The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by Helladog

Maybe they should finish the Harbourfront Residences second building (or maybe they will say it never existed ).

Harbourfront was a failure wasn't it? I always understood sales were very slow (as opposed to other cities where waterview condo projects are often largely sold out before completion.) From what I've seen from photos on Realtor.ca the units are not nearly as nicely sized or well finished compared to what I would have expected given the location

Even so, why not pivot and build a building of rental units on the vacant land?

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Harbourfront was a failure wasn't it? I always understood sales were very slow (as opposed to other cities where waterview condo projects are often largely sold out before completion.) From what I've seen from photos on Realtor.ca the units are not nearly as nicely sized or well finished compared to what I would have expected given the location

Even so, why not pivot and build a building of rental units on the vacant land?

Agreed, it wasn't great as a finished product, and neither courtyard area was as nice as promised either. To be fair, it was a very low time in SJ real estate when it was built, I would imagine a second building now would sell much, much faster.

For those that don't remember, this was the promised full project build-out:

[Helladog]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

Agreed, it wasn't great as a finished product, and neither courtyard area was as nice as promised either. To be fair, it was a very low time in SJ real estate when it was built, I would imagine a second building now would sell much, much faster.

For those that don't remember, this was the promised full project build-out:

It's true, they had a hard time selling; and as you stated, they would prolly do fine in today's market. At the time, it was a bit of a test. This is likely why it's so hard to get developers to commit to projects in a timely fashion.

Some others:

[sailor734]

What a shame it didn't succeed. It would have been a lovely addition to Uptown.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by Helladog

It's true, they had a hard time selling; and as you stated, they would prolly do fine in today's market. At the time, it was a bit of a test. This is likely why it's so hard to get developers to commit to projects in a timely fashion.

Some others:

That would have been stunning, but there remains a lot of room to build great things on the harbour front.

Trudeau and PP's idea to build housing on federally owned port lands could make a lot of sense to get projects like these built. There's ample room to build housing on top of the existing Marco Polo and Diamond Jubilee Cruise ship terminal, as well as on the fringes of Lower Cove terminal.

The transition from the Lower Cove Loop to Broad St/Charlotte street is freaking grim.

There's many options to get transformative residential developments built on federally owned PSJ land without disrupting port operations.

Charlotte Street South deserves better than to look like this very uninviting road to nowhere.

[DyAm00394]

AllNewBrunswick is reporting that Place 400 has found a buyer after they cut the price in half. Anyone with access to details?

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

AllNewBrunswick is reporting that Place 400 has found a buyer after they cut the price in half. Anyone with access to details?

Buyer intends to keep it as office space. Same owner as 75 Prince William, which is fully occupied. Apparently he paid just $20/sf for Place 400, which has 100K sf of vacant space today.

[TitleRequired]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Buyer intends to keep it as office space. Same owner as 75 Prince William, which is fully occupied. Apparently he paid just $20/sf for Place 400, which has 100K sf of vacant space today.

How much would this go for in Halifax or Moncton per sq ft? Is this super low?

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

AllNewBrunswick is reporting that Place 400 has found a buyer after they cut the price in half. Anyone with access to details?

The investor commented this on the Retail Talk And Share NB post about this:

“We are excited to have the property under contract. It will take considerable investment and Capital Expenditure but with the entry price we are confident we can invest largely to make sure the space suits our future tenant's needs.
Our plan is to invest in the property to bring it back to being a premium office building.

With the lower price we will purchase the property it allows us the opportunity to pass those savings onto local business owners who can lease the building at material discount to fair market rate while we lease the building up again.

Business owners this is your chance to save serious money on your leasing costs and take your business to the next level!
If you are looking for office space from 2,000 up to 100,000 Square Feet please reach out to [email protected]”.

“Here is the bottom line. There is vacancy and we are going to buy Place 400 and slash the rental rates so that any business owner looking for rental space can cut their lease operating expense by approximately half!!!

We will not solve the vacancy in the market (but that will solve itself over time). But what we will do is allow for business owners to take their business to the next level and spend less. The pain for property owners, is a GAIN for business owners!

The low lease rates will help new business get established and be profitable for years to come!

This is an opportunity for business owners that hasn’t been seen for decades! We are able to do that because we will purchase it less than 22% of what the building sold for in 2017. We are going to pass most of those savings onto the new tenants!!!

If you are interested DM me!”.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

The investor commented this on the Retail Talk And Share NB post about this:

“We are excited to have the property under contract. It will take considerable investment and Capital Expenditure but with the entry price we are confident we can invest largely to make sure the space suits our future tenant's needs.
Our plan is to invest in the property to bring it back to being a premium office building.

With the lower price we will purchase the property it allows us the opportunity to pass those savings onto local business owners who can lease the building at material discount to fair market rate while we lease the building up again.

Business owners this is your chance to save serious money on your leasing costs and take your business to the next level!
If you are looking for office space from 2,000 up to 100,000 Square Feet please reach out to [email protected]”.

“Here is the bottom line. There is vacancy and we are going to buy Place 400 and slash the rental rates so that any business owner looking for rental space can cut their lease operating expense by approximately half!!!

We will not solve the vacancy in the market (but that will solve itself over time). But what we will do is allow for business owners to take their business to the next level and spend less. The pain for property owners, is a GAIN for business owners!

The low lease rates will help new business get established and be profitable for years to come!

This is an opportunity for business owners that hasn’t been seen for decades! We are able to do that because we will purchase it less than 22% of what the building sold for in 2017. We are going to pass most of those savings onto the new tenants!!!

If you are interested DM me!”.

This doesn’t exactly sound transformational for the neighbourhood. I remember the mayor marketing the property on Facebook as a prime candidate for redevelopment, specifically residential high rise development. This is what the mayor posted on FB:



This plan sounds nothing like what’s described in the above pictured.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

This doesn’t exactly sound transformational for the neighbourhood. I remember the mayor marketing the property on Facebook as a prime candidate for redevelopment, specifically residential high rise development. This is what the mayor posted on FB:



This plan sounds nothing like what’s described in the above pictured.

That plan was only an idea/suggestion for the potential buyer. It was just a selling tactic. The new buyer has decided not to go with a complete tear down and rebuild, they want to keep it as office/commercial space but just improve the property.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

That plan was only an idea/suggestion for the potential buyer. It was just a selling tactic. The new buyer has decided not to go with a complete tear down and rebuild, they want to keep it as office/commercial space but just improve the property.

Understood, but I wouldn’t call the quoted post from the new buyer as a very solid plan for actually improving the property. If anything it seems like they want to try and collect for a few years, and resell it to an another developer.

We’ll have to wait and see what they we’ll actually do with it, and who they’ll get leasing. It’s just a tad disappointing compared to the prospects of a transformational high rise development going up there instead.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by EnvisionSaintJohn

Understood, but I wouldn’t call the quoted post from the new buyer as a very solid plan for actually improving the property. If anything it seems like they want to try and collect for a few years, and resell it to an another developer.

We’ll have to wait and see what they we’ll actually do with it, and who they’ll get leasing. It’s just a tad disappointing compared to the prospects of a transformational high rise development going up there instead.

It's the same people, (R2 Capital Partners Inc), who bought the superstore building on Rothesay Avenue and have now brought it to 100% occupancy. As well as brought 75 Prince William to 100% occupancy too.

It would have been nice to see a new residential development, but it's ultimately up to the new owners what they want to do with the property. At least hopefully they will get it to 100% occupancy like their two other SJ properties.

[DyAm00394]

Public hearing on December 9th 2024, for 35 University Avenue. Plaza REIT is proposing to develop a drive-thru restaurant on a portion of the property.

[sailor734]

That's the address for Jean Coutu. It's a tough location to get in and out of as it's so close to the Millidge Ave intersection and directly across from Tim's/Wendy's.

Traffic turning right from Millidge Ave onto University has a curved rather than 90 degree turn and can appear at speed. Traffic backed up turning left into Tim's can also complicate things if you are trying to turn left out of Jean Coutu towards Millidge Ave. (The Tim's/Wendys drive-thru is often backed up onto the street.) Bike lanes reducing traffic lanes on both University and Millidge also increase the length car lineups at the lights. Adding a fastfood location on the corner would certainly complicate things

Like the idea of more food options in Millidgeville but how to handle traffic issues with have to be considered carefully on this one.

[sailor734]

wrong thread

[sailor734]

Council delays rezoning for Lorneville Industrial Park expansion.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...rneville-saint-john-task-force-1.7352865

[sailor734]

Two more developments approved....

https://www.thewave.ca/2024/10/16/saint-john-approves-2-new-residential-projects/

Looks like The Tipsy Tomato will be looking for a new home…..although not for a few years from the sound of it. The first building is going where the car wash is.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Two more developments approved....

https://www.thewave.ca/2024/10/16/saint-john-approves-2-new-residential-projects/

Looks like The Tipsy Tomato will be looking for a new home…..although not for a few years from the sound of it. The first building is going where the car wash is.

It certainly feels like there is some positive momentum as there seems to be new projects like this announced continually.

[Pugsley]

Agreed, I actually just posed a question in the Fredericton thread about what is happening there...as the degree of announcements in SJ seems to be far outpacing Fredericton, which had been on a bit of a boom for the past few years. Recently, it is silent in terms of new proposals. Wonder what is going on.