[Halifax] Ventura on Robie (2688 Robie) | ? M | 10 FL | U/C

[Dmajackson]

THE VENTURA ON ROBIE (2688 ROBIE STREET) - Formerly HalCraft Printers.


HalifaxDevelopments.ca (Photo by David Jackson)

[Arrdeeharharharbour]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

THE VENTURA ON ROBIE (2688 ROBIE STREET) - Formerly HalCraft Printers.


HalifaxDevelopments.ca (Photo by David Jackson)

This is the same developer of The Ventura on Young and the owner of Ventura Reality and a female developer. I think The Ventura on Robie will be a better looking building than The Ventura on Young.

[Jstaleness]

Originally Posted by Arrdeeharharharbour

This is the same developer of The Ventura on Young and the owner of Ventura Reality and a female developer. I think The Ventura on Robie will be a better looking building than The Ventura on Young.

I wish this was twice or more height. Not just for saying sakes, but where it is could be a nice corridor of high density towers

[Dmajackson]

Construction is starting at this site. I've pulled a few posts from another thread to start this one. There are permits in place for 10 FLOORS - 86 UNITS. Since it is not mentioned above this development is immediately north of City Mazda on the Robie/King/North/St Albans block.


HalifaxDevelopments.ca (Photo by David Jackson)

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by Dmajackson

Construction is starting at this site. I've pulled a few posts from another thread to start this one. There are permits in place for 10 FLOORS - 86 UNITS. Since it is not mentioned above this development is immediately north of City Mazda on the Robie/King/North/St Albans block.


HalifaxDevelopments.ca (Photo by David Jackson)

Will this project infringe on the Rapid Bus plans for this part of Robie?
I can see all the car dealerships eventually moving off Robie but who knows.

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by Dartguard

Will this project infringe on the Rapid Bus plans for this part of Robie?
I can see all the car dealerships eventually moving off Robie but who knows.

No, it looks like that stretch of Robie will have the road expand to the east: https://cdn.halifax.ca/sites/default/fil...eettransportationreserve_11nov2022_0.pdf

Edit: As an aside, I see that map is effective November 2022. HRM has five years to acquire the land in a transportation reserve or the reserve expires. So they need to finish acquiring the land by November 2027.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by IanWatson

Edit: As an aside, I see that map is effective November 2022. HRM has five years to acquire the land in a transportation reserve or the reserve expires. So they need to finish acquiring the land by November 2027.

Are they legally entitled to acquire this land at market value? Is it just the "prorated" value based on the percentage of the lot? Sometimes if you carve up a lot, it's worth less than the sum of the new smaller parcels.

I'm also curious why this is seemingly a decade-long project to tweak a few blocks of Robie. Is it that HRM is unsure about proceeding, they're struggling to implement the plan, or they are being slow due to budget or other reasons?

[IanWatson]

Originally Posted by someone123

Are they legally entitled to acquire this land at market value? Is it just the "prorated" value based on the percentage of the lot? Sometimes if you carve up a lot, it's worth less than the sum of the new smaller parcels.

I'm also curious why this takes so long. Is it that HRM is unsure about proceeding, they're not able to do it functionally (actually complete the land acquisition), or they are being slow due to budget or other reasons?

Well expropriation is the legal entitlement of government to acquire land at market value.

Preseumably they're going the route of negotiating with landowners first. I count +/- 57 affected properties, and while there are probably fewer total owners dues to some properties under shared ownership, that's still a decent chunk of negotiation to do. I can't imagine the negotiation with the Steele Group over the Colonial Honda lands is easy - it will be a pretty big impact on their operation.

It seems like the places where they have made good progress are with George Tsimikilis - this may be one instance where his "buy and tear down" M.O. is actually really good for the city.

My understanding is that the Province is helping fund a lot of this acquisition, so I don't think money is too much of an issue. But again, who knows - some of these properties are pretty valuable.

[someone123]

Apparently governments in Canada can also be liable for damages when expropriating, and it opens up the possibility of litigation. If not for that, I'm not sure there would ever be a reason to negotiate.

If you start negotiating for 57 properties you'd better be committed to the project and willing to back it up through eventual expropriation. There's little point in acquiring a fraction of the total properties, and the negotiating leverage of the owners goes up if they know what's happening or as you approach the finish line. HRM can't help but telegraph what they're trying to do so they are not in a good negotiating position. Land prices have been increasing so any delays over the past few years will have been very expensive for the municipality.

Another thing you could do is acquire complete properties and do land assembly as part of that, increasing the market value after (for example, buy a row of 4 house lots, carve a bit of the frontage off, then sell 1 bigger lot to a developer). Not sure HRM would do that.

[Keith P.]

Has there ever been a schematic of the proposed realignment released?

[Dmajackson]

Young and Robie - Original Concepts From 2018

They are aiming for the Curbside Transit Lane - Both Directions option