STATE OF THE DOWN TOWN 2024
INTRODUCTION
Downtown Halifax (Kjipuktuk) sits nestled on the hill between the beautiful harbour and Citadel Hill, as 36 blocks of economic and cultural activity. This is the heart of our city, province, and region, and is a barometer of our success, community and connection. It accounts for a good portion (60%) of the GDP of our province. Downtown Halifax Business Commission (DHBC) represents the businesses who call Downtown home, and more broadly, all who love this place including those who reside, tour and play here. As we continue to evolve ourselves as a data informed organization, we are proud to present our second annual State of the Downtown Report. We hope to continue to weave the tale of how our work continues to build on our vibrancy for everyone to feel they belong right here in our beautiful Downtown.
Today, our urban core is home to 1,600 businesses, 22,000 workers, and is one of the fastest growing residential areas in the country. Visitation is rebounding, thanks to new businesses, events, an extended tourism season, and a burgeoning food and drink sector.
Investment is strong, as evidenced by the cranes that dot the skyline, and the new Cogswell District, which continues to take shape has us intimately involved in how it will change the gateway to our Downtown. There are also challenges, such as a stagnant assessment base, and ongoing concerns related to public safety which we continue to advocate and work on.
To ensure Downtown is positioned to tackle challenges and embrace opportunities, DHBC remains committed to tracking key metrics, and also stewarding the just announced “Downtown Halifax Vision 2030,” which charts a course for our continued focus and investments into the Heart of Atlantic Canada!
We invite you to reach out to either of us to share your thoughts, opinions, questions, or concerns, not just on the State of our Downtown but also on how we can continue to ensure it is a place built by and for everyone.
Ashwin Kutty (left) - Chair, Board of Directors
Paul MacKinnon - Chief Executive Officer
PEOPLE
The key marker of vitality for any downtown is the number of people in it - and specifically the number of people walking outside on the sidewalks. When a downtown is full of people it feels alive.
Pedestrian activity (or “footfall”) used to be measured by students with clipboards. Then it became more sophisticated, with electronic pedestrian counters, or occasional satellite images. Today, the wide availability of cell phone data provides detailed information about who is in a downtown area.
In this section, “people” will be classified as Residents, Workers and Visitors.
RESIDENTS
Like many cities, in the 40 years following World War II, Halifax’s urban core saw significant population decline, as suburban residential development took off. Recovery of the Downtown population began in the late 1990s, and since 2010 has seen significant growth, now reaching the population peaks of the 1940s.
According to the 2021 recent Statistics Canada Census, the greater Downtown Halifax area grew its residential population by 26.1%, making it the fastest growing downtown in the country over the span of 2016-2021. This rapid pace of growth continues in the city.
DOWNTOWN POPULATION: 2001 - 2021
Source: Statistics Canada Census Data
19,536
13,280
WORKERS
Over the last year, Downtown Halifax’s employment base grew by 24.3%, from 18,000 in 2022 to 22,374 in 2023. Of the 22,374 people working in the urban core, 4,240 of them work directly in what DHBC calls the “ground floor” business sector which is typically broken out into four industries: food & drink, retail, accommodation and personal services.
SECTOR
Source: Data Axle Canada 2023 Business data, Dalhousie Transportation Collaboratory (DalTRAC)
The other 18,000+ employees work for one of our many multinational conglomerates, real estate holdings, regional banks, law firms, or government offices. The last few years have shown how flexible an individual’s workspace can be and as such, people started working in a hybrid manner. In January 2024, DHBC asked members where they’re working now.
Source: Thinkwell Comprehensive Membership Survey
VISITORS
Every quarter, DHBC collects total visitation numbers for Downtown Halifax. These totals include people from all three categories; residents, workers and visitors.
TOTAL VISITATION TO DOWNTOWN
Source: Copyright ©2023 Environics Analytics Group Ltd.
DOWNTOWN RECOVERY
The University of Toronto’s School of Cities has undertaken a study to measure the recovery of downtowns, based on the return of people, compared to pre-pandemic levels. Their most recent data can be found at www.downtownrecovery.com/charts/trends.
Though Downtown Halifax is not back to prepandemic numbers, (almost no one is, due to hybrid work) we are trending stronger than nearly all downtowns across North America.
• Monthly visits to Downtown Halifax (on average) are 52.2% higher this year than the corresponding month the previous year.
• Downtown Halifax not only ranked #1 in Canada for visitation growth, but #2 in North America.
2024 vs. 2023
CITY RANKING
Source: University of Toronto, School of Cities
Source: Discover Halifax
2024 VISITOR PROJECTIONS
Cruise Season at the Port of
Halifax
The 2024 cruise season will run longer this year, seeing ship visits spread out across eight months.
This season the Port is expected to have:
• 204 vessel calls – 35.7% increase compared to last summer (June, July, August).
• An increase in overnight visits and luxury ships.
Projected to see 340,000 to 360,000 visitors (dependent on weather and occupancy factors.)
Source: Port of Halifax
SALES
Historically, sales data has been notoriously difficult and expensive to obtain for Downtown Halifax, but DHBC now has a partnership with Dalhousie that allows us to obtain anonymous sales data, tracked by geographic location and sector. To date, only three data sets are available: January 2017 - December 2017, September 2021 - August 2022 and September 2022-August 2023.
Since the “face of downtown” is best represented by the ground floor business sector, in this section we dive into those four key industries again, food & drink, retail, hotel and personal services.
DOWNTOWN GROUND FLOOR CHANGES
APRIL 1, 2023 - MARCH 31, 2024
Source: DHBC
DOWNTOWN GROUND FLOOR SALES
SECTOR 2017 2022 2023
FOOD + DRINK
# businesses: 126 Sales: $110M
# businesses: 90 Sales: $168M
# businesses: 11
Sales: $56M
# businesses: 28 Sales: $10M
# businesses: 131 Sales: $124M
# businesses: 78 Sales: $148M
# businesses: 14
Sales: $110M
# businesses: 30 Sales: $12M
Source: Dalhousie Transportation Collaboratory (DalTRAC)
DOWNTOWN COMMERCIAL VACANCY RATES
# businesses: 131 Sales: $128M
# businesses: 72 Sales: $141M
# businesses: 15 Sales: $111M
# businesses: 29 Sales: $8M
2023 HIGHLIGHTS:
• Total revenue for all Downtown Halifax businesses was $8.3 BILLION, representing 21.1% of all Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) sales.
• $389M came from Downtown Halifax ground floor businesses. Sales growth outperformed the entire city by 3.4%
• And the industry that Downtown Halifax is best known for, food & drink, stayed strong, even adding to their employment base, and increasing sales by $4M.
Source: Colliers International (Nova Scotia) Inc.
INVESTMENT
Downtown Halifax is the undisputed economic engine of Halifax and of the greater Atlantic Canada region. Because of its density, compact form, high land values, and efficient servicing, it produces more in tax revenue and economic wealth than it costs to maintain. As such, ongoing and significant investment from both the public and private sectors should be the norm.
DOWNTOWN PROPERTY ASSESSMENT
One way to measure the “value” of Downtown is through its total commercial assessment base, both on its own, and as a percentage of total Halifax Regional Municipality. While, Downtown’s assessment has not grown, HRM’s assessment has increased 21%.
$8,644,344,700 $8,888,435,100 $8,930,208,400 $9,692,174,700 $10,481,231,300
Source: Halifax Regional Municipality
Now is the time for
Downtown Halifax!
Downtown investments tend to be largescale and take years to go from planning to completion, so in an attempt to catalogue total investment, DHBC started tracking all development projects on a Downtown Development map which you’ll find on the next page, and also live as a Google map on our website at: www.downtownhalifax.ca/developmentmap
HRM keeps track of various Permitting, Planning, Licensing & Compliance datasets on a map as well: www.halifax.ca/homeproperty/building-development-permits/ permit-volume-processing-times/permitstatus-map.
Over the next few pages, you will see 27 development projects currently in progress, and plans for the 6.5 hectares of land in Downtown Halifax about to be redeveloped as part of “the biggest city-building project in the history of Halifax.”
DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT
PRIVATE DEVELOPMENT
1. Tramway Building - Ruby LLP
2. Freemason’s Hall - Ruby LLP
3. Centennial Redevelopment - Sidewalk Real Estate Development
4. Cameo Hotel & Suites - Ruby LLP
5. Cunard - Southwest Properties
6. Skye - United Gulf Developments
7. The Governor - Killam Properties
8. Former Ralston Redevelopment - Universal Properties
9. 1190 Barrington - Universal Properties
10. The Marlstone - Crombie
11. Elmwood Redevelopment - Galaxy Properties
12. Waverley Inn - Grafton Developments
13. Vogue Building Addition - Starfish Properties
14. 1649 Bedford Row - Root Architecture
15. RBC Block Redevelopment - 3300800 Nova Scotia Ltd.
16. Historic Properties Revitalization - Armour Group
17. Press Block - Province of NS & Dexel Developments
18. HI Halifax Heritage House Renovations - Canadian Hostelling Association of NS
19. The Pacific Building Renovations - YGE Investments Inc.
20. Sievert’s Building Renovations - 3Two8 Properties
PUBLIC DEVELOPMENT
21. Port of Halifax Redevelopment
22. Pocket Park
23. Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre
24. Provincial Law Courts Redevelopment - Province of Nova Scotia
25. Ferry Terminal Redevelopment - HRM
26. George & Carmichael Streetscape - HRM
27. Capital District Heritage Conservation - HRM
New Bike Lanes
DOWNTOWN’S NEWEST NEIGHBOURHOOD:
The Cogswell District
Talked about for decades, but officially launched at the end of 2021, the Cogswell Redevelopment project is investing $122.6M into public infrastructure. What does that kind of investment look like?
3,400 residential units will be built over the next five years, adding up to 6,800 new residents to Downtown Halifax.
• 10,000+ square feet of new commercial ground floor space will exist.
• Specific design elements have been incorporated to enhance overall accessibility, allowing the project to meet gold level Rick Hansen Certification.
• Over 16 acres of road infrastructure will be converted into mixed-use neighbourhoods.
• High-quality dedicated cycling lanes, multi-use paths, new parks, open spaces and a re-imagined transit hub on Barrington Street.
Granville Park
“Granville Mall,” a once popular pedestrian-only cobblestone street, is about to be enhanced and well-travelled again.
Other plans include:
• A pavilion for markets, festivals, performances and other gatherings.
• A promenade connecting it to the Halifax Waterfront, with expanded crosswalks, planters and lights.
• A plaza with steps and terraced seating that overlooks an interactive fountain.
Granville Park Promenade
Granville Mall Extension includes building frontage which can be activated with outdoor cafés, and seating areas with planters.
Existing multi-use paths will connect to new community green space and gardens, creating inviting parks with expansive views of the Halifax Waterfront.
*These pictures are renderings that depict key elements of the proposed design for the new Cogswell District. This rendition is conceptual in nature and subject to further refinements through the detailed design process.
Source: www.halifax.ca/cogswell
PARKING
Parking is, and always has been, a topic for conversation and debate in all downtowns (big and small.) Downtown Halifax has close to 10,000 public parking spots that almost always have vacancies.
TOTAL AVAILABLE PARKING SPOTS
7,909 Downtown Halifax (DHBC Boundary)
1,915 Spring Garden Area
Source: Halifax Regional Municipality Parking Demand Study, 2022
Now, what do we mean when we say parking spots? In Downtown Halifax this can be easily broken down into privately owned and operated parking lots and garages, and the city owned and operated on-street parking.
Our on-street parking is a pay-by-plate, pay-by-zone system and the “Zone” that covers most of Downtown Halifax’s boundary is Zone B.
ZONE B
2022 - 350,184 paid sessions
2023 - 364,838 paid sessions
The average parking session is 120 minutes.
HOW DO PEOPLE PAY?
The pay stations allow for payment by coin, debit card, credit card and smartphone.
Source: Halifax Regional Municipality
PUBLIC SAFETY
DOWNTOWN REPORTED CRIMES
January 2019 - December 2023
Source: Halifax Regional Police
