The Fortis Building is a 12 story high-rise located in downtown St. John's,

Newfoundland and Labrador Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic Canada, Atlantic region. The province comprises t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Expansion

In January 2010, Fortis Properties, a subsidiary of Fortis Inc., announced plans to retrofit its existing building and construct a new 15-storey building next to it. The plan also called for 382 new parking spaces, an outdoor plaza and a pedestrian walk-way over Water Street to the TD Building, all at a cost of $75 million. The construction of the new building would have involved removing four of the company's existing buildings at 151 to 163 Water Street and Harbour Drive as well as amendments to the St. John's Municipal Plan to allow a building of this height in the downtown. The proposal was slammed by members of

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

, heritage advocates and by the public. After two months of controversy surrounding the proposal, Fortis Properties decided to withdraw their application before it had gone to council to be discussed, stating that they felt they did not have the support of council. The withdrawal of the proposal was also controversial and there were complaints that the city was not business friendly and that the four story height limits in downtown were unreasonable. In 2011, the city council approves a new development proposed by Fortis to construct a 12 story building at a new location on the west end of Water Street. The company still plans to retrofit their current building to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification standards.

References

{{St. John's Buildings and structures in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador Buildings and structures completed in 1969