The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[bingun]

Originally Posted by Helladog

I noticed a tender at https://saintjohn.ca/en/city-hall/tenders-and-proposals for volleyball courts to be constructed at the Rez, as opposed to uptown where they were before. The job is supposed to completed by July 15.

I can understand a skating ring is more inclusive to more people than volleyball courts, but I'd rather watch ppl play volleyball in summer than skate around in circles in winter, but that's just me.

Great catch! I wonder why they haven't talked about this more publicly.

[DyAm00394]

Status update on the NB Musuem project. This image was posted over on Retail Talk & Share NB Facebook group. For more info on the project: https://revitalizenbm.com/

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by sailor734

It annoys me that they seem to be doing it because it's "in" and trendy, not because it is practical and will see significant use. A sort of virtue signaling.

That’s false, it isn’t trendy, it’s established best practices from other communities to add separated bike lanes when doing a complete street reconstruction. It’s in most design guidelines and standards nationwide.

Also, opposition might be not about cost to some here, but it has been a common misinformation narrative since the project was started.

[bingun]

Westside Lofts

Dever Road, next to the Peter Murray arena. Coming summer 2025, according to the sign.



Sealedge Court

Tenants may have moved in based on a few cars in the parking lot. The road and lot are still a mess, though. This is off Milford Road.



Visart Street Townhomes

This is just across from Sobeys North.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Great updates!

[RaginRonic]

Originally Posted by bingun

Great catch! I wonder why they haven't talked about this more publicly.

Have you guys forgotten about roller skates and roller blades?

Gotta get wit' it, peeps!

[gtsoc]

Received an e-mail this afternoon from Royal Bank of Canada in which they are announcing that they are closing the Lansdowne Ave (North end) branch and will be relocating to 24 East Point Way, Suite 200 in October.

I believe this is the new building that is currently going up at East Point.

[bingun]

Originally Posted by gtsoc

Received an e-mail this afternoon from Royal Bank of Canada in which they are announcing that they are closing the Lansdowne Ave (North end) branch and will be relocating to 24 East Point Way, Suite 200 in October.

I believe this is the new building that is currently going up at East Point.

We'd assumed they would close the branch at McAllister Place; I wonder if they will close both?

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bingun

We'd assumed they would close the branch at McAllister Place; I wonder if they will close both?

They were the last bank branch standing serving the North end/Millidgeville IFAIK

I'm a little surprised by the East Point location. Kind of a dead-end up there in that part of EP and hard to get in and out of sometimes

[sailor734]

I see the construction fencing is up and there are two excavators onsite at the new MacDonalds location on the corner of Millidge and University.

Kind of disappointed about that in a way. I would have hoped we might get one of the many interesting new franchise QSR's that are popping up in the Maritimes rather than an old standby that is frankly, a bit tired IMO........and we already have an existing MacD's five minutes away. Even an A&W would have been preferable.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I see the construction fencing is up and there are two excavators onsite at the new MacDonalds location on the corner of Millidge and University.

Kind of disappointed about that in a way. I would have hoped we might get one of the many interesting new franchise QSR's that are popping up in the Maritimes rather than an old standby that is frankly, a bit tired IMO........and we already have an existing MacD's five minutes away. Even an A&W would have been preferable.

Stay tuned for a couple of new chains to SJ announcements in the coming months.....

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by nwalbert

Stay tuned for a couple of new chains to SJ announcements in the coming months.....

Would love to see a Five Guys


(or that Wayback Burger place in Freddy looks interesting too)

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by gtsoc

Received an e-mail this afternoon from Royal Bank of Canada in which they are announcing that they are closing the Lansdowne Ave (North end) branch and will be relocating to 24 East Point Way, Suite 200 in October.

I believe this is the new building that is currently going up at East Point.

Originally Posted by bingun

We'd assumed they would close the branch at McAllister Place; I wonder if they will close both?

Both North and McAllister are closing to consolidate branches to the new East Point location.

[RaginRonic]

Well, one wish of mine surfaced here...

...at least McAllister Place's final original tenant will celebrate it's 50th anniversary with the mall itself on July 30.

[bingun]

Regarding 324 Charlotte and Mr Lafford, this was mentioned briefly in council's meeting last night.

City entered into an Agreement of Purchase and Sale with J.N. Lafford Realty Inc. with respect to PID 55147482. More time is required, following title diligence, to ensure that the transaction can go ahead. The purpose of this report is to seek authority for the City to amend the timelines at sections 2.2 and 2.6 of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale with J.N. Lafford Realty Inc.

COUNCIL RESOLUTION

That the City extend to June 30, 2025, or other such date as agreed by the Chief Administrative Officer, the timeline set out at section 2.6 and the date for the payment of the deposit at section 2.2 of the Agreement of Purchase and Sale between the City and J.N. Lafford Realty Inc. dated February 19, 2025, and that the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to execute any document necessary to effect this extension.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Not Saint John related, but I thought people might like to see the designs for this really interesting project in a relatively nearby city to the south.



A Massive 30-Story Tower Proposed for Portland, Maine

Now that's the type of project Saint John should be aspiring to one day. I think this building has a really attractive design, especially roof the design which is evocative of Japanese and Chinese architecture.

Still hoping 99 King figures out a way to make the roof design more attractive. Maybe this project will inspire the developers of 99 King to improve the roof design, lol

I've always felt that Saint John, NB and Portland, ME have a lot of aesthetic and historical similarities... I think a similarly ambitious project could be a great addition to the Saint John skyline.

Perhaps this building will be the inspiration for a future project in Saint John... maybe Lafford's upcoming project?

[sailor734]

One of the big differences between Portland and SJ is that they have residential area on a waterfront that is much less industrial and largely accessible to the public.(as per your photo) Ours is largely behind chain-link fencing. OTOH, the Portland waterfront is far more user friendly from a marine perspective. It's not wide open to the ocean, doesn't have 25 foot tides or violent currents at low water.

I do like the concept of a mixed hotel/residential tower. I think something like this should be part of Fundy Quay.

[paperplane]

Originally Posted by bingun

For the record, I support the rezoning changes, but there are a few factors at play in Lorneville that are worth pointing out.

While it has been decades, many in the community are still bitter about the expropriation for the power plant and the landfill situation. While planning and environmental regulation have improved significantly since then, they are still distrustful.

Several very vocal community members are well known in the outdoors community and sports, such as running and cycling. These individuals have helped to build and maintain the trail systems at Split Rock/Black Beach and elsewhere in the city and are very protective of them, even if they aren't official trails. They are also just generally 'green' people who value nature and the environment, and clear-cutting for industrial development is against their values.

Lastly, many of the families that live in Lorneville have lived there for generations, more so than in other parts of the city. They would like to maintain the quiet, picturesque fishing village vibe while still being a stone's throw from the city amenities and jobs.

You seem to be somewhat well-informed on this file. Just an FYI: the trails you mentioned are official.

Better balance is a great goal, and as Envision said, it seems like there's still more room to achieve that with this proposal and any proposal in the Greater SJ area.

And yeah, you can bet those two older gents from KV would be the first in line to speak out against Heavy Industrial development in their backyard, but that would never happen in KV.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by sailor734

One of the big differences between Portland and SJ is that they have residential area on a waterfront that is much less industrial and largely accessible to the public.(as per your photo) Ours is largely behind chain-link fencing. OTOH, the Portland waterfront is far more user friendly from a marine perspective. It's not wide open to the ocean, doesn't have 25 foot tides or violent currents at low water.

I do like the concept of a mixed hotel/residential tower. I think something like this should be part of Fundy Quay.

A lot of differences between any two cities, but there's quite a few similarities between Saint John and Portland, and Halifax for that matter... but I'd say Portland and Saint John seem more similar to one another, than either are similar to Halifax.

Saint John has at least made some leaps and bounds in terms of waterfront development, but it's been heavily concentrated on one side of the harbour, and on one very small part of the Uptown waterfront.

What needs to happen next, is a strategy to remediate and reclaim the Sugar Refinery site.






There was a huge area at the Lantic Sugar Refinery site that was filled in the early 1980's, but there remains many obstacles for development at this site, which deserve huge levels of assistance from all three levels of government to remediate and reclaim the site for development.

This area has huge potential for both residential and commercial development, but it needs a strong plan for remediation... so this site can be offered up on a silver platter for development... just like the Fundy Quay site.

I still think there exists a huge opportunity to tunnel between the West Side at Marketplace West and someplace near the lower cover loop, and use the earth extracted to fill in the former sugar refinery site. Be it a car tunnel, or a smaller active transportation tunnel, there would be a tremendous amount of earth moved in constructing such a tunnel. Moreover, the sugar refinery site is adjacent to a railway, it would be a very good location to engage in a major land reclamation/ sea wall project, as it would be very easy to transport fill material for such a project.

This site should have been on the federal, provincial, and muncipal governments radars for decades now... instead, iirc according to Sailor, its teak piling are rotting away, and the site essentially remains an urban ruin.

Irving wanted to build their HQ there, but they got shut down by the city. I honestly have to question why such a positive development was ever shut down for this site. Had Irving opened their HQ at the sugar refinery site, the area between Lower Cove Loop and the HQ would have seen substantial improvements.

This part of the central peninsula has enormous potential, but it requires some tremendous assistance from all 3 levels of government to get it to the point where it can be developed.

Once again, as Sailor has pointed out... much of Saint John's waterfront is inaccessible or off limits... behind chain link fences... ruinous roads... railways ... and technological terrors.

We need some big projects to greatly open up our waterfront for both residential and commercial developments. As Prime Minister Carney continues to say... now is the time to build.





We shouldn't accept a future where the sugar refinery site just continues rotting away...when something truly great could be built here.

It's time for newly re-elected MP Wayne Long to stand up for Saint John and get the same type of funding for the Sugar Refinery site, that he got for the Fundy Quay site.

[sailor734]

From EnvisionSaintJohn's post......"Irving wanted to build their HQ there, but they got shut down by the city. I honestly have to question why such a positive development was ever shut down for this site. Had Irving opened their HQ at the sugar refinery site, the area between Lower Cove Loop and the HQ would have seen substantial improvements."

Actually, it was Long Wharf that Irving wanted wasn't it? I recall Irving starting to drive pilings there in anticipation of approval. I seem to recall the sugar refinery site was to be involved at one point in some sort of land swap between the port and the city that would see Irving get the Long Wharf site but I'm foggy if that was true.

I'm hazy on the details, anybody know?? I remember the mayor at the time (Ivan Court) seemed pretty anti Irving and the ILA were strongly opposed to the Long Wharf plan as well. I think this was all in and around the time that Energy East got bogged down, the proposed second refinery fizzled and Ken Irving left IOL and moved away but I don't remember the exact chronology.

I also think I recall that Long Wharf was the location of a proposed hotel and condo development before the Irving proposal. Maybe early 2000's? So it's been on the radar for some sort of development for over 20 years. Long Wharf would seem like the next logical site for waterfront development rather than the old refinery site.