[St. John's] The Official Project Thread

[Horsell]

Excavation work under way at the Star of the Sea site !!

[SignalHillHiker]

Whut?

[statbass]

Originally Posted by Horsell

Excavation work under way at the Star of the Sea site !!

Wasn't expecting to hear that... good news!!!

[Townie709]

Originally Posted by Horsell

Excavation work under way at the Star of the Sea site !!

Awesome! Certainly wasn't expecting to hear that! Last I heard they weren't expecting to begin construction for another 1-2 years. Maybe the market has picked up a bit?

Either way, great news and I'll be very excited to see this one rise in the spring. Let's hope they don't cheap out on the materials. This has the potential to be one stunning building.

I wish it all the best! Let's hope it sells well and somewhat revives the great condo boom that never was

Now if only MIX/Marconi could have been constructed, the deadest hole in the urban fabric of downtown would have been easily the most densely populated.

[JCE]

Excavation work has also begun on the Sandman Hotel site.

[Arrakis]

Originally Posted by JCE

Excavation work has also begun on the Sandman Hotel site.

Noticed that last week when I was driving by. They were carrying away loads of fill from the site.

[delesseps]

From the Telegram:

A potential purchaser of a house on Winter Avenue is inquiring about the possibility of demolishing the property, the agenda for tonight’s St. John’s City Council meeting states .

According to the agenda, 25 Winter Ave. is owned currently by Keelin O’Leary and is listed with realtor, Chris O’Dea. The property has an accepted conditional offer subject to the property being retained as a non-heritage designated site.

The property has no heritage designation. According to the agenda, the potential purchaser has asked if he can have the home demolished.

The building is on an over-sized lot with potential for subdivision and redevelopment.

The agenda reads that the people who have approached O’Leary so far regarding sale of 25 Winter Avenue are more interested in the land value. Getting the full value for the land appears to involve removing the current building.

There were some interior photos in the Telegram a while ago. It's a nice building, and in my experience, the costs of renovating old houses are often wildly overstated. It would cost nowhere near $300,000 to make the house livable with modern conveniences. The key is leaving whatever the new owner can live with alone to minimize what actually needs to be brought up to code to get a permit. Anything that's still in good condition after 130 years doesn't need to be replaced.

[Architype]

I would think a house like that should have some kind of heritage designation:

http://www.odeasauctionroom.nfld.net...r/25winter.htm

It seems like it would be a considerable loss if it was torn down.

[Horsell]

It would be a shame to lose this piece of heritage for the sake of a few houses crammed into an undersized lot. One only has to look down the road to Judge Place to get a preview of what is likely to happen here. I understand that Judge Place is a different situation because the house that was there was tragically lost to a fire however the end result, I fear, will be similar.

[delesseps]

VOCM published some more details about the house on Winter Avenue before the council vote. The estimate of $250,000 to $300,000 for renovations was based on a fictional plan to add walk in closets and ensuite bathrooms to the house. Needless to say, you can't simply will rooms into existence in a heritage building, and those renovations would have been both expensive and highly unlikely.

We'll need to see the minutes to know what the mayor actually said about preserving downtown churches, but I'm disappointed that he expressed concern about their maintenance, according to the CBC, while voting against designating the home on Winter Avenue. Churches aren't inherently more worthy than any other structure, and most of the churches downtown are architecturally banal. I would be perfectly happy, for example, to see Gower Street United Church demolished if it allowed the City to sort out the mess of streets surrounding it. With the church gone, the roads could be arranged as shown below, with driveways for the buildings no longer fronting directly on Gower Street.

[overboard]

What an awful idea. I'd love to hear your justification for calling Gower Street United banal. Inspired by European styles, sure, but what here isn't? It's still a 100-year-old structure with unique architectural details for the province and plenty of local history, not to mention its value as a cultural/community center. I've attended public meetings, press conferences, and performances in the space. You have been inside, yes?

All that aside, we demolish it for what? To close a street and pave some driveways? I must be missing something. You added a roundabout in a spot where there's already plenty of unused pavement and straightened out a corner.

[Architype]

^ Most of the downtown churches are pretty unique, as in different from each other and not as typical as those in other places. Gower St. Church is fairly unique; a type of Romanesque with Gothic influences, unfortunately the tower is gone; it is sort of Richardson Romanesque (link), as is the courthouse. The Anglican Cathedral is typically Gothic, and the Basilica Romanesque. Those are the most typical styles for churches in general. From a heritage perspective, church spires were the most important element on the skyline.


Source

In terms of heritage and identity, the churches, next to the houses, best represent what remains of the heritage of the city.

_____________________________________________________________________________________


Here's an article for the forum.

Population density focus of Happy City-sponsored St. John's meetings

Local organizations are working together to discuss how to make St. John's a more densely populated city, but in a way that is beneficial for residents and businesses.

Happy City St. John's has partnered with the St. John's Board of Trade and the Canadian Home Builders Association for a series of public sessions called Doing Density Right.

The sessions will take place in early December, and will be divided into three meetings in the centre city, east end and west end areas of the capital.

With about 100,000 people spread out over an area larger than 400 square kilometers, St. John's is far from densely populated. But the talks at Doing Density Right will explore whether services and transit could be better provided if people were living closer together.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/newfou...ings-1.2846324

[cdotr]

While I am all for development. I think that it is very important to keep as much architecture as possible. I can't understand why the house on Winter Ave was never designated a heritage structure. I think its a beautiful building, it might have its issues, but every effort should be made to keep it.

As for Gower Street United Church, I like the uniqueness of driving around the church and always remember it growing up. I can deal with the crazy roads.

[delesseps]

Originally Posted by overboard

What an awful idea. I'd love to hear your justification for calling Gower Street United banal. Inspired by European styles, sure, but what here isn't? It's still a 100-year-old structure with unique architectural details for the province and plenty of local history, not to mention its value as a cultural/community center. I've attended public meetings, press conferences, and performances in the space. You have been inside, yes?

This is purely a matter of taste, but Gower Street United Church was ugly when it was built, and it's ugly today. The exterior is two brick barns with some faux turrets attached, and the interior is nothing special compared to churches elsewhere in Atlantic Canada. There are lots of other red brick, public buildings of similar vintage in St. John's, and the architecture is a variation on a theme repeated in lots of other churches throughout the world. As long as the congregation can maintain the church, there's no reason to tear it down, but I'd spend public money on a lot of other heritage buildings in St. John's before this one.

[J_Murphy]

I noticed the building on the corner of Waldegrave and Water street is for sale. What would you like to see done with this space?

http://www.michaelhalliday-realestate.ca/mike-halliday's-listings/listings?listingPageType=useMyListings&listingId=2521198

[Arrakis]

I really dont see any real architectural significance in this old building. Its very run down and has been modified extensively over the years. It's probably a fire trap that needs to get bull-dozed and something nicer built on that corner lot that goes all the way to The Magic Wok Restaurant.

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

I noticed the building on the corner of Waldegrave and Water street is for sale. What would you like to see done with this space?

http://www.michaelhalliday-realestate.ca/mike-halliday's-listings/listings?listingPageType=useMyListings&listingId=2521198

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by J_Murphy

I noticed the building on the corner of Waldegrave and Water street is for sale. What would you like to see done with this space?

http://www.michaelhalliday-realestate.ca/mike-halliday's-listings/listings?listingPageType=useMyListings&listingId=2521198

Are you proposing we put our money together and buy it?

With the new hotel and Fortis Place nearby I think it'd be a good place for a restaurant. Or even a coffee shop, because we don't have many those downtown!

With the neighbouring building lot though something significant could probably go there.

[Horsell]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

Are you proposing we put our money together and buy it?

With the new hotel and Fortis Place nearby I think it'd be a good place for a restaurant. Or even a coffee shop, because we don't have many those downtown!

With the neighbouring building lot though something significant could probably go there.

I called first dibs on that whole block...lol. Anything less than a 15 story tower of some sort for that block will be a waste of scarce downtown real estate.

[delesseps]

Originally Posted by PoscStudent

Are you proposing we put our money together and buy it?

With the new hotel and Fortis Place nearby I think it'd be a good place for a restaurant. Or even a coffee shop, because we don't have many those downtown!

With the neighbouring building lot though something significant could probably go there.

Any buyer would be a fool not to take this building and the neighbouring lot at the same time, seeing as they're both for sale. The price for the building seems high, though. The vacant lot next door is more than twice the size of this property, has no demolition left to do, and is listed for $319,900.

[MrChills]

Originally Posted by Horsell

I called first dibs on that whole block...lol. Anything less than a 15 story tower of some sort for that block will be a waste of scarce downtown real estate.

I agree with you 100% there. We only have some much land downtown, it kills me to see places like the JAG Hotel go up with four stories in areas that should be hosting buildings five times that size.

I remember when that building was home to Hemp Wear when it first opened and the RNC illegally confiscated all the ladies pipes, bongs, papers, etc.. They just showed up one day and took the works. From what I remember if was determined that the seizure was illegal and her lawyer asked for them to be returned, but the RNC said that they had already been destroyed.