Five-Tower Development In Halifax’s North End Clears Community Council
HALIFAX—A major development that will see five towers built on a swath of property in Halifax’s North End is one step closer to reality.
Westwood Development’s Midtown North project passed through Halifax and West Community Council yesterday, moving the project along in the development process.
Westwood hopes to build five towers, connected by a large, underground parkade on approximately four acres of land near the intersection of Robie Street and Almon Street.
The towers will house as many as 612 residential units between them, and each tower will also have space for businesses on its ground floors.
Sitting at the centre of the site will be the first tower, which will stretch 30 storeys. The second, nearby tower will be eight storeys high.
Two more towers along the property’s boundary will both reach 13 and 12 storeys, respectively. A final building will be a 10-storey mixed-use tower.
Each of the towers will contain residences on their upper floors and commercial space on their ground levels. The development will also include several townhouse-style units.
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Westwood has been trying to get the project started since 2016 when it first submitted plans to the Halifax Regional Municipality for a similar development on the site.
Over the last four years, the project has evolved as Westwood changed architects and worked with municipal staff to iron out issues with its design.
Several public engagement sessions have also been held to gather feedback on the project.
The most recent, in January of 2019, was attended by 91 members of the public. Their reaction was mixed, although skewed towards disapproval. A report from the meeting shows the city collected 71 comments favourable to the development and 129 concerns.
Comments in favour centred around the overall “neighbourhood concept” of the project, its connection to the surrounding area and its open spaces. Concerns were more widespread, touching on traffic, building height, affordability, noise, shadows, and more.
Because the project was first proposed in 2016, it is also being considered under an old set of planning guidelines instead of the city’s newly finished Centre Plan.
City staff say the project is “reasonably consistent” with the intent of those old policies, although expressed concern with the visual impact of the main tower.
Staff point out the footprint of the tower is larger than the new Centre Plan guidelines would allow and worry the building’s bulk may be visually overpowering. The project architect has tried to lessen that impact by incorporating colour to create “visually striking” elements on the building and help break up the massing of the tower.
Westwood has also said the large footprint is necessary for it to build larger units that can accommodate families, which staff acknowledge is an important factor.
In its report on Midtown North, staff also advised council that if Westwood’s application is refused or significantly altered, future site development would need to be considered under the new Centre Plan.
“The proposal contained within this report would need to be altered significantly were the development to be considered within the context of new Regional Centre Plan policies,” the report says.