Dartmouth City Hall building on the market again

The for sale sign is back up on the former Dartmouth City Hall building.

Halifax regional council approved a bid for the property last November from developer Francis Fares. The city had been asking $2.6 million.

Details of the bid by Fares were not disclosed. Negotiation on a sale agreement began and it was during those discussions that Fares and his team took a harder look at the building and crunched the numbers.

Here are five of the reasons why Fares Inc. ultimately decided to walk away:

• Fares thought he could make a profit using the city's current planning rules or "as of right development." That means five or six storeys at the most because of Dartmouth's viewplane restrictions. "Based on the price it was not feasible," Fares said. "In these market conditions, at this time."
• Fares didn't want to try to develop the site by trying to change the planning rules through a development agreement process. He called it "a long and risky proposition." Fares said he already has too much on his plate with the nearby King's Wharf development. "We don't have the time or the patience to go through the process," he said.
• Fares wanted to redevelop the existing building which he calls iconic. But after taking a harder look at the former city hall, he says there was a 50-50 chance the building would have to come down instead, something Fares was not interested in. "So we opted not to proceed on our bid for city hall," Fares explained. "It's a sad thing for us, but we have to be realistic once in awhile." He adds he hopes there's another developer who has the perseverance to get more height and density for the site or are more willing to tear down the building. "If HRM allows the right building there, I think it could be marvellous." Fares said. The councillor for the area, Gloria McCluskey, suggested there were another possible reasons.
• There could problems with the building's underground parking garage.
• The closeness of the CN Rail tracks. "Financially it has to work out," explained McCluskey, "I don't know how big the footprint could be, whether it could be larger than what is there now, I'd have to see a plan." But McCluskey hopes another developer will step forward soon because the money from the sale of the former Dartmouth City Hall will be used to help build a new municipal museum along the Dartmouth waterfront.