Armour Group’s proposal to redevelop a group of low-rise heritage buildings at 1860 Upper Water Street into the Waterside Centre, a 9 story retail and office building that saves historic facades and adds a 6 story glass structure above them, has met resistance from heritage advocates.

The Heritage Trust is arguing that the buildings should be renovated, but, according to the Armour Group, it’s just not possible:

Ben McCrea, chairman of the Armour Group, said Tuesday the buildings in question are “functionally and economically obsolete and couldn’t even be rented for warehouse space.”

The owner of O’Carroll’s, the pub in one of the buildings the Heritage Trust is trying to save, argued further:

Bruce Keith says the proposed development on Upper Water Street will save, not destroy, the Imperial Oil Building, which houses his Irish pub and restaurant.“The façade everyone is worried about is crumbling,” Keith said.

The building is sinking, the systems are “obsolete at best” and the basement suffers from “incessant flooding.”

“I’m worried we’re going to lose the whole building to decay if the project doesn’t go through.”

The Heritage Trust does make the good point that any new development could be done on vacant land in the downtown core, but still, you wonder. I don’t think any of us want to live in Halifax as it was in the 1800s. I’m not sure why that seems like the only reasonable course of action for these people. Back in the 1800s were they arguing that the buildings they’re trying to save now shouldn’t be built because the city should be preserved to look like it did in the 1700s? It just seems like an odd position to take. I think developments like these are the best compromise – preserve that history on the outside and move forward on the inside. Regardless of whether additions are built or not, all these heritage buildings have to be renovated and brought up to code and modernized, etc. It’s not as if there are elves in the basement of the Morse’s Tea building shoveling coal into the furnace to power the building’s Wi-Fi connection and cappuccino machine. So the insides of these buildings are long gone, anyway. If all we’re preserving is the outside, does it really matter if we attach another six stories on top or not? No. No it doesn’t. I can only imagine all the fuss that’s going to be kicked up in the 2200s when people will be fighting to preserve the facade of the Waterside Centre to keep Halifax looking like it did in the 2000s.

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