Looks like a building downtown could be changing hands...
Joseph Howe Building draws $14.9-million bid
By CHRIS LAMBIE Business Editor
Tue, Nov 2 - 4:53 AM
A Halifax company has submitted a successful bid in for the the Joseph Howe Building on Hollis Street. (Eric Wynne / Staff)
Universal Properties Management Ltd. submitted the highest bid to buy the Joseph Howe Building in downtown Halifax from the province.
The Halifax company bid $14,976,000 for the building, which the province won’t own until 2012 when the term is up for a lease-to-own purchase agreement dating from the 1980s.
The next closest bids came from George Ramia, at $10,150,000. United Gulf Development Ltd. bid $9,250,000, Southwest Properties Ltd., $9,151,000, and Dexel Developments Ltd., $9,007,000.
But Mani Suissa, the president of Universal Properties Management, said it could be late January before he knows if his company will take over the 13-storey Hollis Street building.
"It’s probably going to take awhile before they do the calculations, so I don’t know if I got it," Suissa said Monday.
The building now houses the Health Department, Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission and other offices.
Suissa said he is looking at two options that include moving the Justice Department into the Joseph Howe Building or simply taking it over and renting it out as an office building.
Under the second option, he estimated Universal would likely need to spend $10 million to $15 million to "rectify" problems with the building and make sure it meets Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green standards.
"The location is excellent," Suissa said.
The 35-year-old structure has been described as a sick building and requires an estimated $36 million in renovations and upgrades. The province expects that cost would be greater than leasing space downtown after 2012.
Maureen MacDonald, who is now health minister, said in 2007 that some staffers refer to the building as "13 floors of misery" and one man has been working from his house since June because of the conditions. Some workers have described symptoms such as respiratory problems, fatigue and headaches.
The deal to buy the building, reached with Centennial Properties (1978) Ltd. on July 30, 1987, said the province agreed to lease 114,210 square feet of office space and 3,094 square feet of basement storage space for 25 years, starting Sept. 1, 1987, and ending Aug. 31, 2012, at a rate of $18 per square foot, or $2 million, annually for the first 10 years and $22 per square foot, or $2.5 million, annually for the remaining 15 years.
The agreement also said the tenant pays all operating expenses, including "maintenance, operation, (protection), repair, reconstruction and supervision, but not management of the premises."
Suissa’s company has been managing the company for 18 years.
It was built by his father-in-law, Ralph Medjuck.
"It’s close to us, this property, for a lot of reasons," Suissa said.
(
clambie@herald.ca)
Prev
Linear Mode
