New Tower Proposed Near Halifax’s Peace And Friendship Park
HALIFAX – A new development proposed for Halifax’s south end will see an old office building demolished to make way for an eight-storey tower.
Mani Suissa and Universal Realty Group want to put up the new development at 1190 Barrington Street, which prominently faces Peace and Friendship Park and The Westin Nova Scotian hotel.
Universal’s proposal is still in its early stages. Right now, the company is asking the city for permission to build an eight-storey, mixed-use building with commercial space on the ground floor and residential units above.
The building would stretch about 27 metres high and hold 73 residential units. Six of those would be two-bedroom townhouses on South and Tobin Streets, 41 would be two-bedroom apartments, and the final 26 would be one-bedroom apartments.
The building would also house about 265 square metres of commercial space divided into two units. Space for 87 vehicles would sit in two levels of underground parking.
To make its project possible, Universal would need to knock down the existing office building on the site.
On November 21, the city’s Design Review Committee learned that the new building would change conditions at Peace and Friendship Park.
A wind study looking at the proposed development found it would likely mean more snow in the park during the winter, but less wind overall. That would make things a little more comfortable for people standing and walking in the park.
Universal is also asking the city for permission to ignore four of the planning rules that lay out what can be built on the site. Among them, it’s asking for lenience on where and how high some of the building’s streetwalls can be.
In exchange for small exemptions on those rules, Universal must provide a “public good” to the city. This is written into the land use bylaws and is common for these types of developments.
In this project’s case, the “public good” would be a payment of about $200,000 to the city.
City staff recommended the project move forward and the Design Review Committee had only minor issues with the plan. The committee gave its approval to the project after a brief discussion.
The application will now move to city council for official approval.
Trevor Nichols is Huddle’s editor, based in Halifax. Send him your feedback and story ideas: [email protected].