Waterside Centre

RBC Waterside Centre
Waterside Centre (background) viewed from Duke Street
General information
Status	Complete
Address	1871 Hollis Street Halifax, Nova Scotia
Completed	2014
Cost	$16 million
Owner	Armour Group
Technical details
Floor count	9
Floor area	85,500 sq. ft.
Design and construction
Architect	Lydon Lynch
Developer	Armour Group

The RBC Waterside Centre is a commercial development in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada built by local real estate developer Armour Group. The project involves demolishing six heritage buildings and replacing them with a nine storey retail and office building, clad at ground level with the reconstructed facades of most of the former heritage buildings.

The original six buildings occupy a downtown block facing the Halifax waterfront bounded by Upper Water Street, Duke Street, Hollis Street and the Cogswell Interchange. Along with the adjacent waterfront buildings of Historic Properties and the Victorian commercial buildings of the Granville Mall, the site is one of the only intact blocks of 19th-century buildings in Downtown Halifax. It includes the oldest storefront in Halifax and the site of the famous 18th-century tavern “The Great Pontack”, where James Wolfe planned the siege of Louisbourg and Quebec. The buildings have housed commercial and retail tenants, but Armour group has said that the buildings are no longer economical and their replacements by facades should be seen as restoration. The buildings on the block include the 1820 Harrington MacDonald-Briggs Building the oldest remaining commercial building in Halifax, the 1861 Fishwick & Company Building, the 1926 Imperial Oil Building as well as the 1840 Sweet Basil Building, the last wooden "sailortown" building on Halifax's Water Street.

The only building on the historic block not facing demolition by Armour group is the Morse’s Tea Building owned by another developer who has converted the 1841 structure for office use and retained its interior and exterior structure.

The proposed development has split municipal politicians in Halifax. Those opposed, such as the Heritage Trust of Nova Scotia, say that Halifax is losing its small and dwindling number of heritage buildings which are a resource for culture and tourism. Supporters like the Downtown Halifax Business Commission say that developers should be given a free rein to promote economic activity. The debate also led Nova Scotia’s Conservative Premier Rodney MacDonald to intervene in the city's politics in support of the development and demolition.