The Official Moncton, NB Project Thread

[mmmatt]

It would be unthinkable to remove the interior entrance entirely...it would be very shortsighted on their part...like you said the "main" entrance should be outside, but there must certainly be a secondary one inside...This way capitalizing on folks who are staying at the hotel or are at the amusement park for the day...as well as those just popping in for a movie.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Also in the T&T today (although oddly not in the online edition), news that the budget review process by city council for capital works is starting for the upcoming year.

As part of the process, they extrapolate expenditures out over the next 4-5 years. In addition to the Transportation Discovery Centre that mmmatt mentioned, there was also mention of the downtown events centre (now estimated at about $104M and a new police headquarters (probably about $30M or so), both slated for construction in 2013-14.

Neither of these two projects are set in stone, but the city is at least proceding on the assumption that these projects will be built.

The next 4-5 years could be transformational for the downtown area.
1- Transportation Discovery Centre (expansion to Moncton Museum), 2012
2- Downtown Arena/Events Centre, 2013-14
3- New Codiac Regional Police HQ, 2013-14
4- At least three large downtown apartment/condo projects
5- Possible new seven storey office building at Assomption/Vaughan Harvey
6- Proposed mixed use development on Robinson Court behind the new Peace Centre.

If this all transpires, the downtown may recieve the momentum to propel it well into the future!

Didn't know about the new police HQ. Is this news or just a longstanding stale rumor? A nice shiny new HQ building along Assumption would look great on the Marriott block.

[MonctonRad]

The old police HQ at the corner of Assomption & Main is crowded and is in increasing disrepair. It was built for a much smaller city police force than the current Codiac Regional RCMP. A replacement is necessary and has been talked about for several years......

The fly in the ointment is the fact that Moncton still does not have the federal RCMP subsidy that every other jurisdiction in the country gets. Because of this, the city continually threatens to give the RCMP the boot and re-establish the old Moncton City Police Force. If the city were ever to do this, the older smaller police HQ might suffice. I don't think we will absolutely see any action on a new HQ building until this issue is resolved.

My pick for a new location for the police HQ (assuming the events centre is built at Highfield) would be where the current provincial jail is on Assomption. It's right next to the new courthouse and there would certainly be some synergy by having these two buildings side-by-side.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The old police HQ at the corner of Assomption & Main is crowded and is in increasing disrepair. It was built for a much smaller city police force than the current Codiac Regional RCMP. A replacement is necessary and has been talked about for several years......

The fly in the ointment is the fact that Moncton still does not have the federal RCMP subsidy that every other jurisdiction in the country gets. Because of this, the city continually threatens to give the RCMP the boot and re-establish the old Moncton City Police Force. If the city were ever to do this, the older smaller police HQ might suffice. I don't think we will absolutely see any action on a new HQ building until this issue is resolved.

My pick for a new location for the police HQ (assuming the events centre is built at Highfield) would be where the current provincial jail is on Assomption. It's right next to the new courthouse and there would certainly be some synergy by having these two buildings side-by-side.

Well the best idea would have been to build the Police station, courthouse AND jail all on the same block. But that is too much of a good idea. I bet they will build the new Police station in Hillsborough.

[mmmatt]

Couple shots of info:

1. Former home of Mitsubishi Moncton on Main st. has been sold...I think to a car parts store which will be moving from the bottom of King st.

2. The former Acadian Bus Lines station/lot on Main st. has also been sold...makes me wonder if the purchaser knows something we don't i.e. that the lot across the street will suddenly increase in value? Perhaps it was purchased in hopes of that, and the buyer will wait it out. Either way Im hoping the lot will be redeveloped in some way as it is currently 15% 1 floor ugly building and 85% dirt parking lot haha.

3. I was at Ashfords HQ on cameron the other day and they told me they are still involved with Mapleton Power Center. And as of the past few days there is FINALLY some activity on the site again with big city builders PCL Construction taking the helm.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Well the best idea would have been to build the Police station, courthouse AND jail all on the same block. But that is too much of a good idea. I bet they will build the new Police station in Hillsborough.

Well, since the new courthouse is in Moncton and the new jail is in Shediac, I guess that in some ersatz egalitarian alternate universe it might make some sense to put the Codiac RCMP HQ in Hillsborough.

I know you're being facetious though......

Originally Posted by mmmatt

2. The former Acadian Bus Lines station/lot on Main st. has also been sold...makes me wonder if the purchaser knows something we don't i.e. that the lot across the street will suddenly increase in value? Perhaps it was purchased in hopes of that, and the buyer will wait it out.

Well, since the city is proceding on the assumption that the events centre will be built in 2013/14 and since Highfield is the odds on favourite for it's location, perhaps you're right!

Originally Posted by mmmatt

3. I was at Ashfords HQ on cameron the other day and they told me they are still involved with Mapleton Power Center. And as of the past few days there is FINALLY some activity on the site again with big city builders PCL Construction taking the helm.

Here's hoping.

From the sounds of the article in the paper a couple of weeks ago, it sounds like they will be tearing most of what is there out and starting fresh. Perhaps the demolition phase will be this fall/winter and they will start construction in the spring.....

[MonctonRad]

Here are a few renders for the proposed new Fine & Performing Arts Centre to be built at Mount Allison University. This is a $30M project that will be opened in 2014.


Aerial perspective


street view


adjacent outdoor performance space fronting on the quad, which will incorporate elements from the existing Memorial Library which is to be demolished to allow for construction.

The final legal hurdle against construction of this new building has now been cleared as Mr. Justice George Rideout failed to declare an injunction against this project. This project is a definite go. Demolition of the old Memorial Library will likely begin in the next couple of weeks.

[macas539]

Second Cup at Mountain n Gorge rd is open now! Just went there this morning.

[Sunnybrae]

[QUOTE=mmmatt;5436568]Couple shots of info:

1. Former home of Mitsubishi Moncton on Main st. has been sold...I think to a car parts store which will be moving from the bottom of King st.

I had heard that it was going to be Miller Tirecraft.

[MonctonRad]

This is a photo I took today showing the new "rip-rap" that they are installing along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River in front of the Rogers HQ building in order to prevent any further erosion along the riverfront.



They seem to be quite proactive here. There is still several feet of riverbank still present between the Pogers parking lot and the river. Perhaps they expect significant erosion this winter.....

[David_99]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This is a photo I took today showing the new "rip-rap" that they are installing along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River in front of the Rogers HQ building in order to prevent any further erosion along the riverfront.

Nice! Hey does anyone know where I could find recent photos of the river, comparing "before and after" the gates opened? It'd be nice to see how much it's widened in a year and a half. Aerial or otherwise. I figured the river keeper site would have up to date photos, but nothing yet.

Cheers!

[mylesmalley]

Hard to say. Maybe Google will update their aerial photos to replace the 10 year old stuff they've got up now.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by David_99

Nice! Hey does anyone know where I could find recent photos of the river, comparing "before and after" the gates opened? It'd be nice to see how much it's widened in a year and a half. Aerial or otherwise. I figured the river keeper site would have up to date photos, but nothing yet!

Although the river channel is undoubtedly wider than before the opening of the causeway gates, I am more impressed with the new depth of the channel (especially just below the causeway) and also the increased vigour of the current. There are almost rapids now at the causeway gates!

The channel will remain constricted until the causeway is removed and replaced with a partial bridge. Still, if I were to guess, I would say that the channel is probably about 50% wider than before the opening of the gates. Comparative photos would be really nice.

[benvui]

If anyone is interested there was a study done by a graduate student at UNB on the erosion of the banks. The study was started before the gates were opened and ended in the fall of 2010 (only a few months after the gates were opened) and submitted last month. If you read the report it talks about how fast the banks are eroding away. I skipped to the end but it was a very interesting read none the less.
http://dspace.hil.unb.ca:8080/bitstream/handle/1882/35384/Mark_Wojda_MScE%20_2011.pdf?sequence=1

[brod3211]

There is a Cajun and a African restaurant opening up on St. George, right next to or near the Red Satay.

[curious]

I was at HBC and the sales person said that the owner of HBC was there with his realtor and lawyer???? who knows what will happen? where would HBC go?

[MonctonRad]

I would say that this definitely falls within the realm of an "unsubstantiated rumour"

The vultures are certainly circling Highfield Square, but what this means for the future of the Bay is uncertain.

If Highfield is chosen for the new events centre, the Bay could close for good (which is a possibility since it is an underperforming store in a small market and the Bay has already closed their west end store in Halifax), but I would like to think that they would just move elsewhere. The big question is where? The only possibility would be if WalMart left Champlain to build a new superstore elsewhere in the city, but apparently WalMart likes it at Champlain.

There are retail areas in development on Mapleton Road, in Findlay Park and possibly off Harrisville Blvd, but these all are big box type developments and not traditional shopping malls. I don't think the Bay would find these appealing.

I wouldn't write the Bay off yet, but the future of this retailing icon in the city seems a little ominous. It would be nice to think that the Bay could carry on in it's current location and be incorporated in some way with the new events centre. We shall see.

[MonctonRad]

Abridged from today's T&T

Moncton begins legwork on modern fire station
Published Wednesday October 12th, 2011

Aging McLaughlin Drive station will be replaced with new facility in new location
BY BRENT MAZEROLLE
TIMES & Transcript Staff

Construction of a new fire hall in the northeast end of Moncton to replace the aged and poorly located McLaughlin Drive fire station has taken a significant step forward.

Ahead of deliberating the City of Moncton's 2012 capital works budget this evening, Moncton city council has already voted to get plans under way for a new fire station to replace what is the city's oldest.

Designing of the estimated $1.2-million facility will take place over the winter, with construction planned for next spring.

The current fire hall turns 50 next year and it is well past its prime. A better understanding of how fire stations should be located has also evolved in the past five decades, and the McLaughlin station fails on a few counts.

With Moncton's largest cemetery across the street, a wooded patch of the Université de Moncton campus at its back, and no access to the Trans-Canada Highway from McLaughlin, the station is not as well placed as it would be on Elmwood Drive, especially for calls out to Caledonia Industrial Estates, to highway accidents or properties near the northeastern boundaries of the city, where a planned new high school seems certain to spur further growth.

The city has made it clear for some time now that a new station would be placed somewhere to give it better 360-degree coverage, and that spot is probably somewhere on Elmwood Drive further to the north than where the McLaughlin station stands today.

No land has been acquired yet.

In the meantime, because the new Botsford Street fire station is better located to respond to calls in the Lewisville area, the McLaughlin station can move further north without affecting response times to places off Mill Road or Shediac Road.

The new facility is proposed to be the first city-owned building with a LEED certification, LEED an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

It will be a relatively small station compared to recent constructions like Hildegarde and even Botsford Street, the latter a relatively compact site but still containing the department's administrative offices. It will be a single-storey, three-bay station with room to house four firefighters per shift, plus storage and equipment rooms.

the rumour is that the new station will be built on Elmwood Drive, to the north of the TCH, near the entrance to Caledonia Industrial Park.

[mylesmalley]

Methinks the city is trying to justify the inevitable improvements needed to Elmwood up to Royal Oaks by putting more services there. As far as geography is concerned, wouldn't it make more sense to put it near Harrisville? That way the East end could be equally served by Botsford and the new one, and the areas in the far reaches of Dieppe will get considerably better coverage.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

Methinks the city is trying to justify the inevitable improvements needed to Elmwood up to Royal Oaks by putting more services there.

It's good to have fire stations near high schools.