[Saint John, NB] West Side Developments

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Some progress at the JYSK site on the West Side.



I think it's safe to say it's not going to look like most other JYSKS in Canada, which I think are almost all located in typical big box stores in a shopping district like Fairville or East Point.

This is a very large property and the building seems to have good bones and was once a Dominion grocery store. It's a little too bad it's not becoming a grocery option again for this part of the West Side, but considering how long this place has been vacant, and had all kinds of proposed usages that all fell through, it's good to see something will at least be going in there. Would be nice to see more businesses, restaurants, or a pub open up on Lancaster Avenue.


This JYSK could have helped Suwanna get a lot of random business if it was still there, and same with if there was still a place open on Riverview Ave W. It should end up helping help the restaurants across the street, and even Olsen's.

Eventually, it would be great to see that little strip mall torn down, and a nice high rise built in its place with even more room for shopping and restaurants in the podium, and underground parking.

[bingun]

I will give JYSK credit for sticking with this project; they must think there is a potential gap in the market in Saint John, as I don't think most retailers would be willing to commit to such a long time frame for a new store opening.

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by bingun

I will give JYSK credit for sticking with this project; they must think there is a potential gap in the market in Saint John, as I don't think most retailers would be willing to commit to such a long time frame for a new store opening.

I have always heard that this location would also serve as a distribution point. Not a super reliable source, so uncertain if that is accurate or not, but it would certainly make sense.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Some pictures of the grey paint job and big new sign from mid August... pictures courtesy of local legend Bryan Wilson on Facebook. Thank you, Bryan.

I usually avoid Lancaster Avenue and Simms Corner when driving over Fairville way, but I might ride my bike to Olson's later this week and take a picture if there's any significant updates.

[ivegotaname]

Could hospital be built on west side.? Not centre care but a full functional state of art one i feel the city or if it happens that we can't have both bridges open that maybe west side should secede from saint johnanf given a new name my guess indigenous name, I think it might be best we do that. We can add Quispamsis and Rothesay too replace the population numbers we will lose, ive heard our taxes could also go down if we're to add the valley

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by ivegotaname

Could hospital be built on west side.? Not centre care but a full functional state of art one i feel the city or if it happens that we can't have both bridges open that maybe west side should secede from saint john

Could a hospital be built on the West Side? Of course, but will one be built? Almost certainly not.

Maybe the West Side will get one of the "Community Care Clinics"?

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bingun

Westside Lofts

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

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Looks like this project is close to opening on schedule? The West Side certainly needs a lot more infill projects like this. It's a somewhat walkable location (21 minutes to No Frills/Walmart and 23 minutes to Sobeys. 11 minutes away from Moosehead.

I still think the area closer to Fairville Boulevard should be the priority for apartment developments on the West Side.

There's lots of vacant properties and properties that could be redeveloped as residential housing closer to Fairville Blvd, where residents would only be a 5-10 minute walk away from the grocery store, and much closer to the busiest bus stop on the West Side, at Lancaster Crossing.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Based on the map from the City's PDF on the Red, Yellow, and Green zone strategy (which I've taken the liberty to colour in yellow for them) a huge amount of area on the West Side is now considered a "Yellow Zone", including much of the former Belyea Arena property, which I believe remains a city owned asset... unless the sale to the private developer has gone through already?



I think it's pertinent to repost these draw ups for the Belyea Village proposal from the main SJ thread. This proposal would transform the former Belyea Arena and adjacent field into a residential development with 215 units:



I think now would be as good a time as ever for the developer to release some higher quality outlines and rendering for their ambitious, high density housing proposal.

Many in the neighbourhood, especially those who's backyard is literally the field behind the Belyea Arena, were opposed to this townhouse proposal. However, I think they'll be begging construction to start as soon as possible, if the city does indeed allow encampments to pop up in field behind the Belyea Arena aka in people's backyards on Beaconsfield Crescent and Lowell Street.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

It seems that much the Belyea Arena property (which I believe is still city owned) has indeed been deemed a yellow zone. I guess if the rink was still open, it wouldn't even matter, as I've checked other currently operated city owned arenas like the Charles Gorman, and it is considered a yellow zone, with no buffer at all.

I think it's pretty bush league that the former playground/ unofficial park at the Belyea property near city line is considered a full on yellow zone, simply because the city let the playground deteriorate past the point of repair.

I hope the conditional sale for the Belyea Village development goes through soon, and they start building those townhouses.

Here's a screengrab of West Side's Red Zone Map:



Some pretty puzzling stuff on here, like the entirety of Fort Duffernin being considered a yellow zone, despite it being a historic site.

Same with the beaches... Bayshore and other beaches should be considered parkland with 30 meter buffers. It's one thing if people camp there for a night or two, but semi-permanent encampments being allowed on our beaches? I think that's taking this plan a bit too far.

All things considered, I guess it could have been worse... 😅

a link to the high detail, interactive map on the city's website, which is now live.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Update on Americold cold storage facility. Screenshot from a video posted by best drone pilot in Saint John and probably all of New Brunswick, jorgenrique217

Coming together very quickly.

[DyAm00394]

Reposted from the SJ Retail thread:

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

Some update pictures of JYSK was posted over on Retail Talk & Share NB Facebook group:








Job adverts for an Operations Manager and Assistant Manager are now posted online, so opening must finally be soon! https://careers.smartrecruiters.com/JYSKCanada/

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Saw this posted earlier, a before and after showing the old Dominion grocery store that used to be there:



I think it's a bit surprising they didn't just put up a side facing sign on the front, with larger signage in the side, instead of going through all the expense to build that big, giant arch for the sign, especially with the big ugly power lines with whatever that orange wrapping is on the wires.


Perhaps JYSK has been pressuring the City/ Saint John Energy to get those lines buried, which you'd hope would be possible for this location. The west side is full of a lot of really ugly hydro poles, a lot of which look to be well past their expiry date.

I guess the decision to go with the big arch/ big sign makes it look a lot more similar to it's other Canadian stores than I expected it would.

I don't think any JYSK stores in Canada have cafes in them, but I guess most of the JYSK stores in the UAE do. I could see a cafe in this store being popular with people in the surrounding neighbourhood. If I had to guess, this is probably the closest thing to a JYSK in Canada being located within a residential neighbourhood, as I think most, if not all of the other ones are located in typical retail node locations, well outside of a residential neighbourhood.

I could see the unique location of this store (within a residential neighbourhood) as a good reason for JYSK to try out an in store cafe, which would certainly drive home the "cheaper, smaller IKEA" description which is frequently used to describe JYSK.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Maybe a small part of this extra $660 million in funding will be used to build some on site parking solutions.

[darkharbour]

Thank goodness it’s a loan and not a grant.

[bingun]

I noticed a few more job listings for JYSK went up; they must be planning to open fairly soon. Hopefully, they can take advantage of Christmas shoppers if they can open up by November.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

You really have to hand it to JYSK seeing the value in this property, but that's the power of the outsider when it comes to the Saint John Region. Outsiders often see the value in things here that many locals either don't see, or take for granted. Many locals think this was a "weird location" choice, but someone not from here sees this property for exactly what it is, a large, unused commercial property in the middle of a seaside neighbourhood beside a freeway, nearby a retail node, a brewery, and a major port.



For as "weird" as the location is being described by some, it's a 2 minute drive from Lancaster Crossing, and would actually be a whole minute closer for people driving from Quispamsis, East Saint John, etc. It's also located off a much less busy exit, onto a much less busy street... and for those poor souls who are "too scared" to merge onto the Harbour Bridge, they can take the only "easy" turn at Simms Corner home and avoid the Harbour Bridge entirely.

I think it's fair to say that the parking lot at Lancaster Crossing can be pretty hectic at times with places like Walmart, No Frills, Shoppers, Planet Fitness, McDonalds, etc all sharing a single parking lot, along with it being Saint John Transit's main West Side stop.



I think JYSK customers, especially those from outside the West Side, will appreciate not having to park in a very busy parking lot to get to the one store they drove to the West Side for... while the people of the surrounding neighbourhood will appreciate not having to cross the throughway or Simms Corner to get there... even consider walking and shopping.

I see this JYSK as having the potential to bring people to a part of the city they might not otherwise visit, and it could maybe help some people discover or rediscover the charm of the West Side. I could also see Olsen's Meat And Produce across the street getting an uptick in business from people checking out the JYSK... I think a lot of people from outside the West Side don't even know Olsen's exists, but it's quite a decent little grocery store.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Originally Posted by bingun

Has there been any further information on St. Patrick's School & St. Vincent's High School? It appears minimal progress has been made this year. I believe the same developer is working on the Loch Lomond Road development, so perhaps once that progresses further, he will pivot.

Barry Ogden usually has the occasional comment, but his last one at council was that there would be even more vacant schools soon, once the new South End/North End schools are complete and that we needed to encourage development.

I haven't noticed any changes at St. Patrick's school on the West Side, but it sure could be an interesting development with a nice view of the city.

• Video Link

a small clip showing a nice aerial shot of Saint Patrick's school from jorgenrique217 on instagram.


I know there's the proposed development to turn the former school into apartments, but what about the school yard?

I think it could be a good location to put up a medium high rise apartment building with a great view of the port, harbour, and uptown across the water.

[sailor734]

I believe the St Patrick's project also included new build townhouses on some of the vacant school land. I had a look a couple of months ago when I was over west and zero signs of anything happening.

Somebody did suggest on here some time ago that some mould and asbestos remediation work had taken place (or was taking place) at St Vincent's. No signs of any activity anytime I have driven by in recent months though.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

from Facebook.

West Side Lofts is now leasing 1, 2 & 3 bedroom modern townhome-style units with:

• In-suite laundry
• Private decks
• FREE high-speed internet
• Bright, modern layouts

They're even offering free rent for the month of December. I believe I heard it's $2100 for a two bedroom. Not great, not terrible.


I think I'd want to live in a more walkable area to pay that much for rent in Saint John, but they do seem like decent apartments.

[bingun]

Good to see them start to finish up. I hope they do some landscaping!

Are there any other west side developments still in progress? Is the Sealedge Court one complete now?

Also, this seems to have gone under the radar a little, but there is a new lookout at Reversing Falls and some landscaping to make the parking lot a little less bleak.