[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[drewber]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This post just popped up on Retail Talk & Share:



I can not speak for the reliability of the poster, but, this is intriguing information. This lot has been promoted for retail development for some time, but to no avail. The fact they have recently been doing some soil testing is interesting.

Jersey Mike's is opening in Grande Prairie, AB which has a smaller metro than Moncton. I can see them wanting to expand here.

[reflist]

I took this a few days ago. As you could see that they cut all the trees on the right side of Grand Trunk St recently. This immediate foreground is the future location of building 11..... or at least thats what i think it is.
.

[MonctonRad]

Yes, I noticed that. It leads me to suspect they will proceed with the last two apartment buildings (Buildings 10 & 11) before constructing the two small intervening two storey commercial buildings.

This may make logistical sense. They keep moving and reusing the cranes every time they build a new apartment building. The tower crane will not be needed for the smaller commercial buildings. This would allow them to keep on using the tower crane until it is not needed any more then redeploy it elsewhere (like to their rumoured development at Magnetic Hill).

[MonctonRad]

A couple of photos I took this morning of the downtown skyline from the Hall Betts Sports Complex:





They are now working on floor five (out of six) of the Seville Properties building on Waterloo. This new building will help give the skyline a nice "layered" look as seen from Assumption Blvd.

[Leroy321]

I’m not sure if this has been discussed but there’s a used car dealership that opened where Campbells auto sales was. That being said I don’t think ashford has any intent on phase two of the building.

[MonctonRad]

I'm getting a little concerned that Ashford is beginning to pull back a little from development ambitions, especially residential. It makes you wonder what mey be up for the Downing Street project. It has been <crickets> now for a very long time regarding any development news on this front. Originally, I was chalking this up to the need for infrastructure improvements to service the development, but, even despite this delay, we should have heard something new by now regarding this significant project.

Downing Street is very much the "Fundy Quay" of downtown Moncton in terms of importance. It took Fundy Quay almost 20 years to get started. Hopefully Downing Street will suffer a better fate, but, I am beginning to get concerned.

[jonny golden]

The city infrastructure work was spread out over several years. I don't think Ashford was ever going to start their project before the work was completed. So 2026 could have always been their intended start date.

This is a quote from a CBC story on the city infrastructure schedule:

The city's capital budget forecasts spending $7.9 million related to "Ashford's downtown development plan" in 2022. A further $10.2 million is scheduled in 2023, with $8.1 million in 2024 and $5.7 million in 2025.

If things don't get under way next year, that would be a red flag for sure.

Ashford seems to be a company that holds their cards close to their chest. When this CBC story was written, they reached out to Ashford who "declined to comment", and when they made their downtown purchase (2019), Ashford CEO Jim Dixon was interviewed and was using terms like long-term, and go slow.

Lets see what happens in the spring. But I do agree that it would be nice to see Ashford release some project information to the public. One would have to think their phase one plans are pretty much finalised by now!

[Riberview]

The City had ordered a study in summer of 2023 to determine the feasibility of convention space and moving the market. The results of which appear to have been presented at a private committee meeting ( was to have taken 12 weeks.) Curious what the result was..

I am currently hearing crickets too but the infrastructure work Ashford needed is ongoing..

Unrelated to Ashford, the plan for the block across from current RCMP station is currently shelved.

Hopefully markets will allow it to continue.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by Riberview

The City had ordered a study in summer of 2023 to determine the feasibility of convention space and moving the market. The results of which appear to have been presented at a private committee meeting ( was to have taken 12 weeks.) Curious what the result was..

I am currently hearing crickets too but the infrastructure work Ashford needed is ongoing..

Unrelated to Ashford, the plan for the block across from current RCMP station is currently shelved.

Hopefully markets will allow it to continue.

And eventually when the RCMP relocates, the current property will be a very desirable location for development. Not to mention the fact that there is a lot of surface parking space around the building that could be included in a major development. I suspect that the city will put out a "request for proposals" notice at some point in the future.

[MonctonRad]

Parcours Athletics, a new running boutique (like Running Room) plans on opening at 70 Waterloo Street (old Working Class location) in October (presumably after Working Class completes it's relocation to Robinson Street).

[MonctonRad]

They are now working on the sixth (and final) floor of the Seville Properties building on Waterloo Street, We can now see what the building will look like at full height.

Certainly nice added density to the neighbourhood, and, from certain perspectives, it helps give a layered appearance to the downtown skyline, but, six floors barely breaks the height of the tree canopy and has little overall effect on the downtown skyline as a whole.

It would have been nice if this building had been eight storeys at a minimum.

[MonctonRad]

This item is coming before Moncton PAC for their August 27th meeting:

City of Moncton Subdivision

Administration has received an application for subdivision from the City of Moncton to consolidate portions of Assomption Boulevard, create a portion of Assomption Boulevard, create a portion of Main Street and create lot 25-1 to accommodate existing conditions. (PIDs 680215, 680223, 680728, 680736, 680744, 680777, 682716, 682740, 682732, 682757, 70265707, 70307442, 70307459, 70307467, 70318878 & 70355177) - (File: 25-46229)

As far as I can gather, this application is mostly for housekeeping reasons and deals with some changes to Main Street and Assumption Blvd (formerly Duke Street, which originally had a slightly different trajectory), and, the consolidation of all of the PIDs occupied by the current Codiac RCMP HQ into a single lot (lot 25-1).



This may be housekeeping, but, by consolidating all the land the RCMP building sits on into a single lot, this sets the stage for redevelopment of this property once the new RCMP headquarters becomes functional.

One has to wonder what is going on behind the scenes. Is there already a suitor willing to purchase this property for redevelopment? Is this why this application is coming forward now? Is it so that the property can be sold immediately after the RCMP vacates???

Enquiring minds would like to know.

My spidey-senses are tingling a bit.

[jonny golden]

Administration has received an application for subdivision from the City of Moncton

Since the city owns the RCMP station, it makes sense that they would tidy up the PID situation ahead of the RCMP vacating the building. They'd want to make the property more attractive to a developer by simplifying things.

I'm thinking they'll issue a notice at some point, giving any developer a chance to put forth a proposal.

There are two smaller parking lots directly behind the building that could potentially be added to the overall footprint. But even without them, it's still a large lot with substantial Main Street frontage. There's potential for something great here.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

There are two smaller parking lots directly behind the building that could potentially be added to the overall footprint. But even without them, it's still a large lot with substantial Main Street frontage. There's potential for something great here.

Those two parking lots will be part of Lot 25-1. It's really only the former Chateau a Pape property (and adjacent lot) which aren't included. The whole rest of this block is being consolidated.

[MonctonRad]

Infinity Aerials shot of downtown Moncton this morning with all the wildfire smoke wafting north from Annapolis County NS.

[Leroy321]

It looks like the tower crane will be moved today or sometime this week to the next building at the Franklin yards development

[MonctonRad]

I took a walk around the Moncton Hospital today, and decided to take a picture of the ongoing construction for the new cardiology centre being built in the back parking lot.



It's hard to get a good photo of the construction site. It is almost entirely hidden in the back parking lot, and, since it is an active construction site, you can't really wander around on the site. This is the best I could do,

It's a fairly large addition, similar in size to the new maternal/newborn care wing at the front of the hospital. The new building will contain the coronary intensive care unit, a cardiac step down unit, cardiology offices and clinics, a special procedures room for things like pacemaker insertions, and echocardiogram and outpatient EKG services.

In the right foreground, you can see the side of the Dr. Sheldon Rubin Oncology Clinic.

The new Maternal/Newborn Care Wing was finally opened a few months back. It is a state of the art building, giving Moncton the best maternity and newborn care facilities in the Maritimes outside of Halifax.

And, meanwhile, renovations are ongoing in the main lobby of the hospital. It will be a complete refresh. The new Friends of the Moncton Hospital offices have opened, but, the rest of the lobby is completely hidden by hoarding. We do know however that they will be locating a Pita Pit and a Second Cup in the lobby area, replacing the old Tim Horton's and the former Nurses Alumni Cafe.

[MonctonDowntown]

This may have been reported previously but Taj Mahal is moving from Main Street to the old Deluxe French Fries location on St George Street in September.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by MonctonDowntown

This may have been reported previously but Taj Mahal is moving from Main Street to the old Deluxe French Fries location on St George Street in September.

This is about three year old news!

The elephant sign popped up on the old Deluxe about then, and it was quickly revealed that Taj Mahal planned on moving, but, then <crickets>.

So, it's finally happening!

How good is your source?

[David_99]

I was just at St James Gate and noticed this sign up on the MAGMA building next door. They’re still working on it. Has this new cafe been reported before? I hadn’t heard anything.