A residential home in downtown Halifax that was under construction when a crane fell on it during a storm in 2019 will open for rental in May – under a new ironic name.
The building on South Park Street that was originally supposed to be called Olympus is now called Crane.
“I think it’s pretty self-explanatory,” said Seymour Trihopoylos of Olympus Properties. “It’s a pretty famous building all over the world after what happened here.”
The crane in question, which was working on another building nearby, collapsed into the Olympus building on Sept. 7 when former Hurricane Dorian landed as a post-tropical storm.
The collapse of the crane delayed the opening of the South Park Street apartment building for more than a year. (Olympus properties)
The incident delayed the opening of the residential building, which has been under construction since 2018, by more than a year, Trihopoylos said.
“It definitely changed our plans,” he said. “It was definitely difficult for our company and our family during that time, but we tried to see it in a positive light and turn a negative into a positive.”
It took more than a month to clean up the collapsed crane.
The province covered the $ 2 million bill to get the job done ASAP and the area reopened to the public. Transport Secretary Lloyd Hines said at the time that efforts were being made to reclaim that money. CBC News has asked the province for an update.
Rents for the Crane range from $ 1,895 to $ 2,225 per month for a one-bedroom apartment and between $ 2,595 and $ 2,845 for a two-bedroom apartment. (Olympus properties)
The provincial Ministry of Labor is expected to release a report on the cause of the collapse sometime this year.
Trihopoylos said Olympus was not involved in the investigation.
“We really don’t have much to do with it because it affected us so much that it just fell on the building, but we have no direct involvement in the investigation or we don’t know why or how it came down,” he said .
Several companies in the area have also filed class action lawsuits against WM Fares Architects Inc. and WM Fares & Associates Incorporated, the developer of the building that was under construction at the time the crane was overturned, to make up for lost sales.
The lawsuit also includes Lead Structural Formwork Ltd. – the owner, operator and installer of the crane – and the Manitowoc Company, the designer, manufacturer and manufacturer of the crane.
Above average prices
Rental rates for the Crane building range from $ 1,895 to $ 2,225 per month for a one-bedroom apartment and between $ 2,595 and $ 2,845 per month for a two-bedroom apartment.
According to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s 2020 rental markets report, the average rental for a one bedroom apartment in Halifax is $ 1,016 per month and the average price for a two bedroom apartment is $ 1,255.
With that in mind, Trihopoylos believes the prices for the crane building are fair.
“We believe we will … follow today’s market rents for similar products and similar locations,” he said.
The average rent in the Halifax area rose more than four percent last year.
While the average vacancy rate in the community has doubled in the last year, experts say it indicates the impact of the pandemic rather than long-term solutions to the city’s housing crisis.
MORE TOP STORIES
