The Official PEI Project Thread

[hogan2]

hey, new building going up between Sears and Superior Sanatation. Is that the new KENT?

[apollo]

New Dept. of Fisheries building with second floor lease space.

[billy1]

The Department of Fisheries building is one a few projects APM has on the go in the city.



Here is a new Nursing Home in North River



And finally they have started the second Charlotte Court building off North River Rd.

[billy1]

Some better renderings of the Grafton/Prince street condo proposal. Council passed a resolution for a height increase recently.

[braymondg]

Confederation Court Mall Sold

TheGuardian
Published on February 27, 2012
Dave Stewart

The Confederation Court Mall in Charlottetown and other Homburg properties find themselves under new ownership today.

Tanya O'Brien, vice-president and general manager of Dyne Holdings Ltd., told The Guardian that the mall is part of a major business sale that took place in Montreal earlier this month.

In that sale, Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust reached a friendly deal to acquire Canmarc REIT after boosting its cash offer in a bid to become one of the country’s largest integrated real estate companies.

Quebec-based Cominar won the unanimous support of Canmarc’s board after increasing its offer by more than seven per cent to $905.4 million. Canmarc was previously known as Homburg Canada Real Estate Investment Trust, part of the business empire created by Netherlands-born entrepreneur Richard Homburg.

O'Brien says the Confederation Court Mall continues to fly under the banner of Dyne Holdings Ltd.

"That has never changed. The company (we're owned by) Canmarc REIT has been bought by another (company). That's the end of the story,'' O'Brien said Monday morning.

There were rumours that Mike Arnold, chief executive officer with Dyne, was part of the consortium that purchased Canmarc REIT but O'Brien says that is not the case.

"Mike Arnold has no involvement,'' she said.

O'Brien said they've had one discussion with the new owners so far and have been told it's status quo.

"They've told us it's business as usual. We are pleased to have such a large (company) as our owners but I think we're a small part in what they do. We'll see how this all unfolds.''

[braymondg]

Anyone out there have any idea where this area is and do you know why.

From the City of Charlottetown Building permits web page:

09-376, Various, 024-prz-09, 26-Jan-12, 30-Jan-12, 300 Kent St, 323 & 331 Grafton Street, Consolidation of 21 lots at Holland College site, Holland College & Others, 20-Feb-12

[engpei]

Holland College lot consolidation. Likely consolidating all the old lots that are now under their new campus on lower Grafton street.

[josh_cat_eyes]

In the mall deal, does this mean that the Holman Grand has been sold too?

[josh_cat_eyes]

I'm just at Future Shop in Charlottetown and I was told they will be doing a major reno this summer. Also noticed that the English Butler next door has closed. I wonder how long that will remain empty. In other news, Summerside is getting a Dominos Pizza in part of the former Movie Gallary location.

[billy1]

Great Hobbies http://www.greathobbies.com/ is already renovating the space where English Butler was located.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by billy1

Great Hobbies http://www.greathobbies.com/ is already renovating the space where English Butler was located.

That's a great store. Very unique in the region. It would likely be good for their business to be located up in that development.

[hogan2]

Hey i heard toys R Us, should be up and going by the end of this year. Any truth to that?

[billy1]

Originally Posted by hogan2

Hey i heard toys R Us, should be up and going by the end of this year. Any truth to that?

This sounds about right. I think Sobeys is moving into the new location early April. Once they move out of the old location, my guess would be construction would start immediately on the conversion into 5 storefronts.

[Just an Islander]

Folks. i hear that the Hut is coming back to Charlottetown. Does anyone know where it is going to be. That is a lot of Pizza places for one City such as Charlottetown.

[hogan2]

pizza hut is going where the old dominoes was

[hogan2]

The Charlottetown Airport is in the process a major makeover.

Between 2011 and this year, the Charlottetown Airport Authority is spending in the area of $10 million on changes designed to see it prosper for the next 15 to 20 years.

Last fall, work finished on a $1 million renovation to the short-term parking lot while a $3.5-million renovation to the inside of the terminal building is currently well underway.

And tenders just went out on upgrading the airport’s 5,000-foot secondary runway, a project that is expected to cost into the millions of dollars.

Work on the inside of the terminal building is expected to wrap up by June.

The main lounge area inside the terminal building is gone, replaced with a large security area. When the project is finished in a few months, that security area will feature two queues for passengers to proceed through, a gift shop and a bar/restaurant for things like coffee and sandwiches.

The idea is to convince passengers to move quickly into the security area rather than waiting until the last minute.

“We want to encourage people to go through security and not rush through at the last minute and be in lineups they don’t need to be in,’’ said Doug Newson, chief executive officer of the airport authority.

A new 5,000-square foot wing has been added on to the airport where the carrier counters are located to provide more room for the airlines to check people in. the gift shop just inside the main entrance will be moving next to the current restaurant to create more room for queuing passengers.

The airport is also creating 20,000 additional square feet of space behind the counters and out of public view for the airlines and staff.

A new baggage system will also soon be put in place.

Newson said all the work is creating some challenges but it’s a short-term pain, long-term gain kind of thing.

“Obviously, you still have to operate an airport while you do this,’’ Newson said. “It would be easier to close it down for a couple of months to get it done so it presents some challenges that way but the project has been moving along quite well.’’

The airport will also soon begin rehabilitation work on its secondary runway, the first significant work done to it since 1985.

“Growth is an expensive problem but it’s a good problem to have, too. We believe with this project and this terminal project that the airport will be well positioned for the next number of years.’’



The Guardian will have much more on the airport project in the upcoming Progress Edition, an insert in the newspaper on April 4.

[hogan2]

A new mall in the north of Charlottetown has moved the widening of the Malpeque Road to the top of the city's infrastructure priority list.

The area has been a centre of commercial development for years, and the new shopping mall north of the so-called Peter Pan intersection is expected to increase traffic further.

Public works committee chair Coun. Terry Bernard told CBC News after Monday night's council meeting that the current configuration is dangerous.

"When you're going down the hill on Malpeque Road, past the Peter Pan intersection, you have two lanes that merge into one just before the lights. We want to make that two lanes all the way out to the merge lane," said Bernard.

"It gets to be quite dangerous when you get the two lanes merging into one just before the lights at the bottom of the hill."

Bernard said the project will cost about half a million dollars.

Two year battle

Coun. Mitchell Tweel continued his fight for changes to the intersection at Queen and Pond streets, which he has been battling for for two years.

Tweel voted against the 2010 city budget because no money was earmarked for a solution.

He told council Monday night he has a consultant's report with eight recommendations on how to improve that intersection, and asked council to send the matter to a public meeting.

"Let's look at that report and give the community an opportunity to assess and evaluate what the recommendations are in that report to make that intersection safe and secure," said Tweel.

"As it stands right now, that is a dangerous intersection."

Council voted to defer Tweel's motion because there's no improvement plan to take to the community.

Bernard said an engineer's report has been done to evaluate the most dangerous intersections in the city. Queen and Pond made the top 10, but it was near the bottom of the list.

"We're looking at the priority list and which ones we should be doing by priority," he said.

"Queen and Pond, I believe, was sixth or seventh on the list. There's a number of them that have the same problems. So, if we're going to look at intersections fairly for the safety of pedestrians and traffic, we're responding by those results we got from the engineers."

Sewer rates up

Council also approved an expected significant hike in sewer rates.

Sewer bills will go up by $30 a year is to help defray the costs of a highly publicized multi-million dollar sewer project in the city. The project would complete the separation of storm and sanitary sewers in the city. The sewers are still combined in parts of the city, leading to overflows that dump raw sewage into the harbour during heavy rain.

Mayor Clifford Lee said the $30 increase will come in two stages.

"In 2012, because the rates are only going up on April first, it's not a retroactive increase, the increase will be in the area of $22.50," said Lee.

"The following year there will be an additional $7.50 added."

For those homeowners on a metered system rates will increase by 10 per cent.

The increase will result in an extra half a million dollars for the sewer utility.

City council goes behind closed doors Tuesday and Wednesday night to debate spending priorities for the 2012 budget

[billy1]

One business has moved in; residential component 70 per cent leased.

New life is being breathed into the old Dominion Building as the grand ole structure begins to fill up.
Page Realty Management, the Halifax company which now manages the building on Queen Street, is in the initial stages of leasing the space.
The project, upon completion, will be a mixed-use building.
Cox Palmer will be occupying the penthouse floor and plans are for the first floor to be a mix use of retail and commercial office space.
The building will be completed with 56 high-end residential units on levels 2-5 (one and two-bedroom) ranging from 700 square feet to almost 1,600 square feet. Plans call for about 52 two-bedroom units and four one-bedroom units. Each will be completed with granite countertops, ceramic in the washrooms, engineered hardwood in the living spaces, upgraded light fixtures and upgraded stainless steel appliances (fridge, stove, washer, dryer and dishwasher).
Most of the second-floor units have a private terrace and included in the building amenities is a common terrace for the residents. Tenants get surface parking with underground parking available at a modest fee.
With approximately 140 spaces, there should be plenty of parking.
As of mid-March, the residential component was 70 per cent leased.
We are anxious to revitalize this building, breathing new life and character into it with a mosaic of people and uses,’’ said Douglas Moss, leasing manager with Page Realty Management.
Workers began knocking down walls in the 53,645-square-metre building last summer.
The ultimate goal is also to maintain the current look of the building while keeping it as environmentally friendly as possible.
In 2002, Public Works Canada declared the building surplus to its needs and in 2007 transferred the property to the Canada Lands Company (CLC).
A call in the summer of 2008 by CLC for expressions of interest to purchase and develop the building resulted in 25 packages going out across the country, many of them from the real estate world. And perhaps more importantly than the volume of interest that was shown in 2008 was the quality of interested parties.
CLC, a Crown corporation that buys and disposes of surplus federal property, sold the building in 2010.
The Dominion Building was once home to a post office and hundreds of public servants.

[Just an Islander]

Hello folks Just an Islander here. I heard on the radio that Brits Fish and Chips is opening a new location down on Water Street where Rum runners was. It will be interesting to see how they do. Has anyone heard of any new shops coming that will be going out by the new development bye the Peter Pan. As well I see in the Charlottetown Mall that Ardene is opening a bigger new style store in the mall down by the Boat House and must be closing the other one up across from Zellers. I also heard through the grape vine that Bootleggers is coming to the Charlottetown Mall. Is there any truth to that rummer. Well if anyone hears of any new shops coming or anything else going on please let me Just an Island er know

[apollo]

Arnold Croken of the Summerside Port Corporation was in the paper saying that they have the old Burger King Leased and are getting revenue from the building. Does anyone know who is leasing the building?