The Official Moncton, NB Project Thread

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

It is a name I coined for a group of 34 UdeM academics and social activists who signed a petition opposing the Gateway Tower development (and uncreased height and density in the downtown in general). The wanted to throw up roadblocks to further construction and to create additional studies regarding the effects of densification of the riverfront area. These studies would be done in order to delay any new construction and hopefully (for them) to come up with other alternatives for the downtown limiting density and preserving the present character of the core area.

In other words - "let's keep Moncton in the 1950's"

So, the Gang of 34 was born...........

Petition to label them a terrorist organisation ? ( PLEASE )

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

Petition to label them a terrorist organisation ? ( PLEASE )

Not terrorists, just misguided elitists worried about a future Moncton that they might have difficulty recognizing. Every age has militant groups railing against the future. Ever hear of the Luddites??? You should look them up.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Not terrorists, just misguided elitists worried about a future Moncton that they might have difficulty recognizing. Every age has militant groups railing against the future. Ever hear of the Luddites??? You should look them up.

Yes I’ve heard of luddites. I can’t comprehend what their motivation is. Why would they want to put a stop to progress to our city ? My beloved Moncton is right now a never ending desert of parking lots and drug users. I can’t wait to see the skyline grow and a vibrant downtown to develop.

[new kid in town]

Not really construction related, but I went to the Little Canada exhibit in Toronto, and Atlantic Canada is all combined into one miniature diorama as "Little East Coast". Moncton has a sizeable portion of the exhibit, and is the only NB city featured. Other parts of NB were the Hopewell Rocks and Pays de la Sangouine.

Charlottetown, Halifax, and St. John's complete the diorama. It's incredibly nice to know Moncton is prominent even before the other big projects have reached fruition.

I will try to upload photos/videos later.

[MonctonRad]

Agenda for the November 27th Moncton PAC meeting:

https://www5.moncton.ca/docs/pac/PAC/Nov_27_2024/1_Agenda_Ordre_du_jour_Nov_27_2024.pdf

Extremely ho hum. The most exciting item is for a new self storage facility in the Moncton East Business Park.

[Taeolas]

Seems like development has slowed down (or at least shifted to more 'standardized' projects that don't draw a lot of attention nor need amendments/exceptions).

I'm sure there are a lot of reasons for it, some good, some bad.

But part of me wonders if some developers were waiting for political reasons. They were sitting on their projects for a few months to both wait and see now the NB Election played out, and now, to see what Holts' team will do with regard to the property tax plans in general.

I guess if we see a glut of new projects announced in the spring after Holts announces the new strategy, we'll know part of what was going on.

[Bishop2047]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

Seems like development has slowed down (or at least shifted to more 'standardized' projects that don't draw a lot of attention nor need amendments/exceptions).

I'm sure there are a lot of reasons for it, some good, some bad.

But part of me wonders if some developers were waiting for political reasons. They were sitting on their projects for a few months to both wait and see now the NB Election played out, and now, to see what Holts' team will do with regard to the property tax plans in general.

I guess if we see a glut of new projects announced in the spring after Holts announces the new strategy, we'll know part of what was going on.

This for sure, but also I work with contractors, and many are maxed out for the foreseeable future. Developers will often wait for the companies that they want to work with and as is, many of the contractors are already working on large, multi-stage projects in Moncton, SJ, and Freddy. It is always more fun to have a steady stream on big announcements, but we lack the manpower to keep up.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Bishop2047

This for sure, but also I work with contractors, and many are maxed out for the foreseeable future. Developers will often wait for the companies that they want to work with and as is, many of the contractors are already working on large, multi-stage projects in Moncton, SJ, and Freddy. It is always more fun to have a steady stream on big announcements, but we lack the manpower to keep up.

Indeed. There is no dearth of construction activity going on in Moncton, just no new projects being discussed at city council or PAC. This doesn't mean that there are no new projects in the offing. There are lots of "as of right" projects that pop up unexpectedly since no variances are required. An example is the new QSR pad underway at Plaza 1909 on Mountain Road, which is a complete surprise.

A couple of big projects in Moncton are probably soaking up a lot of the available trades people (Three Sisters, Franklin Yards). Lafford will transfer his current workforce to the Gateway development once the Three Sisters are complete. Hopefully Infinity and St. Bernard Place have their contractors lined up for next year. Ashford/Downing remains a mystery.

[jonny golden]

In May, property developer Bill Hennessey spoke to city council. Here's the gist of his presentation from a news story at the time:

“Four months ago, I heard a lot of people complaining about property tax. So I got two people to volunteer their time and myself. We did a deep dive. We took the whole system apart in terms of structure. In that room, we had 3,800 doors, we had another 1,000 under development. The thing that really freaked me out quite candidly, was the 3,897, the stuff that’s sitting on people’s desks that they’re not mobilizing because they can’t make it commercially viable,” Hennessey told City Council.”

This is from Susan Holt in September:

“We will eliminate the 10% provincial sales tax on multi-unit housing construction. This will spur the development of more housing projects throughout the province,” said Liberal Leader Susan Holt.

Major developers would be aware of the possibility of the 10% sales tax going away. Another factor is the interest rates. The Bank of Canada has lowered the rate at each of the last 4 rate announcements for a total of 1.25%, and indications are that they intend to continue lowering the rate. Next announcement is Dec. 11th, and again in Jan., March, and April.

I do think that some developers have been waiting for conditions to improve. Now I'd really like to see the Junction developers step forward with a major project at Main & Vaughan Harvey!

[MonctonRad]

Moncton, Fredericton rank high in report on Canadian housing starts
The cities did particularly well on list of apartment starts
Hannah Rudderham · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2024 9:57 AM AST | Last Updated: November 21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-fredericton-housing-starts-1.7389258

A new national report says two New Brunswick cities are seeing a lot of development.

The report from PLACE Centre shows that Moncton and Fredericton rank high on total housing starts per 1,000 residents.

The PLACE Centre is part of a research network at the University of Ottawa called the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Mike Moffatt, an economist and the founding director of PLACE Centre, said it was surprising that Moncton and Fredericton ranked so high, given the rapid population growth in Ontario.

"They're in the top 20 in Canada and that, I have to admit, came as a surprise to me and my team," said Moffatt.

"We knew a lot of Ontarians were moving out there, but we didn't quite realize how much building was going on in the two communities."

For apartment unit starts, Moncton ranked 10th and Fredericton 16th. Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax ranked similarly at 15th, 17th and 25th respectively.

"This is why we did this. We wanted to sort of see what communities were doing well, and then [the] next step is seeing what we can learn out here in Ontario from Moncton and from Fredericton to help our cities compete."

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Moncton, Fredericton rank high in report on Canadian housing starts
The cities did particularly well on list of apartment starts
Hannah Rudderham · CBC News · Posted: Nov 21, 2024 9:57 AM AST | Last Updated: November 21
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-fredericton-housing-starts-1.7389258

"They're in the top 20 in Canada and that, I have to admit, came as a surprise to me and my team," said Moffatt

How Ontarian of them.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Apple has a native maps apps for its users which is quite similar to google maps, it has its advantages and drawbacks.
A cool feature on Apple Maps its the 3D map feature ( which also exists on google maps I believe ) which allows you you view a city and its buildings in a neat three dimensional rendering. Google maps does not offer 3D view for any city in New Brunswick, but Apple Maps offers this service for Moncton ! Apple Maps also has a much more recent satellite image than google maps for Moncton, as of right now google maps displays the three sisters as an empty parking lot, and apple shows the two completed sisters. Fredericton and Saint John however, are not supported by this feature. Another victory for Moncton !
( Where I’m trying to get is that Moncton is the only "big city" in New Brunswick recognized by big platforms such as apple right now )

[reflist]

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

Apple has a native maps apps for its users which is quite similar to google maps, it has its advantages and drawbacks.
A cool feature on Apple Maps its the 3D map feature ( which also exists on google maps I believe ) which allows you you view a city and its buildings in a neat three dimensional rendering. Google maps does not offer 3D view for any city in New Brunswick, but Apple Maps offers this service for Moncton ! Apple Maps also has a much more recent satellite image than google maps for Moncton, as of right now google maps displays the three sisters as an empty parking lot, and apple shows the two completed sisters. Fredericton and Saint John however, are not supported by this feature. Another victory for Moncton !
( Where I’m trying to get is that Moncton is the only "big city" in New Brunswick recognized by big platforms such as apple right now )

Yes Google maps does have a 3d view for the major towns and cities of New Brunswick. I also regularly use the historical view in Google Earth to see how construction developments change as they get built. The latest imagery for the Moncton area is from April 2024 and is only available in historical view(and not to the casual user by not being the default imagery). Unfortunately I dont have any Mac OS devices so I cannot view the updated 3d imagery for this area.This pains me so much as I would so love to see this, I would literally spend hours and hours looking around just like I do in Cities Skylines.

[new kid in town]

Originally Posted by new kid in town

Not really construction related, but I went to the Little Canada exhibit in Toronto, and Atlantic Canada is all combined into one miniature diorama as "Little East Coast". Moncton has a sizeable portion of the exhibit, and is the only NB city featured. Other parts of NB were the Hopewell Rocks and Pays de la Sangouine.

Charlottetown, Halifax, and St. John's complete the diorama. It's incredibly nice to know Moncton is prominent even before the other big projects have reached fruition.

I will try to upload photos/videos later.

Please bear with me, I don't know how to resize the images here

Again, not only was it a surprise to see Moncton representing the Maritimes--to see it as the only NB city was even better.

The buildings aren't 1:1 with where they actually are but the details can be outstanding--they captured the mural of the Starving Artist and the Main Street stores still has The Old Triangle lol









For some comparison, these are photos of (1) Pays de la Sagouine, and (2) downtown Mississauga at night

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

Apple has a native maps apps for its users which is quite similar to google maps, it has its advantages and drawbacks.
A cool feature on Apple Maps its the 3D map feature ( which also exists on google maps I believe ) which allows you you view a city and its buildings in a neat three dimensional rendering. Google maps does not offer 3D view for any city in New Brunswick, but Apple Maps offers this service for Moncton ! Apple Maps also has a much more recent satellite image than google maps for Moncton, as of right now google maps displays the three sisters as an empty parking lot, and apple shows the two completed sisters. Fredericton and Saint John however, are not supported by this feature. Another victory for Moncton !
( Where I’m trying to get is that Moncton is the only "big city" in New Brunswick recognized by big platforms such as apple right now )

That is exciting!

That said, I hate how on desktop, Google Maps has Saint John in boldface and increased font (the only one in NB), whereas everywhere else in Canada, only major population cities and/or provincial capitals have this distinction. The exception being Charlottetown, which is too small realistically speaking. But Saint John is neither the provincial capital, nor the biggest urban area so what's up with that

I actually even put in a report to have it fixed and that was months ago

[reflist]

Extreme Windows and Entrance Systems in MID-Moncton Park is getting an extension built by Newco. They are adding about 17,000 sq feet.

[ChampduLarge]

Hi New Kid! OK, so thanks so much for posting those photos of Moncton from Little Canada. I am in Toronto often and I had thought of going to this, but it's kind of expensive and so I balked. But seeing the images of Moncton, which are much less fanciful than I had imagined they would be, make me want to go and see the rest. Often this kind of thing has just one or two buildings that resemble reality and the rest is generic, but this is pretty good. I have travelled a lot in the country and it always bring me pleasure to recognize things I've seen and to know where they are.

I would also be remiss if I didn't also note that I am charmed by your reachout to Google about the font size for Saint John vs. Moncton. Not that this bothers me, personally, but I can see totally how it could. If I recall correctly, there are some maps in some places (maybe Air Canada?) where Mississauga gets more prominent display than Toronto, and it always irritates me like crazy.

[AverageMonctonEnjoyr]

Originally Posted by reflist

Yes Google maps does have a 3d view for the major towns and cities of New Brunswick. I also regularly use the historical view in Google Earth to see how construction developments change as they get built. The latest imagery for the Moncton area is from April 2024 and is only available in historical view(and not to the casual user by not being the default imagery). Unfortunately I dont have any Mac OS devices so I cannot view the updated 3d imagery for this area.This pains me so much as I would so love to see this, I would literally spend hours and hours looking around just like I do in Cities Skylines.

For me I don’t have 3D view on google map, a bit weird.

[Philbilly]

Originally Posted by AverageMonctonEnjoyr

For me I don’t have 3D view on google map, a bit weird.

Use google earth , that what I use for 3 map

[lirette]

Some interesting notes for the proposed budget for Moncton

- $9.5 million increase in policing, including 17 more officers
- $500K + $5 million for new aquatics facilty
-$8 & $17 million for new market, convention centre and riverfront amenities

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by lirette

-$8 & $17 million for new market, convention centre and riverfront amenities

Very interesting. This is part of the Ashford/Downing project.

Probably not enough for the whole government portion of the development, but, I wonder if there are federal and provincial contributions that haven't been announced yet?

It sounds like some work will begin in 2025. I wonder if the Ashford tower will begin work at the same time?

I want some renders!!!