General Updates and News

[teddifax]

I wonder if they widen the street, will any developer get density bonusing, allowing more height?

[pblaauw]

There was an excavator....excavating...at the site across from the Barrington Superstore, when I went by on Wednesday. Is that the building with the mansard roof y'all don't like?

[Keith P.]

Made a rare visit to the Dutch Village Rd/Joe Howe Dr area yesterday and was astounded. Dutch Village Rd sadly still looks like a street in an unincorporated municipality with no sidewalks or curbs in some areas which is astonishing. I guess Coun. Cleary doesn't get there very often or at least doesn't care about those constituents. Parts still remain somewhat shabby but even in those there are a few new apartment buildings that have gone up right to the ROW line as per HRM practice, which I will never understand. They are 3 or 4 floors high, but thankfully with a bit of design to them and not Highfield Park Specials. Still a ways to go but it is improving slowly.

Joe Howe Dr in that same stretch is really changing fast. The new build by Fares on the corner of Bayers Rd that replaced the postwar little brick apartments looks really good and is many times larger than what it replaced. They are working on the exterior and it retains some red brick as a homage to what was there. The development diagonally across from it at the intersection is now complete of course and looks really good. As was noted by others there are 4 other developments underway further north on both sides of the street. On the east side the houses on the corner of Scot St have all been cleared and the resulting land assembly next to the Superstore awaits construction to begin. Across the street that large development is underway, and further north the Interchange project is up and finishes appear to be getting started. I think it is the smallest of the ones I saw. Quite the remarkable change in the area!

[fatscat]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Made a rare visit to the Dutch Village Rd/Joe Howe Dr area yesterday and was astounded. Dutch Village Rd sadly still looks like a street in an unincorporated municipality with no sidewalks or curbs in some areas which is astonishing. I guess Coun. Cleary doesn't get there very often or at least doesn't care about those constituents. Parts still remain somewhat shabby but even in those there are a few new apartment buildings that have gone up right to the ROW line as per HRM practice, which I will never understand. They are 3 or 4 floors high, but thankfully with a bit of design to them and not Highfield Park Specials. Still a ways to go but it is improving slowly.

Joe Howe Dr in that same stretch is really changing fast. The new build by Fares on the corner of Bayers Rd that replaced the postwar little brick apartments looks really good and is many times larger than what it replaced. They are working on the exterior and it retains some red brick as a homage to what was there. The development diagonally across from it at the intersection is now complete of course and looks really good. As was noted by others there are 4 other developments underway further north on both sides of the street. On the east side the houses on the corner of Scot St have all been cleared and the resulting land assembly next to the Superstore awaits construction to begin. Across the street that large development is underway, and further north the Interchange project is up and finishes appear to be getting started. I think it is the smallest of the ones I saw. Quite the remarkable change in the area!

Hopefully Dutch Village will look less decrepit by the end of this year, given they should be starting the enhancements soon.

But yes, the Joe Howe stretch is reminding me of what happened on Adelaide/Richmond in Toronto when I lived there. No life/pedestrians/housing 60km/h artery for traffic transformed into a strip full of residential, restaurants, and bike lanes (!). It's still 5-10 years away from that possibility, but that'd be nice to see.

[RoshanMcG]

I'm not sure if this development has a thread. This is near the corner of Bayers & Oxford:

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

I see that the JJ Mart building on Gottingen St has a pending offer after just two days on the market and being offered at $1.7m. I wonder how long before this lot gets redeveloped into a taller apt. building? The lot is just 5k sq/ft or so so perhaps that smallish footprint limits height? Currently there are a number of one bedroom (likely cheap) apartments on the two floors above the ground level retail. No doubt it was a fine looking building in its day but in the context of how the street has been developing something funky modern might be a better fit.

[TheNovaScotian]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

I see that the JJ Mart building on Gottingen St has a pending offer after just two days on the market and being offered at $1.7m. I wonder how long before this lot gets redeveloped into a taller apt. building? The lot is just 5k sq/ft or so so perhaps that smallish footprint limits height? Currently there are a number of one bedroom (likely cheap) apartments on the two floors above the ground level retail. No doubt it was a fine looking building in its day but in the context of how the street has been developing something funky modern might be a better fit.

Sadly, we will see this torn down for 3 more stories as the height limit in this "Corridor" is 20m......

[Keith P.]

Nothing really sad about this. It has vinyl siding, after all...

This is also the home of the old Farm Assist weed emporium so it is good to see that go as well. I wonder if the Kit Kat pizza shop next door, another vinyl siding eyesore, will be part of what happens here. Being in what has remained a very sketchy section of the street, the heritage value of these is low to none.

[Aegon123]

I noticed more homes near the latest demos on Robie Street fenced in and being stripped down. Strange though as in one spot it looks like only one home and the other spot looks like two or three homes are being torn down.

I am sad as I quite liked that part of Robie Street across from Camp Hill. I am okay with demolition of certain areas if there is a net win, but the prospect of more vacant lots sitting idle for years while new applications go through the process is just disheartening. Halifax has too many empty lots as it is, and as soon as one is filled in another is opened. I think better coordination is needed - if you are going to tear down buildings, you must have approval and be able to start construction within a six month window. Maybe that might improve things a bit?

[Drybrain]

Originally Posted by Aegon123

I noticed more homes near the latest demos on Robie Street fenced in and being stripped down. Strange though as in one spot it looks like only one home and the other spot looks like two or three homes are being torn down.

Where are these exactly?

I noticed a news story mentioning houses at the corner of Binney being readied for demolition. If that's the case, it seems plausible that Tsimiklis has designs to tear down and replace the entire block.

Though I'm not at all on board with the Larry Haiven/Peggy Cameron line of thinking on this (essentially, all demolitions are bad and Robie should be forever untoiuched) I don't at all love the idea that an entire block can be razed and replaced by whatever Tsimiklis--already a bit of a civic villain for his Young Street demolitions--has in mind. Making things worse is the fact that the zoning here permits three storeys max, meaning the density boost isn't even going to be that significant.

[Aegon123]

Unfortunately, I don’t remember off the top of my head but it’s definitely in that area between Coburg and Jubilee. Looking at Binney Street, I do think it’s in that general area. I’ll try to remember to take a photo next time I’m down there.

[Drybrain]

If we were to see, say, an unbroken row of three or four-storey stacked townhouses or apartments along that entire block, tripling or quadrupling the existing density, and built to a reasonably high architectural standard, I could live with this kind of thing, or even see it as a net positive. Given the developers' portfolio and reputation, I expect much less.

[RoshanMcG]

34Eleven (3411 Joseph Howe)

[someone123]

Mi'kmaw Native Friendship Centre to receive $5M in federal funding: https://atlantic.ctvnews.ca/mi-kmaw-...lity-1.5911089

[mleblanc]

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but ZZap has a rendering for an 80 unit building behind the Thomson building on Barrington:



This, with their Waverly Inn addition will be a significant amount of infill for the area.

[someone123]

Interesting find. This one has been debated/planned for many years but I don't think I've seen renderings. There is a lot of construction planned for this area, and most of the proposals have an adaptive reuse component.

What I never hear about is proposed development for the parking lots around the Vic Suites. I think part of that used to be oil tanks and so may be difficult, but I don't think that is true of the Hollis Street lot.

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

The former Humani-t Cafe on the corner of Agricola and Young is mostly demolished now. I stopped by the site this morning after a visit to Halifax Seed. Apparently we'll end up with a three story building with a law firm as the major tenant. Mixed use building with commercial. No residential. I havent' seen a rendering.

20220523_113643_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

20220523_114149 by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

[Dmajackson]

^ Bruno Builders has a rendering on Instagram.

[OldDartmouthMark]

I hadn't realized that they closed that location. Too bad. Used to go there quite a bit before the pandemic hit.

Can't see the rendering as I don't have (and don't want) an Instagram account.

Oh well, law firms need a place to practice as well. Hopefully it will be an attractive building.

[Keith P.]

Don't worry, Mark, it's a pretty unremarkable rendering.

Seeing the picture of the site I was fearing that the new building was going to keep that second-floor balcony, but it appears not. That thing was hazardous to the cranium. The diagonal braces caught many a passerby right in the noggin.