrong but isn't Salter Street Medjuck's development?

Regarding Queens Landing, it's a nice little baby step, but I would hold off on breaking out the champagne. There still needs to be agreement and funding from the three levels of government and right now the market conditions aren't great. If this were residential maybe it would be different, but right now Armour seems to be stopped on little old Waterside. Other projects like Nova Centre will likely proceed before this one further sucking up the demand. Maybe Queens Landing will get tweaked and modified or maybe it'll proceed in bits and pieces, but my guess is the Bio-Science Building will get demolished and turned "temporarily" into more parking and we'll still be talking about this one as a someday project for years to come. Frustrating. Hopefully the end product will be worth the long wait!
The annoucement today is for the private porition of the development, not the public.

When annouced in 2005 the project was split into to sections, the private (hotel and office) and public (museum aquarimum, etc).

Therefore the private is approved and needs only be submitted through HRM by design to begin construction. The CBC reported the bio science building is due to come down in march 2011 and that the developer hopes to have the plans submitted throught HRM by Design in six months.
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  #37  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 11:39 AM
phrenic phrenic is offline
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Well i know the developer wasn't the hold up, it was the lease extension by the province for the bio science building that caused the biggest part of the delay.
Aha, allnovascotia says construction is perhaps 5-10 years away. I hate being right, even though I was guessing.
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  #38  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 1:42 PM
sdm sdm is offline
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Aha, allnovascotia says construction is perhaps 5-10 years away. I hate being right, even though I was guessing.
Yeah and it seems that the reason for that is the hotel market is not brisk right now, and if the convention centre goes ahead it is their opinion it will flood the market
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  #39  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 1:55 PM
Buckey Buckey is offline
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Originally Posted by spaustin View Post
Buckley, I could be wrong but isn't Salter Street Medjuck's development?

Regarding Queens Landing, it's a nice little baby step, but I would hold off on breaking out the champagne. There still needs to be agreement and funding from the three levels of government and right now the market conditions aren't great. If this were residential maybe it would be different, but right now Armour seems to be stopped on little old Waterside. Other projects like Nova Centre will likely proceed before this one further sucking up the demand. Maybe Queens Landing will get tweaked and modified or maybe it'll proceed in bits and pieces, but my guess is the Bio-Science Building will get demolished and turned "temporarily" into more parking and we'll still be talking about this one as a someday project for years to come. Frustrating. Hopefully the end product will be worth the long wait!
I noted that Mcrea spoke out against the new CC in the herald. I suppose that would make sense as it might be tough to get funding if the CC goes thru.
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  #40  
Old Posted Oct 14, 2010, 1:59 PM
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I noted that Mcrea spoke out against the new CC in the herald. I suppose that would make sense as it might be tough to get funding if the CC goes thru.
Hotel, office part of Halifax waterfront project clears hurdle

By BRUCE ERSKINE Business Reporter
Thu, Oct 14 - 4:53 AM
Ben McCrea is itching to get started on reshaping a good chunk of the Halifax waterfront.

"We now have the development right to proceed with the office and hotel," the founder and chairman of The Armour Group Ltd. said in an interview Wednesday.

"We’re very excited."

Armour and the Waterfront Development Corp. announced Wednesday they have agreed on a conceptual plan for the $70-million private portion of the $190-million Queen’s Landing development on the waterfront between Sackville Landing and Cable Wharf.

The private component includes 100,000 square feet of new office space, a 200-room, four-star hotel with harbour views from every room, and underground parking.

McCrea, whose company rebuilt Historic Properties in the 1970s, said under the terms of the agreement announced Wednesday, the provincial Crown corporation will demolish the BioNova building on Lower Water Street next spring.

The BioNova building houses the association representing the province’s life sciences association, which is moving to Dalhousie University.

The hotel and office complex are part of a larger waterfront development that includes the transformation of the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic into a national naval memorial.

McCrea said the hotel and office complex will move forward as market conditions dictate, noting that the convention centre project endorsed by the province on Wednesday, which includes a 400-room hotel, could flood the local market.

"The hotel business is not that brisk," he said.

McCrea added, however, that Queen’s Landing has the advantage of being located on the harbour, which he said defines Halifax, rather than being underground like the planned convention centre.

"For close to 40 years, we have focused on quality developments that create a sense of place," McCrea said.

WDCL president and CEO Colin MacLean called Queen’s Landing "the next important step" in enhancing Halifax’s waterfront, while Economic and Rural Development Minister Percy Paris called it "a significant project" that will create good jobs and grow the economy.

Armour still has to get municipal approval for the project, which is designed to meet the standards of the internationally recognized green building certification system.

A preliminary economic impact analysis on the Queen’s Landing project done in 2006 said it has the potential to create more than 1,300 jobs and generate almost $6 million in provincial tax revenue.

McCrea said Armour’s other notable downtown development, the Waterside Centre across from Historic Properties, is proceeding, although discussions are still underway with municipal officials about easements for piping seawater from the harbour to use in the project’s cooling system.

"We’re optimistic about that," he said. "We’re marketing it."

( berskine@herald.ca)
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