The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

One of the most beautiful brick buildings in the city is now a pile of rubble! It and another brick one beside it was torn down. How many more of these losses do we have to endure before the city grows a set and preserves what is unique and sets us apart from other cities? Just because an owner cannot find the money to fix a building up or make it more economical feasible should not be any reason to destroy our history. It's hard to tell from pic but it has nice architectural details.

Here's a pic of it I took in 2009 :



http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=169180

[nwalbert]

Spent the day in Uptown Saint John today with the family and realized how lucky we are to have such an amazing downtown area in a city our size. Parked in the Brunswick Sqaure parking tower for free, strolled through Market and Brunswick square to do some shopping and have brunch. Strolled across the street to a couple of the art galleries. Great day in a great city. The Coast Guard site is going to take it even further.

[flwright]

Originally Posted by ErickMontreal

Great pics ! Thank you. Saint John looks good!

I can't wait to see the Harbourside Residences unwrapped. I would also like to see the City Hall tower getting the same treatment,

I'm right there with you on City Hall!

Although it is not commonly known, what is frequently being called here as the "Harbourside Residences" is actually called "Market Square Tower." Harbourside is the low-rise apartment building next door and identified by signage to that effect, but the tower is often confused with it since it has no signange, the two buildings are connected, they were of the same design, and the tower's main entrance is tucked into a corner and takes a back seat to Harbourside's more prominent entrance. This has been a gripe of the tower's residents for years who have felt a lack of identity and this will finally be corrected in the current facade renovation project. The low-rise and the tower are actually owned by two different entities (Saint John Non-Profit Housing and Department of Social Development respectively) even though they are somewhat interconnected.

The latest update on the project is that the first facade should reveal itself near the end of March and be complete by the end of April. The entire building is scheduled to be complete by mid to late June.

[dhottawa729]

Originally Posted by flwright

I'm right there with you on City Hall!

Although it is not commonly known, what is frequently being called here as the "Harbourside Residences" is actually called "Market Square Tower." Harbourside is the low-rise apartment building next door and identified by signage to that effect, but the tower is often confused with it since it has no signange, the two buildings are connected, they were of the same design, and the tower's main entrance is tucked into a corner and takes a back seat to Harbourside's more prominent entrance. This has been a gripe of the tower's residents for years who have felt a lack of identity and this will finally be corrected in the current facade renovation project. The low-rise and the tower are actually owned by two different entities (Saint John Non-Profit Housing and Department of Social Development respectively) even though they are somewhat interconnected.

The latest update on the project is that the first facade should reveal itself near the end of March and be complete by the end of April. The entire building is scheduled to be complete by mid to late June.

Are they changing the facade or just doing maintenance on the brick work? What is it going to look like once revealed?

[kwajo]

Originally Posted by dhottawa729

Are they changing the facade or just doing maintenance on the brick work? What is it going to look like once revealed?

The facade is changing quite a bit, some brick will remain but it will also have panelling (alpolic I think) along large portions of the building. The main purpose of the work is to add to the efficiency of the building, not necessarily improve its appearance. There's a photo of the rendering somewhere in this thread I think.

[update: found it!]

[cdnguys]

http://www.youtube.com/user/CHSJNews?feature=mhsn

From CHSJ News:

Work continues on 83 units at the Harbourfront Residences Condominiums on Water Street.
The developer says people will be able to move in by this fall.


John Rocca of the Ellerdale Group of Companies says the unit prices have increased three times and will increase again when the building is enclosed and when the project is ready for occupancy.

He says condo projects never drop their prices so they also tells their buyers someone that bought in the beginning, the value of their condo has likely increased by $30,000.

Phase 1 of the project is estimated at $20 million and Phase 2 will be worth about $12 million.

[michael_d40]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

http://www.youtube.com/user/CHSJNews?feature=mhsn

From CHSJ News:

Work continues on 83 units at the Harbourfront Residences Condominiums on Water Street.
The developer says people will be able to move in by this fall.


John Rocca of the Ellerdale Group of Companies says the unit prices have increased three times and will increase again when the building is enclosed and when the project is ready for occupancy.

He says condo projects never drop their prices so they also tells their buyers someone that bought in the beginning, the value of their condo has likely increased by $30,000.

Phase 1 of the project is estimated at $20 million and Phase 2 will be worth about $12 million.

lol you beat me to it.

[nwalbert]

Good to see Harbour Station being utilized so much.

SAINT JOHN - There will be no shortage of entertainment at Harbour Station in the coming days, weeks and months.

The Saint John Mill Rats take to the court against the Halifax Rainmen on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. in Premier Basketball League action.

Friday's game is part of the Rogers Fan Cup pitting the two teams and their fans against one another in a friendly rivalry.

The team with the most fan support, as determined by percentage of seats sold when the Rainmen and Mill Rats tip off, will win the Cup.

The trophy will be presented to the fans of the winning team at the end of the PBL season.

Additionally, the mayors of the two cities - Saint John Mayor Ivan Court and Mayor Peter Kelly of Halilfax - have joined the battle and made a friendly wager, agreeing to the following terms: the losing mayor will donate $100 to the charity of his counterpart's choice, offer up a dozen beers - Moosehead from Court to Kelly and Keith's from Kelly to Court - fly the rival city's flag at City Hall for a day and wear the rival's jersey during a council meeting.

On Saturday, the arena will play host to a fundraiser. The annual Skate to Care event is slated to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Funds raised during the event will go to MindCare.

On Sunday, the Saint John Sea Dogs will host the Moncton Wildcats at 4 p.m. in the latest instalment of the Rivalry Cup.

The Sea Dogs lead the Cup standings by a score of 22-9.

The Atlantic National Home Show comes to Harbour Station March 11-13.The event will feature everything for home building, renovating and decorating needs.

On May 14, legendary country singer Charley Pride will perform.

Pride has sold 70 million records worldwide.

He has been awarded 31 gold and four platinum albums, and one quadruple-platinum album.

[kwajo]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2011/02/08/nb-saint-john-hotel-coast-guard-613.html

Saint John eyes hotel for old Coast Guard site
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 8, 2011 | 9:16 AM AT
CBC News
Saint John Waterfront Development officials and the Hardman Group are in talks this week in Halifax to discuss the development options for the city's old Coast Guard site.

Last week, Saint John announced it had purchased the prime waterfront property from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for $2.8 million.

Now that the former Coast Guard site is finally in the city's hands, the Saint John Waterfront Development and the Hardman Group can start launching development discussions.

Five years ago, when the city announced it was going to partner with the Hardman Group to develop the site, the plan was to start with a hotel and condominiums.

The plan would then be to add office and retail space.

This week, officials are meeting in Halifax with an unnamed hotel group about building a hotel on the property.

Bill Hardman, president of the development company, said the plans to construct a hotel were made before Irving Oil Ltd. shelved the idea to build a second refinery and before the recession hit.

"Five years ago, it was for sure going to be hotel and the condominiums, today we have to reconfirm whether or not that interest is still as strong as it once was," Hardman said.

Demand dropping

The concept of adding another hotel to Saint John is concerning one industry official.

André Lavoie, vice-president of the hotels division with Château Hotels, said his company opened Château Saint John in the city's north end a year ago.

And the demand hasn't been what he had hoped, he said.

In fact, New Brunswick's tourism statistics show occupancy rates for all hotels in the Saint John area were down three per cent last year.

The Department of Tourism and Parks stated in its 2010 Tourism Indicators that Saint John's hotel occupancy was 54 per cent in 2010 compared to 57 per cent the year earlier.

"I think you need to give it a little breathing time before you start bringing in new hotels in town, " Lavoie said.

Market dictates

As the development moves forward, Hardman said the market will dictate which phase of the project gets constructed first.

But he said he still believes the old Coast Guard property, which is close to the Trade and Convention Centre, and will be connected with a pedway, is ideal for a hotel.

Hardman said he believes the addition of another waterfront hotel complex is inevitable.

"When you have changes in both the demand and the market, the hotel groups really re-evaluate what they're doing," Hardman said.

"But I think in the long run it's a great hotel site, it's a great hotel property and it will, it will happen, it's just a question of when."

Why the need for the pessimistic angle CBC? If a private enterprise is willing to make the investment in our waterfront, who cares what the competition thinks? Hopefully we hear something finalized on this before too long, I'd love to know which hotel chain is looking to locate on the site (my money's still on Marriott, although I would prefer one of the Starwood brands).

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by kwajo

Why the need for the pessimistic angle CBC? If a private enterprise is willing to make the investment in our waterfront, who cares what the competition thinks? Hopefully we hear something finalized on this before too long, I'd love to know which hotel chain is looking to locate on the site (my money's still on Marriott, although I would prefer one of the Starwood brands).

I thought the same thing, this is simply a competitor attempting to protect his investment and nothing more, not really worth the news.

I would prefer Marriott, that is where I collect points. Hopefully a true Marriott or at least a Courtyard.

[GUB]

I'm glad to see a hotel wil likely go up---why do we need to hear what the gentleman representing Chateau SJ has to say?! Of course he's going to be against the idea.
The last 2 Marriott's I 've seen constructed (Halifax & Moncton) have been kind of ugly as far as building materials etc. go.
I hope the developer doesn't cheap out. SJ needs attractive development on this prominent parcel of land.

[Jstaleness]

Originally Posted by GUB

I'm glad to see a hotel wil likely go up---why do we need to hear what the gentleman representing Chateau SJ has to say?! Of course he's going to be against the idea.
The last 2 Marriott's I 've seen constructed (Halifax & Moncton) have been kind of ugly as far as building materials etc. go.
I hope the developer doesn't cheap out. SJ needs attractive development on this prominent parcel of land.

I'll agree that the Marriott Courtyard here in Halifax is rather ugly and not at all what the original design could have allowed for. Moncton's was simply just plain. Not much we can do about the other Marriott in Halifax as it simply replaced the old Sheraton.

If Saint John gets one, I hope more glass would be used given it's visibility on the waterfront.

[Helladog]

Helladog

[nwalbert]

Big Win for the Saint Jon Millrats tonight at home against rival Halifax. Saint John won by 5 in front of a very impressive crowd. I would estimate 4000 or so. Would be great to see these two meet in the playoffs.

[kwajo]

Just in case anyone wants to have some fun, there's a new way to search property assessments http://shawn.sytes.net/Propertize3/

[RaginRonic]

I just found something online which could help gauge Target's plans for Canada starting in 2013. The list and website are located at the following links.

http://sinsblog.com/2011/02/13/sins-prediction-targets-canadian-store-list/
http://www.salesisnotsimple.com/uploads/targetfinal.pdf

This list would suggest that both Saint John Zellers stores would get the conversion nod, while Moncton and Fredericton would see 1 store per city closed.

However, the absolute FINAL list will be released in 6 months from now...Sept. 2011. This list is only a speculative guess on the creator's part.

[mylesmalley]

That's an interesting list. I'm sure not every Zellers will be converted, as that would leave a lot of oversaturation in some communities. But have they actually said they were planning on closing stores? If the Zellers brand is at all viable, then why not keep it going as well? A lot of major retailers have discount sister stores in the same community. They cater to different markets and customers.

Take the case of Moncton and Saint John. Two cities of roughly equal size, but they think one will manage to support two stores, but the other wouldn't? Both cities have roughly the same median income and with similarly sized catchment areas. I'm not saying SJ shouldn't have two, or that Moncton is getting short-changed. I'm just curious what this is all being based on.

[kwajo]

Could be based on competition within the respective cities, Saint John might be seen as more of an open market than Moncton given that we used to have even more department stores than we do now and many have closed leaving a bit of a gap.

Just an idea, could be way off.

[MonctonRad]

I don't disagree that the Zeller's at the Superstore Mall in East Moncton would close. It's a small store in a poor location and would not be attractive to Target.

I agree the Northwest Centre location is safe.

I think the main consideration is whether or not Target would build an entirely new standalone store in Moncton.

I have a strong hunch that there will be a new retail node developing in the Harrisville section of Moncton. We already know that PlazaCorp has purchased land at the northeast corner of the Harrisville Blvd/Veterans Highway interchange and that Sobey's is (tentatively) scheduled to be an anchor. We also know that Wal Mart has confirmed that Moncton will be getting a SuperCentre in the next several years. I suspect that they will move out of Champlain Place and build the new Supercentre in the Harrisville area. The Champlain Wal Mart will likely be replaced by the Bay.

Moncton has two Wal Marts. I suspect that eventually we will have two Targets as well. The Superstore Zellers may close but I predict a Target SuperCentre in the Harrisville area to compete with the new Wal Mart SuperCentre.

[Taeolas]

Fredericton's situation is hard to say. From what I've read and thoguht about, frankly I don't really see either location surviving. Both are awkwardly shaped and/or awkward to get to. The Uptown Centre one has a lot of traffic, but absolutely no expansion room. The Brookside Mall one has more room, but has 2 entrances, and is in a fairly dead mall.

I could see Target shuttering BOTH of them once leases expire, and building new stores at Two Nations Crossing and Corbertt centre, where there is room for expansion and stand alone boxes. Hopefully Fredericton Transit will have smartened up by then and gotten routes run appropriately by then.