Pleasant Street demolition highlights construction communication gaps for HRM residents
When Anna Ramsay woke up in the middle of the night on February 7, the building behind her property was on fire.
“We were up in our upstairs window,” Ramsay said. “We could feel the heat from the flame. If the winds had been in this direction instead of the other, the trees here would have caught.”
When you walk into Ramsay’s backyard on Brock Street in Dartmouth on a humid day, you might think you stumbled out of the urban jungle and into the Amazon. The contrast is more shocking when you emerge from beneath the canopy of heartnut, mulberry, persimmons and Japanese pears, into a demolition site at the southwestern property line.
Until the end of August, the ruins were part of an abandoned unit in a building that shared a wall with several Brock Street backyards.
Starfish Demolition and Services completed the demolition without any problems, but for Ramsay and other residents it was the final act in a saga of anxiety that lasted almost two decades.
“I’m happy to see it come down, because it’s been an eyesore,” Ramsay said about a week before demolition was finished.
The Pleasant Street Diner shares a lot with the demolition site. Owner Stephen Fatouros said he had to close the restaurant for three weeks to repair smoke damage after the fire.
“We had to start all over again,” Fatouros said. “That was pretty scary. Luckily, the businesses didn’t get worse damage. We’re pretty thankful for that.”
Fatouros said the demolition work didn’t affect his business but he thinks people should be informed when large projects are coming to their neighbourhood.
“Folks who live in the area deserve to hear what’s going on," Fatouros said.
The demolished unit was a Sobeys grocery store when Ramsay put down roots on Brock Street 40 years ago. Sobeys closed the store in 2009 and sold the property with a 20-year restriction preventing another grocery store from occupying the space. Other businesses have come and gone since it closed.
It was abandoned when it caught fire.
The Competition Bureau of Canada has been investigating the use of restrictive covenants that prevent new businesses from occupying old spaces in HRM since 2024. The bureau widened it to a national investigation in June 2026. In July Empire Company Ltd. (the parent corporation of Sobeys) announced it would stop using and enforcing restrictive covenants and scaling back exclusivity clauses that restrict what nearby stores can sell.
A demolition permit was issued for the burned-out shell of the former Sobeys on Pleasant Street in June, four months after the fire and one month before the covenant was lifted.
The trees Ramsay could have lost took fifteen years to grow, alongside an urban micro-nursery business. Even though Starfish did “a great job” and there was no damage, she said she’s upset because nobody ever spoke with residents before work started. She said the abandoned property, fire and lack of communication are all problems anyone might face when construction and commerce come to their backyard.
Resident Concerns
The demolition permit was issued for 205 Pleasant Street in June, but nobody spoke to Ramsay until after the work started at the end of July.
“There were workers on the roof and the front of the building starting to separate the unit from the rest,” Ramsay said.
The building is owned by Regency Capital. Ramsay said she’s been unable to find a contact for the company so she called HRM. The municipality returned her call on August 9.
“She said she could let them know a neighbouring property owner had concerns but when I offered to pass my contact info along, she said she could not do that,” Ramsay said. “She told me she would do a drive by today to check on any safety concerns.”
A spokesperson for HRM later confirmed the site was inspected and did not expose residents to undue risk.
“We are following all of the required regulations and safety protocols,” said Mitchell Forrest with Starfish. The company didn’t reach out during the first part of the project because there were no safety concerns, he said.
“These things can be quite intrusive for the neighbourhood but we don’t normally go around door-to-door,” Forrest said.
Contractors and property owners are under no obligation to notify adjacent residents before demolition work begins, said HRM.
Starfish sent someone to evaluate Ramsay’s property and discuss the project on August 12 after speaking with The South Dartmouth Post. By the time the wall was down on August 20, Ramsay said she was pleased with the result, but it should be easier for residents to get answers from property owners, contractors and the municipality.
“It’s just the safety and transparency,” Ramsay said. “We want to know what’s going on.”
Fatouros says his relationship with his landlords at Regency Capital has been positive.
“We haven’t had any difficulties or issues,” he said.
The Post attempted to reach Regency Capital for comment but could not find a public listing.