A developer wants to build a 90-metre tower next to the old post office in downtown Dartmouth.
4328644 Nova Scotia Ltd., owned by James Lawley, bought 53 Queen St. from the federal government in 2021 for $5.85 million. Built between 1914 and 1917, council added the post office to its heritage registry ahead of the sale in 2020.
On Friday, HRM posted an application from RHAD Architects on behalf of Lawley’s company for a development agreement on the property allowing a 142-unit, 90-metre tall tower on the site. The elevation drawings show that’s 26 storeys.
Lawley has registered related businesses called “The Post Residences” and “The Residences at the Post.”
The development agreement would fall under a municipal planning policy that allows council to consider exceeding usual rules “to encourage the preservation and adaptive re-use of registered heritage buildings,” planner Elizabeth Cushing wrote on the municipality’s post.
“The applicant is proposing the construction of a mixed-use addition to the historic post office containing 142 residential units, two levels of underground parking, a publicly accessible open space along Queen Street, and landscaping. A key element of the proposal is the restoration and continued use of the registered heritage building. The restored building will be incorporated into the new development,” Cushing wrote.
“If approved, the development agreement may require the property owner to rehabilitate the registered heritage building at 53 Queen Street to its original form and design, and to follow specific building control parameters for the mixed-use addition, which will include such controls as height, mass, architectural design, lot coverage, and others.”
There will be two separate processes to approve the proposal, one at council and one through the Heritage Advisory Committee and then council.
In his May 2022 newsletter, Deputy Mayor Sam Austin, the councillor for Dartmouth Centre, noted restoration work on the post office had already begun:
If you’ve been by the Old Post Office in the last little while, you might have wondered what was going on? Why is the building enclosed by scaffolding? The Post Office Building was sold in 2021, but not before HRM registered the property as a heritage building. I have met with the new owners and was very pleased to find they have good experience in heritage restoration (Keith Hall in Halifax). The owners are looking at their options for the site, but even before any development plans are finalized, they’re moving ahead with restoration work on the old stone building. The existing stone is being cleaned, and damaged areas will be restored. The owners are also planning to replace the windows and have been remediating asbestos. The Old Post Office property is quite large and retaining the Post Office building still leaves a large parking lot at King and Queen that could be developed. I haven’t seen any plans, but I’m optimistic about what the future has in store for the Old Post Office given the new owners words, experience, and, importantly, their actions so far.
Lawley’s Halkirk Properties Limited restored Keith Hall before selling it to Killam in 2015. Lawley is also a director at Killam Apartment REIT, and a co-owner of Scotia Fuels.
All indications are that this will be a good development respectful of built heritage.
This seems to be a reasonable plan for keeping a historical building fresh and exciting, while adding much needed new housing. The only real issue I see is that it would seem that none of the much needed new housing will be of the ‘affordable’ variety, which is even more muchly needed.