Halifax’s building boom has a way of getting in your face, whether you actively avoid the sidewalk closures, or not. Cranes are towering, drills be drillin’, and neighbourhoods are being modified and developed. Whether it’s all the result of densifying urban plans or an artificially-propped up real estate market remains to be seen. In any event, it’s giving the peninsula a facelift. Here are some details on what’s to come.
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Spring Garden West
Dexel Developments is proposing a massive two-towered structure for the corner of Spring Garden Road and Carleton Street, reaching a height of 28-storeys. Public engagement sessions on the project took place over the spring, and a finalized design application is scheduled to be submitted to HRM in September.
The new Discovery Centre
Formerly on Barrington, the Discovery Centre is moving on to much bigger things on Lower Water Street. Nova Scotia Power gifted the science museum with 40,000 square feet of its corporate space along the waterfront. It’s currently scheduled to open sometime in December. Check out the construction timeline for more info.
The old Discovery Centre
The corner of Sackville and Barrington Street that currently houses the Discovery Centre (until July 28) will soon be torn down and replaced with Jason Ghosn’ 16-storey mixed-use development, which is being built jointly with the Green Lantern redevelopment next door.
The Green Lantern
This downtown heritage property is getting a facelift, thanks to property owners Jason and Jordan Ghosn and their investment in restoring the building’s original facade. The renovations will include an additional nine floors, multiple new entrances and an architectural copper-esque homage on the roof paying tribute to the building’s namesake.
Former St. Pat’s High School site
The former Catholic high school for peninsula Halifax was torn down over the last year, and is now being prepared for future sale by the municipality.
Monaghan Square
Young Street Equities is building two 17-storey condo and apartment towers on a shared commercial base at 6100 Young Street (across the street from the Superstore).
The Dillon
George Giannoulis and Mosaik Properties are erecting The Dillon at the corner of Sackville and Market streets (the former home of Night Magic Fashions). The glass condominiums will tower above a base of restored brick in the 19-century building, which sits across the street from the Nova Centre.
NFB Building
The National Film Board building on Barrington was gutted by a destructive fire in the ’90s, and is now finally being redeveloped after 25 years of vacancy. The current historical facade will be maintained for the future residential and retail space.
Queen’s Marque
At five acres and 450,000 square feet, the Queen’s Marque is a huge undertaking by the Armour Group and a massive investment by the Waterfront Development Corporation. Three large residential and commercial buildings will enclose 75,000 square feet of public space leading to a set of granite steps going down into the harbour. The project has an ambitious completion date of 2019.
The Doyle Block
The newly vacant lot in front of the Halifax Central Library. Yeah, you know the one. Westwood Developments has proposed a seven storey mixed-use complex that’s currently under construction now that the old BMO building and attached properties have been bulldozed. Some residents are fighting the proposed design, which will partially block the Central Library’s view of Citadel Hill.
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Cunard Block
Southwest Properties is developing this 1.5-acre site, located at the intersection of Lower Water and Morris streets. The 17-storey, $75-million project will fill in the parking lot between Bishop’s Landing and the Emera building.
The Pavillon
Replacing the CBC Radio building at South Park and Sackville will be this 13-storey condo development that’s currently under construction. Once complete, it will be neighbours with incorporate the redeveloped YMCA .
The Roy
A 22-storey, high-end condominium building currently under construction at 1650 Granville Street (but bordering Barrington at its rear). Louis Reznick’s Starfish Properties is developing the swank tower, which will feature a 24-hour concierge service, indoor gym and theatre and its own “pet grooming station.”
The Alexander
A residential high-rise currently under construction and developed by Killam Properties, located adjacent to the Brewery Market downtown (at Bishop and Hollis).
The Keep
An eight-storey Quinpool Road fortress of condos. A “Keep” refers to the strongest structure in a castle, and is apparently being used as a metaphor by developer Doug Reid for the building’s central location in the city.
The Pearl
An eight-storey mixed-residential under construction next to Citadel Hill by Grafton Developments. The Pearl started on Rainnie Drive, before city council altered the streets and changed that portion of Rainnie to an extension of Gottingen.
Gorsebrook Park
Urban Capital is developing this eight and 10 storey shared residential complex after buying the Wellington Street property from local firm Dino Capital.
Southport
Urban Capital (with Killam Properties) is also building these loft-style condos, located on the far south end on Barrington Street between Inglis and South. The building’s name and its shipping container-inspired design is a nod to the history of Halifax’s ports.
The Maple
A 21-storey residential high-rise, also from Southwest Properties, currently under construction at 1583 Hollis Street.
3090 Oxford Street
W.M. Fares is building a five-storey mixed use development, comprised of ground level commercial with 27 residential dwellings above, on the site of a former service station at the corner of Oxford Street and Bayers Road.
Point North
Genivar Banc is building this 19-storey mixed use tower that’s nearing completion at 3065 Robie Street.
Harris East
The 56-unit, multicoloured complex from Atlantic Developments on Harris Street appears to be virtually finished.
Q Lofts
Two blocks over from Harris East on Roberts Street is this six-storey condo complex by the Polycorp Group.
Midtown North
The Westwood Group, Architecture 49 and engineers at WSP are putting forward this ambitious proposal for the block of Robie Street between Almon and St. Albans (thankfully sparing Mary’s Cafe and the Good Robot brewery).
2710 Agricola
WSP, on behalf of “Persimmon Properties,” is proposing this seven-storey mixed-use building on the Agricola Street lot currently housing the axe-throwing Timber Lounge. A separate three-unit building will be built facing Fern Lane on the same property.
Quinpool/Robie towers
At the corner of Robie Street and Quinpool Road is the site of three proposed high-rise towers being jointly considered by HRM’s planning department. Westwood Developments wants to build an 18-storey structure on the site of the former Cruikshank’s Funeral Home, while Armco’s APL Properties is planning for two towers (11 and 22 storeys, respectively) at 6009 and 6017 Quinpool.
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Ben’s Bakery redevelopment
Danny Chedrawe’s Westwood Developments is still finalizing concepts for this 10,000 square metre site between Quinpool Road, Pepperell and Shirley Street. Expect condos, townhouses and possibly a community oven.
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This article appears in Jun 30 – Jul 6, 2016.
Great list! A few corrections:
– Dexel, not Drexel (probably auto-corrected).
– The Old Discovery Centre is not a complete tear-down. They’re going to reuse the existing stone facade.
– There are newer renderings out there of The Pearl that ditch the coloured elements.
– Point North is being developed by Banc. Genivar was a consultant. They are now WSP.
– The Pavillion is going to be on both the CBC site and the former YMCA site. The new YMCA will be integrated into the building (i.e. they won’t be neighbours), in the portion where CBC was.
– Could also add the Mary-Ann (Banc and WM Fares), on Queen and Clyde, to the list. They are also working on approval for a very similar building in the other lot next door.
Thanks for the catches!
Where are all the lynch-mob protesters for these developments?
Great that we’re in-filling brown spaces in the old HFX and the designs are nice. One question I continue to have though….who is going to be able to afford to buy them? Since the majority of youth in this city are on min wage jobs and those with education tend to vamoose once they graduate and our only new citizens are immigrants or retiree’s, who is the market to fill all these nice places? Are we possible creating an urban social divide where those who were born here or cannot afford higher education end up living out in Spryfield, Preston..essentially on the edges of the city while the few with money end up living in the nice parts of town? Do we have a plan for affordable housing in these designs? Just wondering. But I do like the designs and the fact we are in-filling.
@Sangay
There may be over-building, but young people in Halifax (i.e., 18-35) are not in the dire straits everyone imagines. The youth unemployment rate in Halifax is right in line with the national average, and household incomes for the general population and young people are slightly higher than average. Halifax actually has one of the lowest proportions of low-income households in the country. (We also don’t have that many rich households–it’s not a poor city or a rich city, but a very middle-class city.) Developers know this. They’re not just plopping down condos without doing market research.
More than that: Locally born Haligonians with an education don’t move away any more frequently than locally born Torontonians or Ottawans move away from their cities. Which is to say, some move, but not even close to the majority. This perception that we can’t retain youth is a fallacy, and of course young people are mobile, so lots of people see their friends move, and “Oh, Halifax.” But it’s the same in every city. (The government collects detailed statistics on migration between provinces and cities, which shows this. Cape Breton loses tons of young people, but not Halifax.)
The challenges faced by young Haligonians are no worse than those faced by any young Canadian in a mid-sized or larger city.
So long story short: yeah, they’re probably building too many condos all at once, but affordability isn’t the problem.
I would have to disagree that affordability isn’t an issue. I have a staff of over 65 and not one of them can afford to buy these condo’s currently built and I’m sure the one’s coming won’t be any cheaper. And we pay above min wage and do our best to support them.
Our single biggest problem continues to be the out migration of educated youth-regardless of statistics. And the ones that do stay are not making the money needed to get bank financing, short of doing 95% CMHC deals and living in hawk for 10 to 15 years just paying mortgage, taxes, condo fee’s and utilities. There is a reason why so many folks are living out in the edges of HFX-cost of living. The core is simple too expensive unless you have 5, 8, 10 students sharing an apartment, each with a room, still paying $600/month for essentially a jail cell sized space.
I agree- I think we’re building too many too fast. But I don’t believe we have the population nor a population with income, that can support these soon to be over priced condo units. I guarantee you this-a large number of them will house foreign students, 4 to 8 in each unit paying $600 or more each per month to make it affordable.
Maytag McNeil is doing his utmost to make sure youth don’t stay here in even greater numbers. Our province is doing nothing to help students with cost of education and even less to entice them to stay once they graduate. I believe that in the not so distant future, NS, and HFX will be made up of 75,000 civil servants, 15,000 military folks and 800,000 retiree’s because no one else will be able to afford to live here. And that makes me sad. It’s a great province to live in- it just lacks opportunity to grow.
More apartments will lead to lower rents. Few of the projects will be condos.
Sangay: You’re right, I shouldn’t have said “affordability isn’t a problem.” But it’s LESS of a problem here than in Toronto or Ottawa or Montreal. The implication in your original post seemed to be that Halifax is poor and can’t afford stuff, when really, Halifax is a pretty comfortable city, income-wise. It doesn’t matter how strongly people believe we’re some hardscrabble outpost on the verge of extreme poverty, we’re not.
I’m not making it up: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/1…
All of these look interesting … except for the Queens Marque – way too big and ugly for the proposed site. Also, it will take out one of the most vibrant parts of the boardwalk when under construction and create another bottleneck when finished. Not a fan of that one. It would be better if they scaled back a bit and left more open space.
The Westwood proposal for the former Cruikshank property is 25 storeys not 18. That’s the same height as the Aliant building. And the Armco proposal for the corner of Quinpool and Robie is 29 storeys, not 22. That would make it the second tallest building in the city, just short of Fenwick Towers. Both are completely incompatible with the adjacent low-rise neighbourhoods North and South of Wuinpool. It’s not demand that’s driving all of this building, it’s the availability of cheap money. The number of units being built far outstrips population projections. Housing bubble anyone?
Re: affordability. Some of these will go up after the Centre Plan is done, which means we should have the power to require a proportion of units to be affordable. We can also achieve some affordable units through bonus zoning.
I’d like to point out, however, that all new development helps affordability. When there is a lack of supply where people want to live, that drives up prices. If rich people can live in these buildings, it means they won’t be competing with you for the unit you want. This facet isn’t sufficiently recognized.
Halifax is in the enviable position of properly managing development of our built environment while simultaneously respecting heritage properties. Too many North American cities have failed miserably in this endeavour. While some critics in Halifax like to cast suspicion on the intent of both the development and the heritage communities, reasonable voices in each community have brought Halifax to the forefront of urban development. I say “Hats off” to the leadership of both communities and I look forward to the excitement of urban renewal in our own backyard!
Only 10 of these are condominium. The rest will be rental.
Pretty obvious none of you have been downtown lately. It’s ugly and businesses are closing up shop. The sad part is that people who’ve lived here their whole lives don’t understand what they had. Now the skyline loks like Vancouver. And, none of you raised the issue of council members being in the take from property developers. Tourists will not want to stop in Halifax. Our boardwalk on the waterfront looks like any of the ones on the eastern seaboard in the US. Moncton tore down their heritage properties and regrets it now. I’ve lived in many parts of the world and Halifax has list it’s character, one of the reasons I moved here. Now I’m leaving because healthcare is rotten, the public educational system (not universities) is ranked poorly, power rates are second highest in the country as are taxes. You people think condos/rentals are going to help? Edpecially if they’re empty??
Queen’s Marque is absurd. If it is anything like the drawings shown here, there will be much knashings of teeth.
Please update the drawings.