[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[Ammn_guy]

This is probably accurate. From inside people I know/spoke.. BC is in contraction mode with staffing only, mostly due to increase efficiency in process/cost cutting, better systems. Not in trouble just trying to stay competitive.

If anything i think the need for main st space would be as a result of them trying to move everyone in to one building. Maybe the "200 spaces" rumour were prior to the Vaughn Harvey building be re negotiated.

I think this is a political game..a stretch of semi truths and possible scenarios to generate false rumours, media buy-in and get people talking. The marketing machine is dreaming up a scenario that works for their interests and sticking it out in the public to generate buy-in. Yes this is development company is ""non profit"". The main expense of all non profits is their CEO's and staff. Regardless of how its spun.

Someone will make some money and probrably at the tax payers expense in some form. No different then royal oaks residence sales benefitting from the new high school.


The real question is.. do the taxpayers want their money spent on this to provide a service we already have (library), with a private "non profit" being the benefactor.

Or Maybe there is no political spin and i am binge watching too many "house of cards" seasons.

Originally Posted by MonctonGuy

Hi,

First time poster, but have followed the forum for quite awhile...

Where to start with MH35...

So, not to divulge too much, but Medavie Blue Cross probably isn't expanding by 200 people in Moncton. MBC is and has been going through an expense management exercise for the last year or so. At one time this meant a lot of scrutiny over any hiring of an employee, especially hiring new, off the street. As well, they also went through a period of shedding some positions over the last period. The extended health benefit market is extremely cut throat... Even if MBC expanded by 200 people, there is still room at the Millennium Blvd office, they just renegotiated a lease for that office and last I recall hearing there is 1/2 the floor not in use. The lease for the Main Street office however is coming due in 2018 (30 year lease started in 1988) and there has been talk about whether to decamp or not; but there is a substantial cost to just up and moving an office and a lot of the employees like working out of the Main Street location. Especially during the summer months...

We have Chris Collins stating it's time to make the right decision and save the building... if the building was once deemed too far gone to save as a school, that it was not safe, would cost too much to fix... why is there now funds to save the building? If there is money to save the building, it should have been used to save it to function as a school... he's using the City of Dieppe as a pawn in the political game of chess... pitting Dieppe vs Moncton... The Liberal government (ok, maybe just Collins) is playing games...

It appears the provincial government is making decisions to try and KILL downtown Moncton. Instead of looking to move things from the core, they should be looking to move things to the core! 4 streets north of Main Street is not downtown, it is on the the very edge... perfect for a school really... don't even get me started about the Casino location...

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Ammn_guy

Or Maybe there is no political spin and i am binge watching too many "house of cards" seasons.

I like your "House of Cards" analogy. Maybe Kevin Spacey is in on the action.......

It would be interesting to know exactly who is responsible for the current hysteria. The easy one to point fingers at is Chris Collins, but maybe he's only being played for a fool and the real "puppet master" is still working behind the scenes.

I think the following guesses are pretty accurate though:

- the provincial government wants the whole MHS saga to go away as quickly as possible. It's not that Brian Gallant really cares about the old high school, it's just because it is such a political liability to the government.
- the easiest way to make the problem go away quickly is to create a "crisis". This is probably what's going on. We're witnessing a manufactured crisis in order to influence people to make ill considered decisions.
- there probably is some truth to the rumour of a potential new commercial/office venture in downtown Dieppe wooing Blue Cross. Their lease is up in 2018, and this would be common knowledge in the business community. The chances of Blue Cross actually leaving downtown are pretty slim though. Still, all the hysteria around this situation will come in very handy as Blue Cross renegotiates it's lease.......
- where does this leave the Moncton Public Library? The library is nothing more than a hostage to the whole situation.

Theres lots of hype going on here, and lots of smoke in the air. The question is how big of a fire is there to generate so much smoke?

It's too bad that the facts surrounding this issue are so obscured. It makes it hard to come up with a rational decision. If however Medavie Blue Cross really doesn't need the library space, then the decision to move the library should be made purely on the merits of such a move. There are powerful arguments on both sides of the issue.

[MonctonGuy]

Originally Posted by Ammn_guy

This is probably accurate. From inside people I know/spoke.. BC is in contraction mode with staffing only, mostly due to increase efficiency in process/cost cutting, better systems. Not in trouble just trying to stay competitive.

If anything i think the need for main st space would be as a result of them trying to move everyone in to one building. Maybe the "200 spaces" rumour were prior to the Vaughn Harvey building be re negotiated.

I didn't mean to make it sound like Medavie Blue Cross was in trouble, far from it really; there were some business hiccups over the last year that forced the company to take a hard look at itself. Sadly some staff were shed as a result of the hiccups. This is why I don't think an expansion of the company if forthcoming. The company is, itself healthy, and posts a modest profit which it reinvests into itself and into their health foundation which provides funding to various groups that deal with things like juvenile diabetes, mental health in adolescents and the like. Even though MBC operates as a not for profit, all business entities need to post some profit to remain in business...

In any event, we should know soon the status of the lease with Medavie Blue Cross and McCor. MBC has a large amount of infrastructure in that building that would need to be planned to be moved elsewhere if they were to up and move. I don't imagine they'll leave this to the last minute...

If I had to estimate, MBC takes up at least 60% of the office space in the Blue Cross Centre; I can't even start to imagine the negative impact to downtown Moncton if they moved.

[lirette]

City of Moncton posted some progress photos of the Downing Street project if anyones interested

https://www.facebook.com/cityofmonct...36347586380734

[Monctoncore]

Looking good! I cannot wait to see the finished product, but also cannot wait to see when they finish the full street, not just the half side his year.

[MonctonRad]

They had the opening ceremony for the new Memorial Park for the slain Mounties on the Moncton riverfront today.

I missed the ceremony, but went down later in the afternoon to have a look. I must say that the memorial is very well done - respectful, unobtrusive and blending into the surrounding parkland in a seamless manner. I was deeply impressed.

Here are some pictures:

[L'homard]

The ceremony was great, if a tad long.
The monument and surroundings are stunning.

[lirette]

Any word on that potential national franchise restaurant going across from the capitol ? Last post I saw on here about it was the construction was "imminent". Surprised we haven't at least heard what the restaurant is.

[MonctonRad]

<crickets>

[trev71]

Originally Posted by lirette

Any word on that potential national franchise restaurant going across from the capitol ? Last post I saw on here about it was the construction was "imminent". Surprised we haven't at least heard what the restaurant is.

you mean the capitol theatre downtown ?

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by trev71

you mean the capitol theatre downtown ?

Yes

[MonctonRad]

Great photo of the Mountie memorial on the riverfront; from the Moncton Daily News:


source: https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...65750974_o.jpg

[Patapouf26]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Great photo of the Mountie memorial on the riverfront; from the Moncton Daily News:


source: https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...65750974_o.jpg

Beautiful shot! Thanks for sharing.

[Monctoncore]

This is from the Saint John thread, just read all the new additions bar wise etc. Where are these kind of developments in Moncton, none of them are chain restaurants etc. We need people to step up and start businesses like these. They would be a lot more attractive to visitors and older bar folk.

think the uptown restaurant bar/pub/restaurant scene is coming into its own as a niche industry and we should capitalize on it. With moosehead building a small batch brewery, and along with picaroons, ale house, big tide, five and dime beer bar, whiskey bar and comedy club we got something special we should be marketing to NB, Maine and NS. In many ways the uptown scene surpasses that of Halifax IMO. I went on the uptown house tour last weekend and it included visits to Historica apartments on Princess and Canterbury. It was a whole new perspective on uptown and couldn't believe. The Princess building has a roof top deck with loungers and BBQs - almost had feel of cruise ship deck. The views of harbour were amazing. These properties are being renovated to top quality - the elevator doors alone I'm sure were at least 9' high gauge stainless steel and take you right up to deck.

[L'homard]

That photo is by Serge Martin, an awesome photographer who deserves credit for this fantastic piece of art.
Moncton Daily News had nothing to do with it. MDN is one guy who rips off the work of other people and of real news agencies and posts it on Facebook as his own.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

This is from the Saint John thread, just read all the new additions bar wise etc. Where are these kind of developments in Moncton, none of them are chain restaurants etc. We need people to step up and start businesses like these. They would be a lot more attractive to visitors and older bar folk.

Saint John has a distinct advantage over Moncton in terms of their built heritage in the uptown area. There are many buildings there of great architectural significance begging to be renovated and repurposed. Happily this is beginning to happen. We should all rejoice in this fact. Saint John will be a much better city for this. I credit the cruise ship industry for kickstarting the uptown revitalization.

Moncton has a different history and trajectory than SJ. That's just the way it is. Even 60-70 years ago, we were a relatively small town compared to them. Consequently we have a much smaller downtown, and thanks to the car culture of the 20th century, a far more suburban character than the port city.

There have been new restaurants and bars in the downtown area over the last 4-5 years, and I am confident that as the city grows, the downtown will gradually densify. This will be a long term project however and we will have to be patient. Downtown will be a different place in 10 years time, especially with the new events centre......

[Patapouf26]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

This is from the Saint John thread, just read all the new additions bar wise etc. Where are these kind of developments in Moncton, none of them are chain restaurants etc. We need people to step up and start businesses like these. They would be a lot more attractive to visitors and older bar folk.

You don't find this is happening in Moncton? I do, but like Rad said, it's just in a different way. Think of all the different options that have opened in the last few years on top of all the classics...

• Mille et une nuit (Blue Olive)
• Kanpai Izakaya
• Tokai Ramen
• Third Glass
• Gusto and Grotto
• Piatto (a 'more' local chain)

[Monctoncore]

Oh yeah, I know a lot has opened up, but recently I had friends come from pei and they enjoy microbrew beers and different beers from around the world and we didn't have many options, tide and boar, the old triangle and that was really it. I have never been to grotto, so not sure what they are like for a later night crowd. The Robinson court area is great for the younger 19-22 age and rouge is not really a place you want to take people for a few beer and a quiet chat. Yes pumphouse is good, but they just offer their own beer and the generic beers like coors and bud. They also enjoy a good glass of whiskey, that's something that most bars offer, but the selection is usually small.
Don't get me wrong! The growth in Moncton is amazing, I would just like to see more bars that cater to an crowd older than 20 haha.

[gehrhardt]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

Oh yeah, I know a lot has opened up, but recently I had friends come from pei and they enjoy microbrew beers and different beers from around the world and we didn't have many options, tide and boar, the old triangle and that was really it. I have never been to grotto, so not sure what they are like for a later night crowd. The Robinson court area is great for the younger 19-22 age and rouge is not really a place you want to take people for a few beer and a quiet chat. Yes pumphouse is good, but they just offer their own beer and the generic beers like coors and bud. They also enjoy a good glass of whiskey, that's something that most bars offer, but the selection is usually small.
Don't get me wrong! The growth in Moncton is amazing, I would just like to see more bars that cater to an crowd older than 20 haha.

Agreed. There is a distinct lack of craft breweries (with storefronts/taprooms) in the Moncton area. I've often thought it would be a good idea for some of the smaller brewers in the area to get together and open a taproom with growler fills. Compared to places like Fredericton, Halifax, and even Charlottetown, Moncton is miles behind on this front.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by gehrhardt

Agreed. There is a distinct lack of craft breweries (with storefronts/taprooms) in the Moncton area. I've often thought it would be a good idea for some of the smaller brewers in the area to get together and open a taproom with growler fills. Compared to places like Fredericton, Halifax, and even Charlottetown, Moncton is miles behind on this front.

There's some weird rules around growler fills. I could be wrong but I think that in order to do growler fills you have to brew beer at that location. It's why the Picaroons Brewtique in Fredericton has a small brew system.

And yes, it does suck that there's not many options for the 30+ crowd for late night spots. Things have improved a bit here in Fredericton lately though.