[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by mmmatt

As a proud "old west ender" I hope you are wrong...we have a lot more young families coming into this neighborhood as of late and I see the trend continuing with many houses being renovated each summer...maybe its just my perception but I find Hillcrest is one of the best schools in Moncton and I'm hoping my son gets to go there!!

If it truly is decrepit and totally underutilized I wont be a NIMBY because I know what needs to be done...but It will be a sad day for sure.

I'm only offering my opinion as to which school on that list I think is most at risk. I like Hillcrest School and am familiar with it through the MKMBA, who use it for their youth basketball program on the weekends. The school has solid bones, but currently the student body is at less than 50% capacity and given the schools location right on St George, this property could be more easily sold than some.

Personally I'm a strong proponent of smaller neighbourhood schools, especially for the K-8 crowd. They help provide a sense of community for the neighbourhood and it's good for the kids to be able to walk to school. That's what I did when I was a kid. I don't think regionalization can be avoided by the time you reach high school though.

Politically the Anglophone East School Board has a problem. If they are seriously thinking of closing rural schools like Dorchester and Riverside, then for the sake of fairness they will also have to look at lesser utilized urban schools as well. Hillcrest however is a good school with a solid academic reputation, and it's one of those schools that I think will see increasing enrolment in the future as young families begin to move downtown again.

If you plan to fight any potential closure mmmatt, I would suggest that you approach the issue in this way. Hillcrest is the neighbourhood school for the old west end. Just point out to the school board that this neighbourhood is right next to the downtown core and will likely see more and more young families with children moving in, especially as older residents die off and young parents become disenchanted with the suburban lifestyle. Hillcrest is probably at it's nadir right now in terms of enrolment. It will likely be higher in 5-10 years time. Try to convince the school board that this will be the case........

[Mattyyy]

I noticed downtown today the Deloitte is moving into the old Manulife Securities location on Main St. Finally - somebody to fill the street front.

[MonctonRad]

Excellent. That was a prominent vacancy. Filling it will make a big difference to the appearances of the DT.

[MonctonRad]

I went to the renovated Moncton Museum & Transportation Discovery Centre at Resurgo Place for the first time today. I took a few pictures:









Despite the recent expansion, the museum is still relatively smallish but is fairly bright and airy. There is a large lobby space and tourism information centre as you walk in the building. The Transportation Discovery Centre is under the cow catcher feature at the front of the building, and has lots of interactive activities for the kids. There is a space for travelling exhibits at the back of the building. The permanent display of the Moncton Museum is upstairs behind the facade of the old city hall. There's some neat stuff up there, but again the display space seems fairly limited. I suppose when you consider that this is a "city" museum and not a large provincial museum like in Saint John that it's OK, but I was still a little disappointed. In any event, it's a step forward from what the city had before and it was a pleasant distraction for about 90 minutes on a Sunday afternoon. It was also moderately busy, more so than I expected and there were quite a few kids in the Discovery Centre.

[Mattyyy]

Well, now that it is officially Spring it would be nice to have a list of construction projects in the downtown area that are slated / scheduled to begin this year. Although it's not guaranteed that any of these will start these are projects that will help to reshape and revive the downtown area. I would add pictures if I had time, so feel free to add anything I may have missed.

1) The Junction - Urban Village - Announced last Fall construction of the 1st building (4 stories?) across from Sobey's on Vaughan Harvey is supposed to start this Spring according to the developer.

2) Events Center

3) Five Five Queen - this has been delayed already but according to the website they are anticipating Summer 2016 as their opening.

4) Downing St. - I believe this will start in the Fall after tourist season ends.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Mattyyy

Well, now that it is officially Spring it would be nice to have a list of construction projects in the downtown area that are slated / scheduled to begin this year. Although it's not guaranteed that any of these will start these are projects that will help to reshape and revive the downtown area. I would add pictures if I had time, so feel free to add anything I may have missed.

1) The Junction - Urban Village - Announced last Fall construction of the 1st building (4 stories?) across from Sobey's on Vaughan Harvey is supposed to start this Spring according to the developer.

2) Events Center

3) Five Five Queen - this has been delayed already but according to the website they are anticipating Summer 2016 as their opening.

4) Downing St. - I believe this will start in the Fall after tourist season ends.

Prediction:

1) - Nothing will happen at "The Junction" until final funding for the events centre is approved and a construction schedule is set. This project will not be proceeding this year.

2) - The provincial government will continue to dither over funding for the events centre for some time yet. Even if they do finally approve funding later this year, this will likely conflict with the federal election and any opportunity to get confirmed matching federal funding will be lost (for at least a year). I think the hole-in-the-ground on Main Street will remain fallow until at least fall 2016 (if not longer).

3) - 55 Queen is supposed to break ground this spring. The big question is - when will spring actually occur?? I'm hopeful that things may progress on this file by June.

4) - Downing Street will go ahead this year, but this is a multi year project with only portions of the roadwork scheduled for 2015. If people are expecting big things right away, they are going to be sorely disappointed. Also, none of the fancy buildings lining Downing on the renderings are actually planned. That rendering was only conceptual. It will likely be 5-10 years before the street bears any resemblance to the rendering.

Sorry to sound pessimistic, but with the average snow depth in my backyard being over five feet, it's actually darn hard being optimistic about anything. Personally, I think that we will be in for tough times in this province for at least the next 3-4 years. Moncton will still do better than the rest of the province, but that's a bit like being the tallest of the seven dwarves.......

[MonctonRad]

More bad news for Main Street, Timothy's coffee shop has apparently closed.

Not a tremendous surprise, the Timothy's at Champlain closed last year and I think the new Starbuck's two doors down Main Street may have been the coup-de-grace.......

[Nashe]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

More bad news for Main Street, Timothy's coffee shop has apparently closed.

Not a tremendous surprise, the Timothy's at Champlain closed last year and I think the new Starbuck's two doors down Main Street may have been the coup-de-grace.......

Yeah, not surprised.

[MonctonRad]

Application for rezoning:



This is on Terris St, just off of Mountain Road from R2 residential to SC suburban commercial to allow for a combined office/retail complex.

There two lots will be combined with the already vacant lots on Mountain Road (located just to the east of Arby's) to allow for the proposed commercial development to proceed.

I don't have any idea what is planned for this location........

[MonctonRad]

Some good news for the restaurant sector on Main Street (coming on the heels of the closure of both Freshii and Timothy's and the consolidation of Brooklyn Deli with Gusto).

Piatto Pizzeria & Enoteca has achieved VPN certification through the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana,

Congratulations!!

This restaurant remains popular and very busy.

[bigrivernb]

I noticed today that allot of interior work is being done to the inside of the old Boardtech location on Main. Its completely gutted.

[MonctonRad]

According to the T&T, Freshii will reopen in the same location within the next few weeks.

[Hubbub]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

According to the T&T, Freshii will reopen in the same location within the next few weeks.

From what I hear, this is just Freshii HQ trying to put a positive spin on a lacklustre location in order to save their image and to unload it to another sucker who wants to lose a bunch of money.

When it first closed, the past franchisee put a note in the window stating closed for major maintenance which we all know now was baloney. Then, the next note on the door was stating the closure was due to personal reasons . Hmmmmm

I hear that the second note was done by Freshii HQ basically trying to say "it was him, not us". So in reality, trying to put the closure blame on the past franchisees personal issues, and that there's no problem with the brand and franchise. Very smart in their part but why would the landlord still have a For Lease sign hanging above the location.

BUT, I know for fact that the previous franchisee was bleeding due to lack of sales and he just decided to pull the plug. The guy was there all the time and just couldn't make a go of it.

This would be most likely the reason why the HQ would try to blame somebody else to keep the brand from looking bad so that they can unload the joint.

I feel bad for the previous franchisee who probably lost $200-300k but you have to do your due diligence. Freshii might work in a very populous area like downtown TO, but the conservative "lunchies" around Main St Moncton are tough nuts to crack.

Personally, I hadn't tried Freshii, but have spoke to some people that have. The general opinion was that it was ok, but pricey. People don't want to pay $12+ for lunch let alone a lunch that's just ok.

[Hubbub]

Originally Posted by Hubbub

From what I hear, this is just Freshii HQ trying to put a positive spin on a lacklustre location in order to save their image and to unload it to another sucker who wants to lose a bunch of money.

When it first closed, the past franchisee put a note in the window stating closed for major maintenance which we all know now was baloney. Then, the next note on the door was stating the closure was due to personal reasons . Hmmmmm

I hear that the second note was done by Freshii HQ basically trying to say "it was him, not us". So in reality, trying to put the closure blame on the past franchisees personal issues, and that there's no problem with the brand and franchise. Very smart in their part but why would the landlord still have a For Lease sign hanging above the location.

BUT, I know for fact that the previous franchisee was bleeding due to lack of sales and he just decided to pull the plug. The guy was there all the time and just couldn't make a go of it.

This would be most likely the reason why the HQ would try to blame somebody else to keep the brand from looking bad so that they can unload the joint.

I feel bad for the previous franchisee who probably lost $200-300k but you have to do your due diligence. Freshii might work in a very populous area like downtown TO, but the conservative "lunchies" around Main St Moncton are tough nuts to crack.

Personally, I hadn't tried Freshii, but have spoke to some people that have. The general opinion was that it was ok, but pricey. People don't want to pay $12+ for lunch let alone a lunch that's just ok.

Hmm. Maybe there is some truth to what's said in the T&T. I see that the "space for lease" sign is down.

Am very surprised. I wouldn't touch that franchise and/or location with a 10 foot burrito. Too much rent and overheads for such a small window of revenue.

[MonctonRad]

Moncton cathedral fundraising campaign launched
Organizers hope to raise $7M to repair, save historic Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Cathedral
CBC News Posted: Apr 07, 2015 3:25 PM AT
Last Updated: Apr 07, 2015 8:30 PM AT
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...-fundraising-campaign-launched-1.3023670

A fundraising campaign to save Moncton's Notre-Dame-de-l'Assomption Cathedral was officially launched on Tuesday.

Organizers hope to raise $7 million for much-needed repairs to the roof, windows, stone, mortar and foundation.

About $3 million has already been raised.

Archbishop Valéry Vienneau says he is encouraged by the show of support.

"I meet some people at the stores, different places they know me, they stop and say 'You can't let that be demolished.' They're not interested necessarily in church life as is, but they're interested in the building and what it represents," he said.

The cathedral, built in the 1930s, is considered a cultural landmark and a symbol of the resilience of the community. No major repairs have ever been made to the exterior.

It was built right after the Depression, in the midst of a war, and paid for entirely by ordinary Acadians.

John Leroux is an architect and historian from Fredericton who says the building needs to be preserved.

"It really marked Moncton's place on the earth for generations and so it's really important as a marker it really says a lot to the skyline of Moncton and the city would be very different, it would be a lot poorer if this still didn't exist," he said.

When the cathedral was opened, it served roughly 1,500 families, but now, only about 300 use it as their church regularly.

The fundraising campaign slogan, also unveiled on Tuesday, is: Yes, I support the Moncton cathedral.

Leroux says it is vital to honour the past.

"In a day like today, where the world moves so fast, we have to keep our monuments and we need something that grounds us in our local culture and our heritage," he said. "It reminds us of things that matter. Our community matters, our city matters, where we come from matters."

[Good2go]

Freshii will re-open tomorrow. An employee is standing in front of the store handing out menus today.

[Hubbub]

Originally Posted by Good2go

Freshii will re-open tomorrow. An employee is standing in front of the store handing out menus today.

Freshii HQ took the place over trying to find a sucker to buy it. Good luck.

[bigrivernb]

Originally Posted by bigrivernb

I noticed today that allot of interior work is being done to the inside of the old Boardtech location on Main. Its completely gutted.

I was speaking to someone who works in the building, apparently everything is going to be moving around.....spin it and comic hunter are suppose to be relocating to another area of the building and TSI auto is said to take up a large foot print of the entire building. Auto Indulgence is apparently not effected.

[MonctonRad]

The T&T is reporting that the St George St Scotiabank location is being closed and will be consolidated with the Mountain Rd branch.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The T&T is reporting that the St George St Scotiabank location is being closed and will be consolidated with the Mountain Rd branch.

More of downtown being gutted...