Corbett Centre comes to life
Published Wednesday August 20th, 2008
D1
By KRIS MCDAVID
[email protected]
The Corbett Centre retail development is beginning to show signs of life.
The University of New Brunswick leased approximately 18 hectares (45 acres) of land to developers Trinity Development Inc. and RioCan.
Montana's Cookhouse opened its doors Tuesday, and Dollarama started up Aug. 5.
Home Depot has been open in the Corbett Centre since the summer of 2006.
This September, other businesses are expected to open, including an East Side Mario's restaurant, a Michael's craft store, a Petcetera pet store, and a Linens 'N Things home decor centre.
The local Winners branch located in the Smythe Street Canadian Tire Plaza will also move to the new uptown development.
"Our opening date is Sept. 16 and we're moving because we wanted more space to provide a greater selection of merchandise for our customers," said Dana Scott, manager of Winners.
"We've been at this location for seven years, and it's been great, but it'll be nice to move into a new building and get a fresh new look."
Scott said the new location will provide the business with about 550 square metres of space, and will feature more of everything for its customers.
"It'll have an expanded home department and just a lot more merchandise and obviously clothing as well," said Scott. "We're phenomenally excited to get over there."
Dan Benoit, a spokesman for East Side Mario's, said construction on the Italian restaurant has been dampened by weather, but the business is still on track for its target opening date of Sept. 3.
"At one point we actually had to tent off the whole building so that we could get some work done, but things are looking good," said Benoit.
Benoit said the owners of the Fredericton franchise, Dana Harper and Denis Pope, are hiring staff and preparing for the start date.
"They're like kids before Christmastime right now, which is great," said Benoit.
Red Yu, a spokesman for Vancouver-based pet-specialty store Petcetera said it's targeting a grand opening date of Sept. 27, but the store could be open as early as Sept. 8.
A spokeswoman for Dallas, Tex.-based Michael's, an arts and craft specialty store with locations in Saint John and Moncton, said it's hopeful to have the Fredericton location up and running by Sept. 20.
Attempts to reach representatives from Linens 'N Things by phone on Tuesday were unsuccessful.
A proposed warehouse club-style facility may also open at the site.
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Exhibition grounds open to talking about market move
Published Wednesday August 20th, 2008
A1
By SHAWN BERRY
[email protected]
The manager of Fredericton Exhibition Ltd. says there have been no formal talks about moving the Boyce Farmers Market to the exhibition grounds - yet.
But Brent Briggs said he's heard plenty of speculation that the Fredericton Exhibition Grounds, with its wealth of space for vendors and a large parking lot, could be a good home for the market if it needs to move.
Briggs said he was surprised to hear Tuesday the head of a stallholders association is openly floating the idea.
"I think it's just speculation," Briggs said. "We've never had any formal discussions with them.''
But Briggs isn't discounting the possibility.
"If they ever approached us, our doors would be wide open to talk to them," he said.
"It wouldn't be a bad idea. If it stays there, that'd be great, and if it ever looked at another location, we would swing our doors open. We have the building space and we have the parking space."
The market philosophy would also fit in nicely with the FREX's agricultural mandate.
But the last Briggs heard, everyone involved was still waiting for the province to make a decision on whether to acquire the property.
York County Properties, the non-profit group that owns the market, wants to divest itself of the iconic Saturday morning meeting spot in order to focus on its other responsibility: its nursing home and assisted living units. York County Properties offered the market to the city for $1.5 million.
The province has first rights to any sale and is studying the property. The province recently received an extension until mid-September to consider the purchase.
A government source said the province is still mulling whether to buy the market. The ideal scenario being floated in government circles would see the province acquire the property while the city would oversee its management.
"The province doesn't want to run a market, nor does it have the expertise," said the source. "The city will have to get onboard."
The city has rejected the idea of acquiring the market property.
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Development encouraging - city
Published Wednesday August 20th, 2008
A6
By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
[email protected]
Fredericton's half-year development snapshot is looking rosy as the city experiences continued growth.
The value of construction between January and June is $57.9 million, up from $45.3 million over the same time frame last year.
"It's spread out over all the different sectors, which is very encouraging," said development committee chairman Dan Keenan. "Our commercial numbers are up significantly, about $13 million so far this year, and that's extremely good for our area."
Commercial development means more jobs and more employment, and that drives the housing market, Keenan said.
Commercial construction for the first six months of the year is $16.6 million.
"Our total development numbers are up $12 million more than last year, so that's encouraging as well, and we have some large permits yet to come," the development chairman said.
"I think it just speaks well to the environment in our area that developers have the confidence to come in and build in our community."
Alex Forbes, assistant director of development services, briefed the city's development committee Tuesday on the numbers.
"It's a very balanced growth and that's what we want to see," Forbes told the committee.
The city has had 94 single-family residences built so far this year, bringing total residential housing figures to 231 homes. The housing development split is almost equal between the north and south sides of the city.
After a slow year in 2007, multiple-unit starts so far this year are at 137 units.
But with the flurry of growth in Fredericton comes rising real estate costs.
The value of an average single detached house is $168,725 and that doesn't include the price of a lot.
Fredericton's share of the housing market has also dipped to 37 per cent so far this year, down from a 49 per cent market share last year. That means more homes are being built outside city limits this year compared with last year.
Real estate re-sales are down 10.8 per cent this year. Of the 962 houses on the real estate multiple-listing service, so far 487 have sold. Average resale price is $191,191.
Industrial construction is at $2.4 million, mainly driven by the construction of the Kimble Middle School and development at the University of New Brunswick.
Still to come this year are the city's own building permit for the construction of a $75.5-million downtown convention centre, a main fire hall at Two Nations Crossing and the southside Danny Grant ice hockey arena and sports facility.
In the private sector, an addition to York Manor, the main building of the University of New Brunswick wellness facility called the Currie Centre and a new senior citizens residence at Patience Lane are still to be built.
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