A Halifax apartment building that went viral in 2019 after a construction crane toppled onto it, has been renamed ahead of its opening.
Co-owner of the building, Seymour Trihopoylos with Olympus Properties, says the building has now been named the Crane.
“I think it’s funny,” he says, adding that the name is fitting because that’s what the building is known for.
“It was a big news story of the day, during Hurricane Dorian, across the world so it fit.”
The crane collapsed on the South Park Street building on Sept. 7, 2019, amid strong winds from when Dorian moved inland.
The province declared a state of emergency around the building for nearly two months after the crane collapsed.
“In essence (it) restricted access to the property for over two months,” Trihopoylos says.
Then, developers has to work through the winter months which additionally delayed construction.
“It was very difficult to work in those conditions, especially 13 stories in the air where most of the damage is isolated to the top three floors of the building.”
But, Trihopoylos says that was the best-case scenario.
“The very fortunate thing about the whole thing was that nobody was hurt. It could have been a lot worse,” he says.
“I said back at the time when the crane fell down, that’s the best thing that could have happened is that it fell on our building, avoiding any human casualties.”
Although plans to finish the building were delayed by more than a year, Trihopoylos says he and his family, owners of the property, are proud of how it turned out.
“We believe that we put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into that project.”
Soon, people will be able to move into the Crane – the building, not the machine – with units listed for May 1.
The 61-unit building contains one and two-bedroom apartments with monthly rental prices ranging from $1,895 to $2,845 – higher than Halifax’s average rental price.
Trihopoylos says the response to the name change has been positive so far.
“My son called me a few hours ago and goes ‘Dad, we’re all over social media.’”
“A lot of people like the name that we’ve chosen for the building,” he says.
“Some people think it’s funny, of course, and we think it you know, puts a smile on people’s faces.
“It’s a bad news story turned into a good news story.”
The provincial government said in November 2019 it would pay $2 million to clean up the collapsed crane and have the area reopened, with the former transportation minister saying the province planned to make efforts to recover the money.
A provincial report on the cause of the collapse is expected to be presented later this year.
In October 2019, a proposed class-action lawsuit was launched to recover losses sustained by businesses and tenants against developers W.M. Fares Architects Inc., and W.M. Fares and Associates Inc., Lead Structural Formwork Ltd., of Moncton, N.B. — the owner, operator and installer of the crane — and Manitowoc Company Inc., the U.S.-based designer of the crane.
–With files from The Canadian Press
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