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Winning Bidder Louie Lawen Chats About Planned Nine-Storey Apartment Building On Dennis/Birks Sites

Apr 26, 2019 | Real Estate

By Andrew Macdonald

Louie Lawen, the CEO of family-owned Lawen Group and the design-build developer Dexel Developments,  says he has been working on plans for the Dennis/Birk properties in downtown Halifax for the last few years.

His company, which includes his siblings as other executives, was picked as the winning proponent from five bidders to redevelop properties adjacent the Nova Scotia Legislature.

The announcement was made Friday after an agreement was signed with the Transportation & Infrastructure Department headed by Minister Lloyd Hines.

Left, John Lawen, of the Lawen Group apartment empire, with dentist and Lebanese Chamber board member, Nada Haidar, and Lawen’s wife, Rosine Lawen. John is Louie Lawen’s brother. Andrew Macdonald/The Notebook photo.

“The process has been actually almost three years after the first call for interests (were let). It’s changed quite a bit, but we are very eager and excited to assemble some drawings and apply to HRM to get a development agreement and building permit. That is the next step right now,” Lawen tells The Notebook.

The government expects that process with Halifax Regional Municipality to take up to 18 months. Following that, Lawen Group has to erect a nine-storey apartment building within a total of five years as part of its deal for a land lease. During the lease period of 75 years, with an option for a further 24 years, the province is to receive more than $30 million in lease payments.

Lawen plans a residential rental with retail on Barrington Street at the Dennis Building and surrounding properties adjacent the Legislature building.

The cost of the nine-storey multi-residential is estimated at more than $32 million. There will be commercial-retail on Barrington Street, and the rest of the building will be comprised of rentals, and sister company Paramount will manage the completed project.

Louie Lawen is CEO of family owned developer and apartment landlord, Lawen Group, Dexel Developments and Paramount. Photo by Andrew Macdonald/The Notebook.

In addition there will be parking there, mostly underground parking, with 40 parking stalls given to the provincial government for its MLAs. (The Legislature now has 51 MLAs.)

While such a project could support 106 units, similar to the nine-storey St. Joseph’s Square rental building Lawen built near the Hydrostones, the company has to yet to finalize plans with City Hall on that score. Louie Lawen expects the new building will have fewer than 106 units.

“I don’t think it will be that many units. But the proposal will be for nine stories and the proposal includes the integration of the Dennis and Acadian (Hansard) buildings,” he says.

Government wants him to maintain the facades, and that makes the construction work more challenging, and more costly, he says.

“Of course there are a lot of logistics that we have to go through to figure out exactly how we are going to do that. It is definitely not at the standard of a normal element of construction. But it is not impossible, it is possible,” Lawen tells me.

Part of the project encompasses an existing parking lot, once the site of the Birks building. The late Halifax developer Bob Stappels knocked down the jewellery store in the 1980s, but failed to develop it, and it has sat vacant for decades as a surface parking lot.

The designer for the conceptual plans hired by Lawen Group was Ekistics Plan+Design of Halifax, where Chris Crawford had the file. One architect that the company has hired for other award-winning apartment structures has been Michael Napier of Halifax.

Lawen says an architect for the Dennis/Birks site has yet to be finalized and his in-house team of architects will also be involved.

“At this very moment, an architect has not been confirmed. My team at Dexel Architects will obviously be involved, and we have consulted with other architects on other projects,” Lawen tells The Notebook.

As for the 99 year lease—75-years plus an option for a another 24 years—Lawen says, “Leasing in Halifax is not that common, but we have done them before. And in this case the properties are owned by the province and that is what they asked for, and that was part of the (bidding) process.

“It is in the heart of the city, but what is most attractive, it is a decent size development and arguably (historic). You are nestled among some of the most historical parts of the city,” Lawen tells The Notebook.

He says his architects will not only keep the facades of the two buildings, but the historic site itself will also define the architectural renderings for the project.

Lawen Group CEO, Louie Lawen with his priest Archpriest Fr. Maximos Saikali at Saint Antonios Church in Halifax. Photo by Andrew Macdonald/The Notebook.

“Obviously, the rest of the development will be complementary and be in character with the rest of the neighbourhood,” he says.

On my suggestion a nine-storey building price tag could be $32 million, he replies “that is probably in the low end. I don’t have a number yet, but all your budgeting is usually pretty accurate.”

Lawen is currently building The George near the Atlantica Hotel, with 172 units on Robie Street, is now under construction. He is also building a 43-unit apartment building on Bishop’s Street near Lower Water Street, named Flynn Flats.

Another project in the future is a massive proposed 30 storey redevelopment on Spring Garden Road near the Professional Centre, close to Robie Street, on the corner of Carlton Street.

Whether Spring Garden properties or the Dennis property gets done first, Lawen says: ‘We have the capacity to do this project, along with others. We won’t be doing everything at one time—that is for sure. But, we currently have two projects now, and we will be having two projects on the go at anytime.

“With the (Dennis/Birk) project, we can’t start anything until we get approval from HRM, which is in a downtown zone, and we are dealing with a heritage property, and the Barrington Heritage District. So we have to go through the HRM process,” he says.

“We have a total of five years to complete the whole process. It could take us no more than 12 to 18 months to get a development permit, and then we would apply for a building permit. Buildings typically take no more than two years (to build),” he says.

The Spring Garden project with its proposed 30 stories is still in the HRM planning process, seeking approvals.

Lawen Group has another significant land holding not yet developed on Mitchell Street off of Inglis Street. A time line for redeveloping that property has not been suggested.

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