[Dartmouth] Main Street Centre (139 Main) | ? m | 6 fl | U/C
 

From the Chronicle Herald community section.....

A new $10 million, mixed-use development project is being planned for Main Street in Dartmouth.

The project is called “The Horizon at 139 Main Street.” It will be the second affordable-housing project by Affirmative Ventures, an innovative community economic development organization that helps mental health consumers and people with disabilities in Nova Scotia achieve financial independence. This not-for-profit organization owns the $1.2-million, 10-unit Affirmative House on Lakecrest Drive, which opened in 2007.

The Horizon will be a 50-unit apartment complex with an additional 6,000 square feet of commercial space, and a minimum of five units will be set aside for affordable-housing units.....

http://thechronicleherald.ca/communi...reet-s-horizon

What an awful location for residential, especially of this sort. I feel sorry for the future residents. That is such an intensely commercial strip that it would be an awful place to live, with huge traffic issues and no transit service either.

http://tealarchitects.com/wp-content...et_Image_1.jpg

"Highlighted Features:

• shared lobby, cafe, and workplace for people in independence programmes
• mix of affordable and market rent housing
• rooftop landscape, common room and fitness facility
• an expressive form, using uplifting lines to reveal the main floor commercial spaces
• energy efficient building envelope and systems"

Rendering and quote from TEAL Architects

Traffic issues, yes. I know you're no fan of transit, but there are bus stops a few hundred feet in either direction of this development. Getting to Mic Mac will be a breeze. Getting anywhere else will be... interesting. Once the first one is built, more will likely follow.

Building residential along Main St. is a good idea because it would then give more reasons for transit to be run along it. Sure the traffic gets bad at peak hours but it also does along Portland St.

If this is done right, it would vastly improve the area imo.

That's a really decent-looking building; better than most downtown/North End infill projects.

I thought no buses ran on Main? I remember a big fuss about that not long ago. If I'm incorrect then I withdraw the comment.

Certainly it is an improvement over the existing mess of grow-op, wine kit, and other bottom-feeder commercial operations along there.

I expect we'll see more development like this pop up in the area with the new zoning bylaws.

http://www.shopmainstreetdartmouth.c...ningbylaws.pdf

The old Coast Tire on Tacoma met with the excavator in the last couple of weeks and is no more so there's some possibilities there as well. Haven't heard anything specific though.

There are definitely buses running stopping near by(there is a stop in front of Smitty's and directly accross the street, outbound) but I also do recall some noise about the buses on Main street. Can't recall either what the issue was.

I think it was something to do with bus lanes, given the daily congestion the area faces. A small solution would be to give the right turn lane from Main on to Gordon HOV capabilities a la Portland/Baker. Then, if the whole area is going to be redesigned anyway, put in a bus bay for the stop on the far side of Gordon, and allow the traffic to flow while the bus serves the stop. That stop might be one of the more dangerous ones that nobody talks about.

It's been six years since this thread was last discussed but a construction permit was just issued for this site. It doesn't have number of floors listed but it is for 35 residential units.

Looks like we have a rendering and a new name, "Main St. Centre": https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/5ab0...date%20(1).pdf

According to the Examiner, they're working on reducing the cost of permits for the site. The sticking point is the Halifax Water permit, which cannot be waived by council. However it was suggested that council award an amount from the density bouncing fund to offset the cost of the permit. I think short of the province giving control of housing back to Halifax, this could be a decent way of making use of that fund.

And pretty much across the street, the old Garden View is finally being demolished this week so perhaps some progress will soon be seen on that site.

Construction permit has been issued for this site (again). This time it is listed as 45-units, 6-storeys mixed-use building. This fits with the information two posts above.

Federal, provincial and municipal politicians were on hand on Main Street yesterday to announce that 25 of the 45 units in this building will be affordable, thanks to $16 million in public funding. (Most, $11.8 million, will come from the feds, with $4.7 from Nova Scotia and $163k from HRM.) Another 12 units are fully accessible units. Some units will be designated for seniors, and others for those with developmental disabilities.

According to Ken Greer, chair of the Affirmative Ventures NPO, monthly rents for one-bedroom units will start at $850, and two-bedrooms will be around $1000, well below the average market rate of $1300 and $1600.

The first level and subgrade levels are now roughed-in and all six floors should be ready for occupancy next year.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...548cc12e_c.jpg
Image credit: CBC

Reportedly, the ground floor will have a cafe and community room along with Affirmative Ventures offices.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...71a7740a_c.jpg
Image credit: CBC

Greer says Affirmative Ventures is also planning a 35-unit apartment building on Karen Drive (which is further east off Main Street, just past Loon Lake), with one-bedroom units renting for $560, and two bedrooms for around $750.