SkyscraperPage Forum - The Great Canadian Skyline thread for CMAs 1 million and under

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hali87 (Post 9056174)

Saint John is one of those cities that (presently) seems nice in theory but has a lot of drawbacks - it competes with the other NB cities for retail, it's far from any major airport, it's not particularly well-connected to the rest of its province, region, or the ROC, or neighbouring Maine, it has a reputation for being badly polluted (not sure how true this still is), its transit system is likely very underfunded, and there's a lot of poorly-maintained buildings/properties. The student population is much lower than might be expected by those outside the region. There isn't a major military/federal presence like there is in Halifax either. Fredericton is better-regarded in terms of nightlife and Moncton is better-regarded in terms of large-scale events. That said, SJ's architecture and the surrounding landscape are pretty unique and interesting, and AFAIK it's the only large-ish city on the Bay of Fundy. If a critical mass of people were to show up, it could be an interesting place to live.

A couple of points:

- All of NB is far away from a major airport. But - we're closer to Bangor and only 4 hours from Halifax.

- YSJ was doing quite well before the pandemic. Flight options weren't drastically different than what was being offered in Fredericton or Moncton. Also, we're very well connected to NS via the Fundy Rose Ferry, and extremely well connected to the US by one of the most overengineered freeways in Canada (a beautiful drive).

- We're closer to the resort town of St. Andrews and the Fundy Trail Parkway... arguably the only nationally and internationally known tourist destinations in NB.

- We receive far more tourists than Moncton or Frederiction (it's not even close).

- Student population is fairly low at 4k BUT the medical school is expanding.

- As far as nightlife is concerned, I'm sorry, but Saint John is leading the way right now. Uptown Saint John has the highest concentration of bars in all of Canada and the restaurants are incredible. Plus there is currently a building boom uptown with thousands of residential units being added and older buildings being refurbished.

- It remains an industrial city, but it has an emerging tech industry too. The two (would be) biggest polluters (the pulp and paper mill and the oil refinery) have had complete and extremely costly overhauls which have made them EXTREMELY clean.

- Saint John also benefits from being situated on the lower Saint John River, so if living amongst the historic buildings and bustling nightlife of Saint John proper doesn't suit you, you can live in Millidgeville, Grand Bay, or Rothesay Quispamsis and enjoy all the benefits of the city while spending most of your time on or near the river instead of the bay.

- As far as retail is concerned... there's basically no difference between the three cities.