[Halifax] Open Mic House (2537-39 Agricola) | ? M | 8 FL | Approved
 

New proposal for the heart of North-End Halifax. This will restore the registered heritage property known as Open Mic House while constructing a mid-rise mixed-use building of 28 units + GF commercial + UG parking to the side and rear where Carlo's Auto Service currently operates. Eco Green Homes built the adjacent Compass Distillery. The on-site signage is all of the information I can find for now;

https://64.media.tumblr.com/4a497f326a93...1bb831148ea7c393e1d44a1ac9415c6973d0.jpg
Halifax Developments Blog (Photo by David Jackson)

Looks interesting.

Here's a blow-up of the rendering from the sign you posted:

https://i.imgur.com/7w7LrcS.png

Finally a design that doesn’t mirror 30 others in HRM.

RIP Carlo Auto Service and your amazing signage.

It sort of looks like a mini Alexander. Architecture aside, the parking ratio is good and I like that there will be a commercial unit on the ground floor.

Love that sign! I'll try and get a pic of it before it disappears. I have thought that the yard space would have made an excellent street-side patio and it appears in the rendering that perhaps we'll see a bit of that. Alas, there is a beautiful tree on the corner of the lot that will likely have to be removed.

I am generally not a fan of these mansard roof designs on medium-sized buildings but I think Eco Green Homes is one of my favourite developers in the city. They have built a lot of interesting buildings; Compass as you point out and also some on Gottingen. They seem to go a bit bigger with each new development. I hope they keep building these medium scale buildings on smaller lots.

Agricola seems like it's really getting transformed.

They need a better name.

This looks horrible. Why the giant mansard roof? There's not one mansard roof on Agricola. The scale of the building is also way too massive for it's location and the ground floor commercial doesn't seem to interact with any other commercial in the area. More units / density is good. However, the shear disconnect of this building with anything in its context could ruin the vibe of Agricola IMO.

I'm fine with the scale, but the design is...unique. I'll reserve judgement for now--the distillery next door, by the same builder, is also a weird-looking building, but works well enough. But I'm very curious to see how this develops.

To me the frontage of this site looks longer in the rendering than it does in street view. I'm not sure it's wide enough to have much impact either way on the functionality of the streetscape. It does have a garage door but then again there's an auto body shop with garage there today.

I think we can reasonably anticipate that the finishes will be comparable to the small infill buildings along Gottingen Street.

The lot that Carlos sits on is actually slightly smaller (more narrow) than the lot that the open mic house sits on. You'd never guess this looking at the rendering. Also, This building will be nearly back to back with Maynard Suites which will be a 7 story building. Cyclesmith and a baby store are immediately to the north and Compass Distillers immediately to the south so it seems a good spot to put additional retail.

To me the house looks like a smaller fraction of the lot front in the rendering than in street view. The distance between the wall of the house and Compass is quite small. The house is a good example of retaining some of the character of this neighbourhood.

You make a good point that while this building stands out height-wise compared to the Agricola buildings of circa 2020, it won't be so exceptional when the current round of construction is completed and there will probably be other developments like it in the future.

It looks like The Alexander and The Governor had a kid who moved up to the north end. :D

LOL. Totally

Case 24359 Details

"If approved, the development agreement would allow the property owner to remove a portion of the rear of the registered heritage building at 2537 Agricola Street (known as the Open Mic House) to accommodate an eight-storey mixed-use building on 2539 Agricola Street and the neighbouring property, 2537 Agricola Street. As part of the development agreement, the property owner will be required to undertake rehabilitation of the registered heritage building. The proposal includes approximately 28 residential units and 3200 square feet of commercial area on the first and second storeys. The application includes one level of underground parking with 11 parking spaces, which would also accommodate bicycle parking, mechanical needs, and a garbage room."

Not sure what "bicycle parking" looks like, but for my money my bike is going in a locked compartment somewhere (or hung up in my apartment). They have too much of a tendency to disappear, if they are in any way nice.

Perhaps it's just sales speak to let people know that the building is "bicycle friendly"?

It is just bowing down to the HRM Planning gods to ensure they don't reject the application.

This one's still not approved I guess. It wasn't clear whether Carlo is still in business but I think not. I hope they can retain the tree.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52538453759_fc1ef2c2a9_b.jpg20221202_140325_HDR by AJ Forsythe, on Flickr

It's not on the rendering, but hopefully it's just omitted for clarity.

https://i.imgur.com/7w7LrcS.png