The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by Townie709

Just wanted to say that Saint John is decorated beautifully for Christmas! You guys are lucky! I wish we would do more downtown here in St. John's..

Saint John is by far my favourite city in NB (and in my opinion, the only city worth visiting at all ) Having been there a few times, the parts I've seen have been beautifully preserved and it still maintains that gritty, old world feeling while also somewhat modern at the same time. I love it! You guys are lucky to have such a great mid-sized city. If I had to move to NB, I'd be in Saint John in a heartbeat!

The city did a very nice job of decorating the uptown this year. Thanks for the kind words, things are going very well for the city right now.

[Chadillaccc]

I'm pretty excited for you guys to hear about the former coast guard site. That will be a massive downtown development and possibly a game-changer for the way New Brunswickers think about urban living also will hopefully spur growth of downtown businesses

[DizzyEdge]

Re: South Market Wharf vs Fundy Quay

You guys should just start referring it to SMW as though that's the new name. Tweet about it, post about it, hell if a sign goes up paste over the old name with the new one. I've often been curious if enough people act like that's the new reality if it might stick.

[cdnguys]

Good idea. LOL if people didn't provide input we would have downtown instead of uptown and The Fundy Vortex instead of Reversing Falls.

[Peter_johnns]

But they should probably change the name of reversing falls. a lot of people call it reversing rapids

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Peter_johnns

Moncton can only be fed north shore NBers for so long, you will see signs of peeking. Saint John is growing, I will not be surprised to see Saint John maintain largest city status. The city is in transition and it beginning to start a new. If Saint John received the funding Moncton gets, things would be different.

To be fair, Moncton's growth increased at more of a rate than the decrease that is occurring in Northern NB. That is to say, it isn't only just people from the north fueling their growth. They do grab people from other parts of Canada.

Originally Posted by CdnEh

Is there any space in McAlister Place at the moment for an H&M? It seems like they're around 15k square feet in all other outlets in the region.

It seems like they're expanding quickly into Atlantic Canada... they recently opened a location in Fredericton, and a little while back opened in Moncton, and Halifax. Now there are rumours of St. John's.

I'd hate to see Saint John get left out in the cold.

Given Saint John's demographics as being an industrial, blue-collar town, along with our high poverty and unemployment, it's not surprising that we would be the last considered metro area in Atlanta Canada for an H&M.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by JHikka

To be fair, Moncton's growth increased at more of a rate than the decrease that is occurring in Northern NB. That is to say, it isn't only just people from the north fueling their growth. They do grab people from other parts of Canada.

Thanks for the defence Greg, by my estimate, only 30-40% of the growth in greater Moncton is directly attributable to the exodus from the north. Immigrants also come from elsewhere in the Maritimes, Canada and (increasingly) overseas.

I also wasn't sure what Peter_johnns meant by his "funding" comment either. I really don't think that Moncton is receiving a disproportionate share of provincial largess compared to Saint John or Fredericton. I was going to ask about this but decided not to because I didn't want to provoke a flame war on the thread.

As Rodney King said: "can't we all just get along?".

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Thanks for the defence Greg, by my estimate, only 30-40% of the growth in greater Moncton is directly attributable to the exodus from the north. Immigrants also come from elsewhere in the Maritimes, Canada and (increasingly) overseas.

I also wasn't sure what Peter_johnns meant by his "funding" comment either. I really don't think that Moncton is receiving a disproportionate share of provincial largess compared to Saint John or Fredericton. I was going to ask about this but decided not to because I didn't want to provoke a flame war on the thread.

As Rodney King said: "can't we all just get along?".

lol Well you sort of just brought it up. And yes Moncton does receive a very disproportionate amount. for example the entire provincial arts fund, moncton gets 50% while SJ and Fred get 10% and 9%

[SaintJohner]

Alrighty, back to talking about SAINT JOHN talk again, does anyone have any photos of what's been going on lately? Has anyone gone out to take photos in te rothesay quispam area, to show the changes there?

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by SaintJohner

Alrighty, back to talking about SAINT JOHN talk again, does anyone have any photos of what's been going on lately? Has anyone gone out to take photos in te rothesay quispam area, to show the changes there?

This forum should not focus on strip mall development in the suburbs...
I thought this was an urban forum

[CdnEh]

Does anybody know what the rationale was for putting what looks like a footbridge onto the highway overpass by the Dolan Road Irving?

Does anybody walk remotely close to there?

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by SaintJohner

Alrighty, back to talking about SAINT JOHN talk again, does anyone have any photos of what's been going on lately? Has anyone gone out to take photos in te rothesay quispam area, to show the changes there?

You mean a St. Hubert, a Second Cup, and some subdivisions? Oh, I posted an article about how people in Rothesay were complaining about apartment buildings or something. Headlights coming through their windows I think was the excuse.

I've been steadily posting pictures of a number of developments within Saint John. The Baptist Church is being built up on Forbes Drives, the apartment building on Technology is still going up. The apartment buildings in Rockwood Hills and Noel avenue are still being worked on. The Kent store on the west side is being put up very quickly (although they're just glorified warehouses). Peel Plaza is being cleaned up. The rumours Erick posted on the last page. Redevelopment work on historic properties uptown. Gothic Arches being sold. Etc.

We're still waiting for eventual word on South Market Wharf as well as the mayor's desire for a 4Plex on Long Wharf. Oil keeps coming in on trains and there's continuing momentum for a pipeline to be built to direct oil to Saint John.

You can check http://urbanplans.blogspot.ca/ for updates in and around Saint John.

- - - - -

One thing I did notice was something from a few days ago when driving on the Harbour Bridge. When looking at the Uptown from that direction you get a rising feeling. Essentially, the buildings are all four-five stories high in most of the Uptown south of King Street. This provides a good rise in overall density as the hill rises west to east. Although it's really not a big enough matter for me to be against any development of South Market Wharf at all, I would be worried about a development with some tall buildings (say 7-10) maybe throwing off that steady rise in density. That, or obstructing the view of the older brick buildings that provide that density. I know it's not really a big deal but something to keep in mind I suppose.

[SaintJohner]

The development that happens out there is just as important as what happens in the city, they are the reason why the cma continued to grow, they are the only reason why the Saint John cma seen any growth between the 80's and 2006. Yes this is an urban forum, but when there is more buildings burning down in the uptown area than going up, you need to shift your talk to areas that are building, be it strip malls or small apartments it's all important to the growth of this area. I'm not intending to be a troll or start arguments, but I do remember this is a thread about construction, not bickering over very stupid subjects, this is the Saint John thread, not the bash other cities thread, we are all adults, we all know that the councillors and mayors read these threads and so do the newspapers, so let stop bickering an use this thread for getting ideas out there, for talking about areas that need change, talk about proposals we'd like to see, areas that we want beautified or cleaned up.

Can we just for once use this thread for what it was made for, we are a wonderful city with a lot to offer and with our growth , frederictons growth and monctons growth, we could really create an amazing province if we all just worked together.

[JHikka]

Alright.

The KV Public Library on Hampton road is currently going through an expansion.

As well, the town of Quispamsis is in the process of updating their Dangerous & Unsightly Premises By-Law to include vacant or abandoned buildings as a potential safety hazard to the public. Currently it only considers dilapidated or unsound structural strength as grounds for a building to be unsafe.

And, according to the last agenda from Quispamsis Town Council, the QPlex runs a deficit as Council denied the KVMHA a cut rate for ice-times as they were themselves running a deficit due to the increase in ice-time costs associated with the QPlex itself. So, the KVMHA was looking for a reduction in ice-times because they ran 70K in the red last season, had to raise registration fees for hockey by 25% over three years, and will be 15K in the red this season. They requested a reduction in ice-time fees for four tournaments through the year but Council turned them down because the QPlex itself runs at a deficit and the hockey registration fees are already subsidized as it is.

http://quispamsis.ca/council_minutes/2012/November-20-2012.pdf

[Peter_johnns]

Originally Posted by SaintJohner

The development that happens out there is just as important as what happens in the city, they are the reason why the cma continued to grow, they are the only reason why the Saint John cma seen any growth between the 80's and 2006. Yes this is an urban forum, but when there is more buildings burning down in the uptown area than going up, you need to shift your talk to areas that are building, be it strip malls or small apartments it's all important to the growth of this area. I'm not intending to be a troll or start arguments, but I do remember this is a thread about construction, not bickering over very stupid subjects, this is the Saint John thread, not the bash other cities thread, we are all adults, we all know that the councillors and mayors read these threads and so do the newspapers, so let stop bickering an use this thread for getting ideas out there, for talking about areas that need change, talk about proposals we'd like to see, areas that we want beautified or cleaned up.

Can we just for once use this thread for what it was made for, we are a wonderful city with a lot to offer and with our growth , frederictons growth and monctons growth, we could really create an amazing province if we all just worked together.

We are the reason they exist. Most of there growth has been at the cost of the city's growth... I am shocked that I even need to say this. As an urban blog we should not be glorifying suburbs. we should be acknowledging urban development

[RR Drummer]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

For the benefit of those that don't know the significance of "Peel" - Sir Robert Peel was a UK Prime Minister and British Home Secretary that founded the Metropolitan Police and brought in the modern concept of policing. The police station partially covers Peel Street that was named in his honour. The term "Bobbies" is derived from his first name Robert.

I was not aware of that....very interesting. Thanks.

[RR Drummer]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

What does everyone think of renaming the former Coast Guard site to "Fundy Quay"?

Would anyone prefer the historic name "South Market Wharf"? IMO the latter has more marketing appeal.

I agree 100% ....totally different vibe to the name and the marketing appeal is awesome. It def has my vote

[MonctonRad]

There's something about South Market Wharf I like as well. It seems a little more exotic in some ways, like something you would find in Boston.

You don't have to name everything in the province after the bay....

[michael_d40]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There's something about South Market Wharf I like as well. It seems a little more exotic in some ways, like something you would find in Boston.

You don't have to name everything in the province after the bay....

I agree. South Market Wharf does work much better.

We also over-use "Harbour" here.

Harbour Bridge
Harbour Station
Harbour Passage
Harbourview High
Harbourside Apartments
Harbour Lights Campaign for that massive christmas tree on Long Wharf
Harbourfront Residences
Harbour Building on Water St.

[KnoxfordGuy]

Originally Posted by Peter_johnns

We are the reason they exist. Most of there growth has been at the cost of the city's growth... I am shocked that I even need to say this. As an urban blog we should not be glorifying suburbs. we should be acknowledging urban development

I totally agree! People are way to happy about the burbs on these threads!