The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[cdnguys]

applied under rapid housing grant, they must start by October.

[IMG][/IMG]

[cdnguys]

Stakes are in ground for Broadview

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

120,000 sq. feet for the cancelled one.

Interesting, thanks. Hope this is considerably bigger then.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Interesting, thanks. Hope this is considerably bigger then.

Considering it’s almost double the budget of the new Halifax Central Library and the architectural firm they hired, it should be spectacular.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Project on Boars Head Road on former city property will not proceed at that location due to contaminants and the prohibitive cost to remove them in relation to their budget. Hopefully they’ll find another piece of land because it was a great project.

Do the contaminators ever end up paying for their contamination?


Partridge Island’s museum and subsequent proposed developments were closed/ cancelled for similar reasons… but those responsible for the contamination (Canadian armed forces i believe?) never paid for the site to be cleaned up… seems Saint John is often left responsible to clean up messes they are not responsible for.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Considering it’s almost double the budget of the new Halifax Central Library and the architectural firm they hired, it should be spectacular.

Hope so, I’m cautiously optimistic it will be, but a little skeptical considering how much inflation has occurred between the construction of the Halifax central library and now.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Do the contaminators ever end up paying for their contamination?


Partridge Island’s museum and subsequent proposed developments were closed/ cancelled for similar reasons… but those responsible for the contamination (Canadian armed forces i believe?) never paid for the site to be cleaned up… seems Saint John is often left responsible to clean up messes they are not responsible for.

It’s a city of SJ works property - they were the polluter basically.

[darkharbour]

It’s a lot more technically intensive than the library was too, which is a lot of the cost I’m sure. Books are books, but the NBM has biological collections and labs, as well as much larger artifacts from a number of disciplines. I think people in NB underestimate how diverse the collection is at the NBM and how much active research they are involved in. It’s not just a collection of loyalist memorabilia haha. Not to mention fixing the century old portion of the museum will be incredibly cost intensive, much more than a completely new build would be.

The size makes sense, since the cancelled location was just barely big enough for the current collection, whereas best practice is to build for decades of growth, usually around 25%.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

It’s a city of SJ works property - they were the polluter basically.

The the city of Saint John is responsible for most of the contamination, not the Military that used it in two world wars? Legitimately curious about where all this pollution came from and why it’s been such a barrier to opening anything up on the island… despite the contamination issue that should be dealt with.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting to build housing or community gardens out there, or really have it become a place anyone spends more than a few hours on at a time.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

The the city of Saint John is responsible for most of the contamination, not the Military that used it in two world wars? Legitimately curious about where all this pollution came from and why it’s been such a barrier to opening anything up on the island… despite the contamination issue that should be dealt with.

I don’t think anyone is suggesting to build housing or community gardens out there, or really have it become a place anyone spends more than a few hours on at a time.

I think you are confusing the Boar's Head Road site and Partridge Island.

[Helladog]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

It’s a lot more technically intensive than the library was too, which is a lot of the cost I’m sure....

...Not to mention fixing the century old portion of the museum will be incredibly cost intensive, much more than a completely new build would be.

I expect the project to go over budget as is usually the case with government funded projects, or with large projects in general.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by Helladog

I expect the project to go over budget as is usually the case with government funded projects, or with large projects in general.

Well they did recently say that they are already expecting the project will be around $150 million, so we'll see.

[cdnguys]

[IMG][/IMG]

[DyAm00394]

Some additional and higher quality images from the NB Museum Revitalization Project presentation have been posted on their project website. https://revitalizenbm.com/

"The following Discussion Boards are those that are being shown at our public engagement sessions.

They show the massing, or envelope, of the extension onto the existing building – and a few of the things our architects are considering for features of the building. The purpose of the engagement sessions is to discuss these and other ideas before the design phase of the project gets rolling".

[darkharbour]

It's very exciting to see some preliminary renders, even tough it is obvious that some of the portions of the building are placeholder geometries that are a long way away from final designs. Can't wait to see this new structure, it'll be a huge win for the city and province - and decades overdue for both the staff and priceless collections.

I think at this point it's key to put aside any debate about the location and simply focus on feedback aimed to promote a good design with good interactions with the city and its public realm.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

I think at this point it's key to put aside any debate about the location and simply focus on feedback aimed to promote a good design with good interactions with the city and its public realm.

I am torn on this point. Part of me says get on board and be supportive, while the other part of me says the citizens of NB need to stand up and say that for $150M this is an enormous missed opportunity.

I am sure that the building will be nice, but in this location, it will never be what it could have been. As you say, there probably little sense in debating it at this point however.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

I am torn on this point. Part of me says get on board and be supportive, while the other part of me says the citizens of NB need to stand up and say that for $150M this is an enormous missed opportunity.

I am sure that the building will be nice, but in this location, it will never be what it could have been. As you say, there probably little sense in debating it at this point however.

Instead of trying to debate or argue the whole project should be located Uptown, we could at least stay on message that they should also be building an exhibition site Uptown. Just seems like a huge wasted opportunity not to have something Uptown when there's 200k+ cruise ship passengers coming here every year.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Instead of trying to debate or argue the whole project should be located Uptown, we could at least stay on message that they should also be building an exhibition site Uptown. Just seems like a huge wasted opportunity not to have something Uptown when there's 200k+ cruise ship passengers coming here every year.

The museum will be an easy walk from harbour passage for cruise visitors. I’m not even convinced it would be of interest to that type of clientele. Myself I wouldn’t cater to them - I’d cater to locals and school kids. The end result will be awesome and save the historic facade to boot. It’s a wonderful location overlooking the river on an historic avenue beside an under-appreciated park. Spending money on a satellite building would just take away from making an epic building.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

The museum will be an easy walk from harbour passage for cruise visitors. I’m not even convinced it would be of interest to that type of clientele. Myself I wouldn’t cater to them - I’d cater to locals and school kids. The end result will be awesome and save the historic facade to boot. It’s a wonderful location overlooking the river on an historic avenue beside an under-appreciated park. Spending money on a satellite building would just take away from making an epic building.

wouldn't cater to that type of client? Museums are absolutely something that tourists like to visit... I still think a secondary site could be done in a way that doesn't detract from the main museum, but rather promotes it. What if the secondary location Uptown wasn't an exhibition site, but a wooden tall ship? Shipbuilding and tall ships are a huge part of NB history... the NB Museum purchasing a tall ship or commissioning a 1:1 replica of the Marco Polo would be a worthy, smart investment... something that could be enjoyed by tourists and locals alike.

I think we'll have to come up with some novel ways to actually get people there by means other than walking. I think some bike share rental locations at the cruise ship terminal, along the harbour passage, in front of the museum, near reversing falls, at the front of the Martello tower, and other relevant tourist sites would be a good place to start... not only would bike share locations be good for cruise ship visitors who want to see more of the city than they'd probably see on foot alone, it would be a tremendous active transportation asset for local residents too. I was just in Toronto, and they have almost 700 bike share locations... definitely something we can emulate on a smaller scale here in Saint John.

[JakeNB]

Not sure why anyone would think that tourists are not interested in museums. Just back from Amsterdam where we spent the better part of a day at the Rijksmuseum (which gets almost 3 million visitors a year). The Van Gogh museum was sold out for 3 weeks. Also spent an afternoon at the national marine history museum on the waterfront where they had not one but two tall ships that visitors could board and explore. But yeah, tourists aren’t interested in museums.