The Official Moncton, NB Project Thread - Page 484

MonctonRad · #**9661** Posted **Dec 29, 2011, 9:16 PM**

From the CBC website:

McKesson merging Maritime operations in Moncton
Halifax facility will be closed between January and February
CBC News
Last Updated: Dec 29, 2011 2:21 PM AT

McKesson Canada is crediting Moncton’s central location in the Maritimes for its decision to locate its distribution centre in the city.

McKesson Canada, which distributes pharmaceuticals and products to health-care providers, has distribution centres around the country. The company is closing its Halifax facility and consolidating its Maritime operations in a new centre in Moncton’s Caledonia Industrial Park.

The new Moncton facility will start operating at the end of January. The company’s Halifax centre will be slowly phased out between January and February 2012.

David-Vincent Bone, a communications advisor for the company, said in a written response to questions that the new location will be more efficient.

“We believe it will be more efficient to serve our customers in the Maritimes from a single distribution centre, and based on our review of all possibilities, Moncton appeared to be a convenient central location in the context of our current and future business initiatives,” Bone said in an email.

The company employs 50 people at the Moncton centre. There will be approximately 90 workers at the new facility.

McKesson Canada said it was reviewing its Atlantic Canadian operations when it decided to consolidate its Maritime facilities in Moncton.

The company said the existing Moncton facility was no longer able to meet its needs in terms of space. McKesson examined the different options in Halifax and Moncton and it was eventually decided to move the new facility to New Brunswick.

“McKesson Canada is also looking at different opportunities to meet evolving market demands in New Brunswick, such as repackaging and central fill, which would represent a new vein of pharmaceutical distribution,” Bone said the email.

There will be a few positions transferred to Moncton from Halifax. Bone said the precise number of employees that can transfer has not yet been decided.

“We are committed to treating each impacted employee with great consideration, in accordance with our shared principles of respect and fairness, and we will work closely with them throughout this transition,” he said in the email.

The company says its distribution centres supply 40 per cent of the medicines used in Canada to 6,300 retail pharmacies and 1,350 hospitals, clinics and institutions.

mylesmalley · #**9662** Posted **Dec 29, 2011, 10:03 PM**

Nice addition to Caledonia. That building is massive!

mmmatt · #**9663** Posted **Dec 29, 2011, 10:29 PM**

^ indeed it is! Well this is proof that the largest of the buildings U/C in Caledonia will in fact be McKesson

MonctonRad · #**9664** Posted **Dec 29, 2011, 11:35 PM**

Interesting that this McKesson facility is directly behind the (equally) massive Matrix (Shoppers Drug Mart) distribution centre. Between these two distribution centres, we must have the pharmaceutical distibution system for the Maritimes cornered here in Moncton!

MonctonRad · #**9665** Posted **Dec 30, 2011, 4:31 PM**

Some random observations at the end of 2011.......

- The local exodus from Champlain Place (due to the termination of the local retailers subsidy by the mall) seems to be in full gear. Both Jon Raymond and Boutique Cherie have closed up. They join Colpitts Mens Wear, which has recently announced that it is moving to Main Street between Timothy's and The Old Triangle.

Champlain Place apparently made the decision to end the subsidy because they are confident that they can fill the mall exclusively with higher end national retailers. Indeed, I just happened to be in Colpitts today and asked a salesperson if there was anybody going to move into their space and he said yes there was. He was not at liberty to say who it was, but did state that it would be a "casual men's and women's clothing store". It will be very interesting to see who else is lined up to fill these vacancies.

- The exterior of the Bella Casa 2 at the Moncton Golf & Country Club in Riverview is now complete (although the cladding still has to be applied). It will be identical in stature and appearance to Bella Casa 1.

- They are now starting work on the 4th floor of Valmond Robichaud's apartment building on Dominion Street.

- The new condo building at the Mountain Woods golf community development off of Gorge Road, north of the TCH is now tall enough that you can see it poking above the trees from as far away as the Mountain road/Gorge Road intersection.

The first of the new controversial condo buildings near Harrisville Blvd north of Shediac Road is now under construction.

mmmatt · #**9666** Posted **Dec 30, 2011, 11:09 PM**

^ Good news on all fronts

in other news, today I was on Harrisville / Dieppe Blvd and noticed a massive lot is being cleared. There were 3 excavators working on the site and there has been a large scale clear-cut done in a very short span of time.

The lot which has been cleared is boxed in red:

source: Bing Maps

Could this be the much rumoured Sobeys? A new industrial building? Or simply an expansion of the Impact Auto lot? Who knows...

mylesmalley · #**9667** Posted **Dec 31, 2011, 6:40 AM**

Hard to say. I thought Crombie owned the lot across from that though.

EDIT:

Actually, based on the city zoning map, it isn't zoned for anything... There's usually an area around highways and where major interchanges are or will be that is left unzoned, but the one on the northwest corner of Harrisville and Rt 15 is significantly larger than you see anywhere else in town.

MonctonRad · #**9668** Posted **Dec 31, 2011, 6:24 PM**

from today's T&T

Retail growth continues
Published Saturday December 31st, 2011

2011 saw big developments on the retail front in Metro
By James Foster
Times & Transcript Staff

In a region where shopping is akin to entertainment, perhaps the biggest retail news of 2011 involves stores where no one has even spent a dime yet.

TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
The new Power Centre on Mapleton Road kicked into high gear again in 2011.

The dormant Mapleton Power Centre project is back on again after falling silent for the past two years.

The approximately $40 million project was poised to be the home of major retailers such as Best Buy and Linens N Things but when the recession struck American retailers particularly hard three years ago, it changed the retail landscape almost over night and big projects like the Power Centre were among the collateral damage.

Moncton's director of commercial and business development was ecstatic when the project was revived this past summer.

"This is a key sector, and retail is part of Moncton's brand for entertainment," Ben Champoux said.

"That particular area is key for growth. We're pleased it's taking off as it is key for our Vision Lands."

The centre is located east of Mapleton Road and north of Wheeler Boulevard, right next to the Trinity Drive shopping district. The so-called Vision Lands is a huge tract of wooded land that is poised to be developed for mixed use, east of Mapleton Road and west of McLaughlin Drive, north of the Power Centre.

Tenants have not yet been publicly named for the new Power Centre, though strong rumours abound. The names of the retailers moving in to the new shopping area are expected to be released soon.

Also in Moncton's northwest end, Target stores are expected to start renovating the existing Zellers location on Mountain Road in 2012.

New retail developments were not restricted to Moncton during the past year, however.

In Dieppe, much of the focus was on the wrap-up of Cadillac Fairview's multi-million-dollar revamp of Champlain Place that gave the venerable shopping centre a modern, snazzy look that extended outside the mall to its cladding, signage and a complete repaving of its parking lot.

But just as this year's new aspects of Moncton's retail sector is not restricted to Mapleton Road, nor is Dieppe's all about the region's largest single-level shopping mecca, with a complete overhaul of the city's Canadian Tire outlet as well as the Pharmasave pharmacy on Acadie Avenue, which is expanding to more than triple its former size, mostly to accommodate medical clinics.

About 25 new businesses set up shop in Dieppe this past year, says Louis Godbout, Dieppe's director of business development, and many of those fall into the health and medical field, including a purveyor of medical wear.

The uptown area of Dieppe is thriving as well, home to many of those new businesses, including a new NB Liquor outlet and several new boutique-style retailers. You can expect a new hardware store to be announced for that area soon, among other developments waiting in the wings.

Godbout notes that a number of franchises want to move to Dieppe, but are struggling to find franchisees.

"It's our biggest problem in this area," he says.

Meanwhile, Riverview's biggest retail news in 2011 involves Kent Building Supplies taking over the expansive former Sobeys location on Coverdale Road.

The new Gunningsville Bridge between Moncton and Riverview has made travelling to Riverview to shop easier than travelling to some better known shopping areas in Moncton and Dieppe, the town's manager of economic development Shane Thomson notes, and in the coming year you'll see that message more often.

"That's something we need to leverage, really," Thomson says.

Site selectors are taking note of Riverview's growing retail mix, for example at Findlay Park and in its downtown, and its growing population. Thomson describes those two factors as nearing the "tipping point," where retailers see the right mix of stores and population growth that factors greatly into where they want to set up shop.

The Metro Moncton region is attractive to retailers as it boasts the kind of demographics they seek: a younger population than the provincial average, higher disposable income, high home-ownership, high employment rates and far higher sales per square foot than the Canadian average, to name but a few.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Personal note - not that much new here, but this article provides a reasonably good summary of the current state of retail development in the city. I posted it mostly because it included a photo of the new Cleves/Golf Town building in the Mapleton Centre.

It is interesting to hear that the Dieppe development official has come out and predicted the imminent announcement of a new hardware retailer for the uptown area. There was speculation in our forum earler this year about a Rona Supercentre moving into this part of town. I wonder if this is it?

Lrdevlop · #**9669** Posted **Jan 1, 2012, 3:28 PM**

From yesterday's T&T

Downtown Moncton centre took steps forward and back
Published Saturday December 31st, 2011

City still determined to make facility happen despite setbacks
D1
BY BRENT MAZEROLLE
TIMES & TRANSCRIPT STAFF

The dream of a multi-purpose events centre in downtown Moncton took a few baby steps forward and then one really big step backward in 2011.

Nevertheless, the year ended with the City of Moncton, its mayor, and many of its citizens as determined as ever to make the facility happen.

Much of the first part of the year was taken up with City of Moncton staff doing the mounds of paperwork required to apply for funding from Public Private Partnerships Canada, an agency variously known as PPP Canada or P3 Canada. It is a federal Crown corporation created to fund public projects through public-private partnerships.

The application sought the maximum $25 million available in federal funds and required multiple supporting documents including an independent economic impact analysis from Grant Thornton and a business study from Sierra Planning Consultants.

The fact the fund would have only paid for a quarter and not a third of the estimated $100 million centre gave some councillors pause even as they voted to proceed with the application last spring, but city manager Jacques Dubé urged councillors to go ahead with pursuing the money anyway, even if it didn't give council all that it wanted.

He argued at the time that deciding whether or not to take the $25 million and build something with funds from elsewhere was a better position than not having any money at all.

"This keeps our options open because at the moment no other sources of funding exist," Dubé said. He also said staff would be preparing a parallel application for a more traditional three-way Infrastructure Canada arrangement. While there is no program offering that traditional arrangement running right now, "that doesn't mean there won't be another federal program" down the road a bit, the Parliament Hill veteran suggested.

All that might prove handy in the future, because the bad news from Ottawa in November was that P3 Canada wouldn't give Moncton even a dollar toward the project.

The $1.2-billion fund had an overwhelming number of applications for various projects across the country and unable to help all of them, P3 Canada dropped sport and recreational facilities from consideration.

Moncton Mayor George LeBlanc told the Times & Transcript the turn of events is "extremely disappointing," but the city will forge ahead on a project that enjoys overwhelming public support, as well as the support of the area's federal and provincial political leaders of all stripes.

"Now it's time for a made-in-Moncton solution," he said. "I have faith in the people of Moncton, I have faith in our future, and I have faith that we will get this done."

As part of the process, the city provided a procurement plan, a value-for-money and risk analysis, as well as reports from expert consultants IBI Group and the report of a broad-based citizens task force that called for pursuing the project.

They also prepared an internal "projection of how this would affect the city's finances for 30 full years," LeBlanc said. "We had planned to go public with that as soon as we could get the land tied up. The timing of this is ironic because we are really close to securing the preferred site for this project. I'm hoping that we're still going to be able to but I'm concerned word that P3 Canada has turned us down might undermine that."

"We're not going to hang our hat on the feds," he added. "We've been down this road now and hopefully something will come through. But we don't want to go down the same path for another two years only to be told it doesn't work.

"We are going to hit the reset button and we are going to recast this as a true three-P partnership with private companies," LeBlanc said.

"Frankly we've had some investors sniffing around and asking about that kind of thing but we didn't really pursue it because we were in the process with P3 Canada."

pierremoncton · #**9670** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 2:47 AM**

Population counts from the 2011 census will be released on Feb 8: http://www12.statcan.ca/census-recensement/2011/rt-td/rt-td-eng.cfm

Growth estimates since 2006:

CMAs: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo05a-eng.htm
Provinces: http://www40.statcan.ca/l01/cst01/demo02a-eng.htm

If these estimates are correct, then the CMA would be just under 140,000 in 2011. Provincial estimates also show a 15k (2%) jump from 2006 to 2007, which I find suspicious.
My feeling is that both of these sets are too high.

My predictions:

Code:

Community      1991     1996             2001              2006               2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Moncton      56,823   59,313 (+4.4%)   61,046 (+2.9%)    64,128 (+5.0%)     68,950 (+7.5%)
Dieppe       10,463   12,497 (+19.4%)  14,951 (+19.6%)   18,565 (+24.2%)    22,650 (+22.0%)
Riverview    16,270   16,684 (+2.5%)   17,010 (+2.0%)    17,832 (+4.8%)     18,925 (+6.1%)
Tricities    83,556   88,494 (+5.9%)   93,007 (+5.1%)   100,525 (+8.1%)    110,525 (+9.9%)
CA/CMA      107,436  113,495 (+5.6%)  118,678* (+4.6%)  126,424 (+6.5%)    138,400 (+9.5%)
NB          723,900  738,133 (+2.0%)  729,428 (-1.2%)   729,997 (+0.1%)    751,500 (+2.9%)

MonctonRad · #**9671** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 3:38 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

If these estimates are correct, then the CMA would be just under 140,000 in 2011. Provincial estimates also show a 15k (2%) jump from 2006 to 2007, which I find suspicious.
My feeling is that both of these sets are too high.

Hard to say pierre. There are parts of the CMA (particularly NW Moncton and Dieppe) which have been growing like stink over the last decade. I personally don't think a CMA population of nearly 140,000 would be far off the mark.

Also, the population of the city itself continues to grow, so it is not inconcievable that the City of Moncton could supersede the City of Saint John as the largest municipality in the province in the next census.

I can't wait for the stats to be released in February. The curiosity is killing me.

NBNYer · #**9672** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 4:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

If these estimates are correct, then the CMA would be just under 140,000 in 2011. Provincial estimates also show a 15k (2%) jump from 2006 to 2007, which I find suspicious.
My feeling is that both of these sets are too high.

Out of curiosity, what makes you think the CMA estimates are too high?

I don't know what Statcan's track record is, but if their estimates are accurate, I would expect quite a bit more that 138,000 for the census based only on the following data taken from their website:

Moncton (CMA): (2007:131.0) (2008:132.6) (2009:134.9) (2010:137.3)

pierremoncton · #**9673** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 7:24 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Out of curiosity, what makes you think the CMA estimates are too high?

I could be entirely wrong, of course. I'm no statistician. I question the estimates mostly because they show a 2% (15,000 new residents) growth estimate in the provincial population from 2006 to 2007 when official numbers show a decrease of 1.2% from 1996 to 2001 and stagnation until 2006. I know there's a growth in Moncton, but if the provincial numbers are off, then the CMA's might also be. Just speculation.

If you add 1.7% growth (like the previous two years) to the 2010 estimate, then you hit 140k in 2011. I suppose I just find that number surprising. Maybe I stay downtown too much and haven't seen all that's going on in the suburbs.

NBNYer · #**9674** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 8:30 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

I could be entirely wrong, of course. I'm no statistician. I question the estimates mostly because they show a 2% (15,000 new residents) growth estimate in the provincial population from 2006 to 2007 when official numbers show a decrease of 1.2% from 1996 to 2001 and stagnation until 2006. I know there's a growth in Moncton, but if the provincial numbers are off, then the CMA's might also be. Just speculation.

Good point, as I mentioned in my last post, it all depends on how accurate they were in their estimates and what you just pointed out really makes me wonder.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

If you add 1.7% growth (like the previous two years) to the 2010 estimate, then you hit 140k in 2011. I suppose I just find that number surprising. Maybe I stay downtown too much and haven't seen all that's going on in the suburbs.

My family is in Dieppe I don't think there was much of a slowdown in growth the past couple years (if there was it sure wasn't too noticeable) and I would be surprised if they find that.

JHikka · #**9675** Posted **Jan 4, 2012, 11:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by NBNYer

My family is in Dieppe I don't think there was much of a slowdown in growth the past couple years (if there was it sure wasn't too noticeable) and I would be surprised if they find that.

I'm sure mylesmalley can elaborate on the growth on Gauvin, among other places. As well, MonctonRad mentioned NW Moncton, which is also seeing considerable growth. I would be surprised if it remained under 140K.

mylesmalley · #**9676** Posted **Jan 5, 2012, 12:04 AM**

Gauvin is just the start, haha. I just happen to live there, so it's the street I see most often.

It's worth noting that the satellite imagery on Google Maps for Dieppe is from around 2006. Looking at those photos, it's easy see just how much the city has changed in just 5 years. For starters...

downtown wasn't there. City hall was built in 2006, as was Place 1604. he market is new, too
Paul Street has been completely redeveloped
The strip mall with Quiznos and Bulk Barn was built
Both Champlain Place and Crystal Palce have been expanded
There have probably been a dozen large apartment blocks put up along Gauvin alone in that time
Plus the five more going up right now
The eastern half of the Dieppe Industrial Park went from nearly empty to nearly full, including a hotel
Uptown Dieppe didn't exist at all... Dieppe Blvd went as far as the Ernst and Young building
The Dieppe Industrial Park has expanded to the other side of the airport and is starting to fill up. One building there now, one under construction, and quite a bit of interest
Fox Creek Golf Course is new (I believe)
The Dieppe Operations Centre is U/C
The flight college expanded
Literally dozens of new streets and subdivisions...look at the city zoning map to see what I mean
...and there's definitely more

And that's just Dieppe! The changes in Moncton aren't nearly as dramatic because of the scale of things, but there's been just as much or more construction there than in Dieppe. Even Riverview has gotten in on some of the action.

We've had a phenomenal five years in the city. There's no way to know if it will continue or slow down, but I don't think it's at all unreasonable for the city to hit 140,000 this census.

The big thing I'm going to be looking for is where those people are coming from though. It's completely anecdotal, but I've noticed a big increase in the number immigrants and newcomers, especially from Korea. If we have any hope of seeing the region's population continue to grow, we're going to need as much immigration as we can. Sooner or later the flow from the North Shore is going to slow down.

JHikka · #**9677** Posted **Jan 5, 2012, 2:04 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylesmalley

It's completely anecdotal, but I've noticed a big increase in the number immigrants and newcomers, especially from Korea. If we have any hope of seeing the region's population continue to grow, we're going to need as much immigration as we can. Sooner or later the flow from the North Shore is going to slow down.

Completely agreed with all of this. The number of Koreans is increasing in the Maritimes, particularly in Moncton. They very usually get into business, and then their children attend universities and contribute to society positively. As an example, nearly 75% of the convenience stores in Saint John are owned by Koreans. I'm unsure of the Moncton numbers, but I know there are enough across the country to warrant their own Korean Convenience Store Magazine.

Immigration is going to be absolutely vital in the next few decades, and it's going to be interesting to see which areas/provinces are quicker to the draw.

MonctonRad · #**9678** Posted **Jan 5, 2012, 4:04 AM**

There are many Korean families who have moved into the Kingswood neighbourhood in the last five years. I think it's a favourite location for them. The city of Moncton is also actively pursuing Vietnamese immigrants as well.

Completely anecdotal I know, but I was at Champlain Place the last weekend before Christmas and was completely struck by the number of Black people in the crowd.

I have mentioned it before, but the Moncton Hospital processes about 450 people per year for immigration chest x-rays. I think the city is holding it's own in the immigration derby.....

JHikka · #**9679** Posted **Jan 5, 2012, 4:17 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Completely anecdotal I know, but I was at Champlain Place the last weekend before Christmas and was completely struck by the number of Black people in the crowd.

I know that UdeM attracts students from French-speaking countries. Possibly that's the explanation?

Koreans will generally group together as much as they can. They generally create regional groups or associations for information sharing and business. It works well for them, and they usually all know each other. It's pretty remarkable how interconnected they can become in their own respective cities.

pierremoncton · #**9680** Posted **Jan 6, 2012, 1:07 PM**

CanadaEast's paywall is up. $19.95/mo? I was expecting it to be a few bucks. Bye bye!