This building is slated for redevelopment.

From the HRM website:
Zellers Building
1593/95 Barrington Street, Halifax
Built:Opened 1939
Style:Art Deco
Architect:Gratton D. Thompson
Owner:1595 Visitors Centre Ltd.

The former Zellers building is the best example of the Art Deco style in HRM.
Three storeys high and constructed of sandstone, the building occupies the western end of the block
bounded by Barrington, Sackville and Granville Streets. Its Barrington Street facade is divided into
a 2-5-2 window arrangement, which is subtlyaccented on the upper storeys bystylized pilasters and
a slightly projecting roofline parapet. A decorative band of parallel lines and floral motifs divides
the ground floor from the upper floors, and there are similar geometric motifs above the second
storey windows and in a continuous band at the roof line.

The developer says:
Halifax could be home to a new 20-storey apartment building or a 15-storey office tower.

“It depends on the market,” Frank Medjuck, president of 1595 Investments Ltd., the company that owns the building at 1595 Barrington St., said in an interview on Tuesday.

Mr. Medjuck said plans to enter into a development agreement to allow for a 200-foot mixed-use commercial-residential building on the downtown site were sent to Halifax Regional Municipality staff in December.

“There’s a big demand by government for downtown development,” he said. “We’ve put it on the table and we’ll see what happens.”

Mr. Medjuck said the project would cost $15 million to $20 million. He expected it would be four years before anything new is built on the site, a former Zellers department store that his company bought 25 years ago.

The building is now home to the Discovery Centre, a hands-on science centre that Mr. Medjuck said could be part of the proposed new development.

“They’ve been good for Barrington Street,” he said of the centre.

“They’re safe and sound for the time being.”

Mr. Medjuck said the proposal complies with all municipal bylaws and harbour view-plane requirements.

While the art-deco building, which was built in the 1930s, doesn’t have a heritage designation, he said the plans include retaining its carved facade “in a gesture to the street.”