Alexis Cormier

Name: Alexis Cormier

Profession: Project Manager for Facility Projects
Corporate Quality Assurance Manager
Director/Choreographer of a Professional Hip Hop Dance Company

Place of Work: MHPM Project Managers Inc.
The Woods Professional Hip Hop Dance Company, in residence at Halifax Dance

Education: Bachelor of Engineering, Industrial (Dalhousie University)
Bachelor of Science, Math (Dalhousie University)

Dance: Coastal Dance Studio, Lenny de la Pena (Flavor Shop, Toronto), Mariano Palomares (Glizi, Bag of Trix), Yvon Soglo (Crazy Smooth, Bboyizm), Further education from – Luther Brown (DoDat Entertainment), Jayson Wright (Edge Performing Arts Centre, L.A.), Gil Duldulao (choreographer, Janet Jackson), and Jaquel Knight (choreographer, Beyonce).

What does your typical day consist of: My typical day consists of heading to office during the regular 8 am to 5 pm to work on large facility construction projects with various project teams or managing some facet of the Quality Management System (ISO9001:2008) for our firm nation-wide. Projects could include anything from an airport to a bioscience research centre to the country’s most famous wooden ship. I contribute to each project team in a different way depending on the mandate, so I could be handling regular contract management for construction or I could be participating in a strategic workshop to help a client develop a project plan or risk assessment for their new endeavor.

As the Quality Assurance Manager I calculate and analyze our national client feedback performance indices and develop continual improvement plans for our overall management system. I also travel to each of our offices once a year (15 offices across major Canadian cities) to audit the quality of work and manage my team of Quality Assurance Delegates through national summits.

After 5 pm or on the weekends, I am usually in the dance studio teaching or choreographing or attending one of Halifax’s cultural or arts events, either as a participating artist or as an attendee.

Why do your love your job: I love the dichotomy of my day: technical and artistic. I don’t think I could be successful in one without the other. On one hand, I can bring a creative and ‘outside the box’ perspective to a technical team, on the other, I can see the math in formulating a concept and implementing it in an aesthetically pleasing way on a group of dancers. The commonality between my two jobs is process. I appreciate that the best product comes from a well thought out and customized process, its the Industrial Engineer in me… or is it the artist in me?

The one thing that you want to tell me that I wouldn’t know to ask you about: When implementing an idea to a client, or a colleague, or a dancer, the delivery is just as important as the idea itself. I find the most success comes from understanding the recipient and how they ‘learn’. In all my roles, I rely on making educating a two-way communication. That way I am learning as much as I am outputting. There is a funny saying in Industrial Engineering: ‘we are telling them the time with their own watch’. Therefore, success relies on understanding that the subject receiving the information is just as much a part of the process as you are.

Where do you live: Central Halifax

Why do you like living/working in Halifax: Halifax offers all of the perks and interest of a major international destination in a manageable size. We have a great cultural mix being a port city, and thriving industrial and arts communities. I have traveled and lived abroad and realized that the most precious commodity we have is time; a lot of time can be lost in long commutes. Halifax has high quality of entertainment and work environments, and you can actually get to them easily. Another great aspect of living in Halifax, is the easy access we have to the rest of the world because of our location. As a euro-file I frequently abuse the quick jump across the pond and direct flights to major European destinations and also appreciate the easy drive or flight to the American eastern seaboard.

Why home ownership is important to you: I would not be able to fulfill the needs of my two jobs if it weren’t for the location and style of living I have in my current home. In Central Halifax I am within 1 km of the office, Halifax Dance, local venues, and all of the regular ‘life’ supports; grocery, pharmacy, home supplies, yoga, shopping, restaurants. I completely rely on being able to dash home and quickly turn around to hit another commitment. Further to that, I would not be able to maintain a full-sized home with the amount of travel I do. Condo living provides the convenience of taking the recyclables and compost out to a central depot when it works for you, instead of remembering ‘garbage day’. Having grounds and snow maintenance taken care of is an invaluable service that manages work that I couldn’t do with the amount of time I have at home. My home and I are a perfect fit.

The Listening Room/Latrinidade, corner of Granville & Salter

Bars and restaurants come and go in Halifax like junior high school love interests. Some beat the odds though, and pleasantly surprise everyone with their longevity. I’ve got a good feeling about The Listening Room/Latrinidade, the newest addition to Halifax’s nightlife and dining scene.

Downtown Halifax's version of Eat, Pray, Love

The Listening Room/Latrinidade first started out in November of 2011 strictly as a lounge/bar, then introduced food into the picture and have a great menu, including a number of great tapas dishes as well as creative mains and appetizers. They also take a Montreal based approach to the BYOB concept, and every weeknight as long as you’re eating, you can bring your own wine for free. I really like this approach, rather than the one-day-a-week special, this is their norm.

Lounge/bar at The Listening Room/Latrinidade

I’ve been coming to Latrinidade since it first opened, and have to say that from my perspective the place is really well run and is being used to its full potential. It is many things in one – a great restaurant, a unique hangout courtesy of the cool decor, segmented layout and the BYOB option, a very fun lounge/bar/club and a great event space. Since the length of the venue spans the entire block of Salter Street between Granville & Hollis, with floor to ceiling windows backing out onto the harbour, this is a great place to have a party.

Great decor & atmosphere

While Latrinidade is not on the beaten path of the Argyle Street bar route, I think it’s in a perfect spot, as a perfect middle ground between Tribeca (RIP) and Pacifico Nightclub. Not only is it directly between these 2 bars geographically, but it is a bit of a step up from the now closed Tribeca’s grimey feel, and a comfortable step down from Pacifico’s dress shirt required night club feel. And now that Tribeca is shut down, Latrinidade serves as a great alternative for those looking to have a drink (or many) while avoiding the usual downtown crowd.

Me and Chris Killam enjoying a drink at The Listening Room/Latrinidade

Overall this is a great new spot, and I for one hope that it is here to stay. If you haven’t been down here yet, grab a friend, grab a bottle of wine (or two), head down there for dinner, and then stay for the evening when Halifax’s favorite DJ’s start to show up.

Stocked bar

Drew Moore

Name: Drew Moore

Profession: Ex-Teacher, Entrepreneur

Place of Work: Concrete Roots

Education: Bachelor of Arts, English Literature – University of Waterloo
French Immersion Diploma – Université Sainte Anne
B.Ed, Secondary English – University of Maine at Presque Isle
Dance – Lenny Dela Pena, Mariano Glizzi Abarca, Savio, Puzzles Suen, Yvon Crazy Smooth Soglo and currently learning salsa from the Halifax Salseros

What does your typical day consist of: It’d be much easier to describe my typical week. For the most part, I get to work at home, booking teaching and performing gigs for dancers in the Maritimes. I fit in some prep work on whatever upcoming event or competition we have, develop relationships with other youth service providers in Nova Scotia and other dancers across Canada. One day a week I have a co-op student working with me, one of our own youth instructors learning the administrative side of the organization. And I go out and teach dance about 15-20 hours a week.

Why do your love your job: There are many reasons why I love my job. My background is in education and I love that I still get to work with youth in an educational role. I love that what we do with Concrete Roots has a positive impact on our community, both in terms of youth services and in contributing to the arts and culture fabric in HRM and the rest of Nova Scotia. And I really do love working from home, which allows me the flexibility in my schedule to pursue other interests.

The one thing that you want to tell me that I wouldn’t know to ask you about: I am particularly interested in what businesses do to educate others. Growing up, I really had no idea what my options were after school, and I definitely never imagined I’d become an entrepreneur. I feel everyone should take on some responsibility to teach others about what they do and I love seeing the various ways in which some companies are already doing this.

Where do you live: I’m pretty sure my fiancée and I live in one of the best neighbourhoods in HRM, Regatta Point, just off the Purcell’s Cove Road exit from the Armdale Rotary. It’s a quiet neighbourhood with little traffic and friendly neighbours, walking trails along the Northwest Arm, bike lanes going out Purcell’s Cove Road, Chocolate Lake Community Centre and Chocolate Lake nearby and an express bus route that gets us downtown in under ten minutes.

Why do you like living/working in Halifax: Halifax is just right for me. I grew up in New Glasgow, and spent a lot of time in Toronto in university. Halifax is an economic, cultural and educational centre without losing its sense of neighbourly community. Not only are there a lot of cool people doing great things here, chances are they’re all connected. I feel a lot of great creative and entrepreneurial energy coming from all of those connections, often inspired by our arts and culture community. There are certainly some things that need tweaking but we have a lot to be proud of here in Halifax.

Why home ownership is important to you: It’s important for us because it’s an investment in our future. A large part of our monthly spending goes toward something that we can benefit from down the road. We have something now that we can really work with to make it reflect our tastes.

Odessa to Halifax

My grandparents (Mother’s parents) moved to Canada from Odessa, Ukraine in 2003. It was a big decision for them, as they left behind everything that they had known for a long time, but wanted to come here to be with their family, and we of course wanted them to be here with us.

Grandparents at citizenship ceremony

Needless to say, their quality of life is better here than in Ukraine. They quickly started picking up the language, and can now speak enough to make themselves understood, and understand a lot more than they sometimes let on (especially my grandfather, he is a pretty sneaky guy!). They learned how to use a computer, and are now constantly online, watching Russian TV shows and movies, following Ukrainian and world news, and staying in touch with their relatives and friends all over the world via Skype and email. Technology is a wonderful thing, and they embrace it, again my grandfather in particular.

Valentine after receiving citizenship paperwork

Recently a very exciting event happened – my grandparents finally became Canadian citizens. The ceremony took place downtown Halifax, and was a pretty interesting cultural event – there were 40+ people receiving their citizenship, from over 20 different countries. My grandparents were the most senior of the group, and were cheered on by all of the participants in the ceremony when their names were called.

Valentine and Frida receiving Canadian citizenship

While this was of course a happy and proud occasion for my family and I, this wouldn’t be my blog if I didn’t have some kind of opinion on things. Canada is a wonderful country. Sure, there is room for improvement with certain policies, government structure, etc. But overall, we have it pretty good (anyone that disagrees should do some traveling, and see how other countries have it). And the key concept is that it is CANADA that has built itself up in such a manner. Not some other country. And certainly not some other country’s ancient, symbolic leader. Which we for some reason continue to cherish as a nation.

My grandparents, who truly are happy, excited and proud to be called Canadian citizens, had to swear an oath to the Queen of England (I gritted my teeth just now capitalizing her name, but I am a stickler for grammar). What does the Queen of a country on a continent which they left to come here have to do with their allegiance to the country which they now call home? Nothing. I do believe and understand that traditions are important, but when they spill over into laws and bureaucratic processes (which are already drowning in absurd procedures and inefficiencies), we are crossing the line.

Grandparents with RCMP and police officer

Canada should be proud of itself, and what it has become as a nation. This is why people like my family, and my grandparents, want to come live here. Recognizing where you come from is important, but I think standing on your own two legs is more important. Canada has accomplished a lot… new Canadians should be swearing allegiance to Canada… not an outdated political title of an outdated political system of some other country that has absolutely no bearing or relevance to the immigrants that are excited to move to Canada and contribute to its growth and success.

Me with happy new Canadians

None of this really excuses me from not finding the time for something that I love to do, so finally we are back on the air. By we, I clearly mean “I”, it just makes the site sound more important if I pretend there’s a whole squad of people working on this thing. I am quite excited about some of the updates, the main ones being:

Greatly improved navigation
There is now full navigation across the top of the page, as well the menu to the right.

Categories
You can easily choose to read only about what you want, whether that’s restaurants, real estate, etc. – everything is categorized for your viewing pleasure.

More photos of me
No explanation required.

COOL PEOPLE, COOL JOBS
This is the newest part of the site that I am most excited about. Being in the mortgage business allows me the unique opportunity of meeting many different people, and learning about what they do for a living. The Cool People, Cool Jobs section is designed to share the stories and profiles of our awesome clients, what they do for a living, and why they like living/working in Halifax. The first profile is to be posted shortly, with many more to come.

I pledge to keep the regular updates coming, and I encourage suggestions for topics.

Having met with many clients throughout the years, I have learned how many interesting and unique industries and lines of business there are in Halifax, and how many jobs exist within each field. I am firm believer that if I find something interesting, there must be someone else out there that does as well. This lead me to create this section of OurHalifax.com: Cool People, Cool Jobs, where I profile my clients and showcase what they do for a living. There are lot of interesting stories from the people contributing to Halifax’s economy, and since I have the opportunity to hear them first hand, I am excited to share them with you.

Fire Ocean Roll at Wasabi House

A new sushi place is open on Quinpool Road! And it’s awesome to say the least. Now, Halifax has a lot of sushi of places, many of them very established and with strong followings, however I am confident that the newly opened Wasabi House on Quinpool Road will quickly grow to be a force to be reckoned with.

Opening in the space occupied for decades by the Spartan diner, Wasabi House has done some great renovations to transform the space into a more modern restaurant with a very open concept feeling. As soon as you enter you are greeted by the sushi chef directly from the sushi station. The service is top notch, water is constantly in refill mode and the wait staff are quick to help navigate the menu. The menu itself is well presented and has many unique sushi rolls and combos, as well as traditional Japanese entrees.

Dining area & sushi station at Wasabi House

I went with a few friends for lunch and ordered the Maki Diamond combo – 6pc spicy salmon, 6pc spicy tuna, 6pc California roll & 8pc dragon roll (shrimp tempura with your choice of 5 different toppings such as BBQ eel or mango). However, I substituted my dragon roll for a Fire Ocean Roll: panko crusted salmon, tuna, butterfish & cucumber roll with flying fish roe and served with wasabi mayo. Sign me up. By the way, the substitutions are very cheap, I believe they just charge you the difference in price.

Maki combo at Wasabi House

Soup & salad starter at Wasabi House

I have to say that this was some of the best sushi I have ever tasted. The fish was extremely fresh and flavorful, the toppings were incredible and the miso soup and salad were delicious as well. By the way, all of the above was $25. In my opinion this is some of the best tasting, high quality sushi in Halifax, even more so for its prices.

I really like this restaurant and suggest you go check it out today, and if you are lucky your server will be Hai – super nice and knowledgeable and truly passionate about the food. He also informed us that the owner’s wife makes amazing gyoza (dumplings), which I really look forward to trying. Go to Wasabi House today, corner of Quinpool and Oxford, directly across from the Oxford Theater – you will not regret it.

Back area of Wasabi House

1211 Queen Street exterior

Halifax has plenty of high end real estate with a number of properties well over the $1 million mark. Many of these are incredible dream homes, but sometimes it is not the most expensive house that stands out. There is currently a property on the market that to me is the perfect home, and while it’s below the $1 million price tag, it is still a little bit outside of my personal reach (for now!).

At an asking price of $799,000 I think 1211 Queen Street is worth every penny. Listed by Steve Patterson of Red Door Realty, this downtown home is on the corner of Queen and South Streets, within immediate walking distance to every imaginable amenity. From the outside it looks like a nice enough home, but not necessarily demanding of a second look. However based on the photos, the interior is where things get interesting.

The link to the listing details is at the end of the article, so I won’t get into repeating too many details that are already noted, but I’ll touch on my favorites. The entire house features high end modern finishes, combined with exposed brick walls. I am sucker for this contrast – the old with the new looks great together. On a side note this is something that opponents of downtown development need to understand – modern structures and design look great next to historical properties.

Kitchen & dining area, combining high end finishes and original character

Moving on, this property also features floating stairs on every level – an awesome feature that I think adds a very futuristic look, but because the steps are made of maple, still maintains a rustic and elegant appeal.

Floating stairs - may be dangerous if you have small children, but awesome otherwise

The coolest part of this house is definitely the upper level, which is a loft style master suite complete with a fully operational glass garage door (yes, you read that properly) which opens into a large balcony with a 6 person hot tub overlooking the entire harbor. If that doesn’t sell it, then I don’t know what will.

Top floor master bedroom with glass garage door opening to the deck, overlooking Halifax harbour

To top it all off, there is a separate 1 bedroom apartment on the lower level that brings in $800/month which should help with the mortgage payment on the $800K price tag. Speaking of the mortgage, based on the full asking price and today’s fully discounted 5 year fixed rate this property would have a monthly payment of $3,366.24, assuming the minimum down payment of 5% of the price – $39,950. If a larger down payment was available, 20% for example to avoid CMHC insurance premiums, the monthly payment would drop to $2,753.50. However 20% of $799,000 works out to be $159,800 required out of pocket. The taxes on the place are approximately an additional $450/month. Like I said above, I think it’s worth every penny.

Here’s a link to the property details on the Red Door Realty website, check this amazing property out for yourself here.

Rendering of the Grainery Lofts upon completion

New apartments! Featuring high end finishes and appliances, floor to ceiling windows, fitness facilities and views of a gargantuan concrete structure that can withstand a nuclear fallout and was probably used as the set for the movie the ‘Book of Eli’ starring Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman and Mila Kunis (who is one of my favorite people to stare at on my TV and has really progressed since her ‘That 70′s Show’ days). But I digress.

We’ve all seen the mysterious grain elevator eerily looming over the venerable luxury of the Halifax South End, and wondered… what the hell does that thing do, and will anyone ever develop anything around it? Apparently the answer is yes. Not only is Southwest Properties well in the process of building a 6 storey, 113 apartment complex directly next to the grain elevator, but they are also employing some rather forward thinking methods from an environmental perspective.

The Grainery Lofts building under construction on South Bland Street

The building is called the Grainery Lofts, and will be the first residential building in Atlantic Canada to receive the LEED Gold certification (the second highest available). This means that many considerations were… well… taken into consideration when putting the project together, one of which was using recycled materials from old buildings around the city. Also, tenants will be able to monitor their own energy consumption by logging onto a website and checking the electrical and water usage for their suite. The LEED certification is more common in newly constructed commercial properties, as corporate tenants often must meet certain environmentally friendly criteria in their office spaces, but it is a trend that will likely continue to develop in the residential sector as well.

Grainery Lofts building with the grain elevator looming in the background

I’m glad to see this development happening and I hope that its proximity to what is arguably the ugliest landmark in HRM does not cause problems with filling the units. One of the main reasons why I like this development is that Southwest chose to find what little land is still available in the heart of the peninsula and build UP on it, instead of continuing to add to the suburban sprawl. Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of demand for the suburbs and they serve their purpose, but there’s already plenty of developers working on those. It’s great to see a building going up downtown, despite the potential risks posed by it’s next door neighbor. The overall location however is ideal, and these higher end units will be great choices for young professionals working downtown as well as international students considering that SMU is just up the road.

Back view of Grainery Lofts in close proximity to the grain elevator

Occupancy is expected for 2012, and I hope to see this project succeed. I am also curious if perhaps Southwest is thinking long-term with this development – the grain elevator will hopefully be torn down at some point, leaving some prime South End real estate behind. When and if this happens, Southwest will already have a foothold in the area, and can make a play at acquiring the newly available land right away. Or maybe that will never happen. Who knows… your thoughts?

The current state/look of the CD Plus building on Barrington Street

Barrington Street’s facelift just went shopping for some expensive make-up. Yet another building is going to be completely rebuilt into a fantastic modern structure, effortlessly blending in with the historic brick turrets of the Khyber next door.

The 60 year old structure that used to house CD Plus is going to be demolished and rebuilt into a 6 storey, 10,000 square foot building. The main floor will be a retail space, with the remaining floors set aside for open concept office spaces, with the idea that it will be up to the businesses that ultimately occupy them to arrange the interiors to suit their needs. The building will then be topped off with a roof top patio.

Those that have read any of my development related blog posts will know that I am automatically 100% behind this development. Our downtown certainly has beautiful historic properties that need to be maintained, but if they are crumbling from the inside out then it’s time for them to be replaced by developers with vision and a modern approach to architecture. Which is exactly what’s happening in this case, and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Construction is expected to start in 2012 (provided that the Mayans aren’t right and the world doesn’t end before then).

I’m not sure how much opposition this project received from the usual crybabies that resist change and cringe at the word “new”. The building is not very tall so the sacred views from the Citadel are not affected, and it’s only 60 years old so there’s not too much history to protect. Hopefully this means that everything will go ahead smoothly and we’ll have an exciting new modern building gracing Barrington Street in no time.

Here’s a rendering of what the project will look like upon completion, click it to enlarge:

Rendering of the rebuilt CD Plus building on Barrington Street