New design meets approval
Charlottetown’s design review board signs off on proposed new exterior to The Guardian building
The new owner of The Guardian building in downtown Charlottetown cleared another hurdle with his ambitious expansion plans on Monday.
Florida-based developer Steve Caryi is in the process of completely renovating the building and he wants to add two floors on top and market the units to students.
The city’s design review board met to discuss Caryi’s plans for the exterior design of the building at 165 Prince St. The plan calls for 30 rooms on each of the two floors. Blacksheep Project Management Inc., which operates Granville Hall in Halifax, will manage the hostel on Prince Street. While they would be marketed mostly to students during the school year, they would be used as shortterm rentals in the summer.
Looking at the design of the building, members of the design review board were pleased to see that all of the windows on the top two floors will match those on the two existing floors.
Coun. Greg Rivard, chairman of the planning and heritage committee which oversees design review, said the applicant made changes to the new windows so that they all will now conform throughout the building.
“Placement of the windows and doors shall create a balanced façade . . . all of the horizontals shall vertically align,’’ Rivard said, adding that the owner will not be permitted to install any patio-style doors on the exterior of the building.
The city commissioned design reviewer Peter Fellows to look at the building.
“It would be our recommendation that the second-floor windows should be reconfigured into equal panels to maintain the lower storey pattern,’’ Fellows said.
“To incorporate wider (arrangement of windows and doors) will result in better rhythm of the upper storeys. We would suggest the exposed metal fasteners be concealed to yield a more pleasing look.’’
The top two floors will become a hostel for students with 30 one-bedroom units on each of the new floors. Some units will have their own bathroom and kitchen but there will also be a common room on each floor, featuring washroom and kitchen facilities.
Right now there is only one entrance to The Guardian building because it has operated for decades as a newspaper company only. Now that the newspaper is one of many tenants, there will be two separate entrances off Prince Street, each with a ramp.
There will be new retail uses on the main level and commercial space, including The Guardian’s newsroom, circulation, advertising and production, on the second level. The building is going to be getting an elevator.
Rivard said the building does not require a variance as the proposed two extra storeys fall under the allowable height restrictions under the new bylaw, which is about 50 feet.
There has been some public criticism in regards to the fact this project is adding 60 short-term rentals to the city.
Rivard said until the city has a bylaw in place to deal with short-term rentals there is little the city can do. The city is looking to bring in proposed bylaws by March.
“I would certainly be very cautious with new regulations coming in in
March, or proposed regulations coming in in March,’’ the councillor said. “Anybody who is looking to do something large scale should be cognizant of the fact that new rules in place could alter their long-term plans.’’
The approval of the design review board is separate from the building permit and zoning bylaw requirements that also have to be satisfied.
The issue will not require the approval of city council, but planning staff is still working with the applicant on the proposed use of the building as well as building code issues before issuing a building permit which will allow the additional two floors.