[Moncton] Downtown Developments - Page 209

jonny golden · #**4161** Posted **Jul 11, 2019, 3:09 PM**

There are several pieces of heavy equipment on the lot between the Avenir Center and the Terminal Plaza building. They are doing a lot of digging beside, and just in front of the old telegraph building. I noticed they have those temporary cement barriers all along the west side of the lot where the walking path is by the 1222 Main St building. Not sure if this is just part of the work being done on Main Street or not. But I did also see a pickup truck on the lot, and it wasn't a City of Moncton vehicle.

MonctonianSentinel01 · #**4162** Posted **Jul 11, 2019, 3:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny golden

There are several pieces of heavy equipment on the lot between the Avenir Center and the Terminal Plaza building. They are doing a lot of digging beside, and just in front of the old telegraph building. I noticed they have those temporary cement barriers all along the west side of the lot where the walking path is by the 1222 Main St building. Not sure if this is just part of the work being done on Main Street or not. But I did also see a pickup truck on the lot, and it wasn't a City of Moncton vehicle.

Sweet post man, good job. That is exciting just to speculate as to what might happen there!

jonny golden · #**4163** Posted **Jul 11, 2019, 4:48 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonianSentinel01

Sweet post man, good job. That is exciting just to speculate as to what might happen there!

Thanks. I walk in that area a couple of times a week. It would be great if they could relocate the equipment in that old telegraph building. Then they could tear it down and develop something really nice on that land. Large residential with underground parking would likely be fully pre-leased before even being built.

jonny golden · #**4164** Posted **Jul 11, 2019, 4:49 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonianSentinel01

Sweet post man, good job. That is exciting just to speculate as to what might happen there!

Thanks. I walk in that area a couple of times a week. It would be great if they could relocate the equipment in that old telegraph building. Then they could tear it down and develop something really nice on that land. Large residential with underground parking would likely be fully pre-leased even before being built.

MonctonRad · #**4165** Posted **Jul 12, 2019, 3:21 AM**

Renovations planned for the walking trail around the Centennial Park Pond. Apparently this is called the Colvert Trail - who knew!!

CodiacCanuck · #**4166** Posted **Jul 12, 2019, 10:09 AM**

It would be nice if they built a new bridge and reclaimed the larger island as well.

MonctonRad · #**4167** Posted **Jul 12, 2019, 11:29 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by CodiacCanuck

It would be nice if they built a new bridge and reclaimed the larger island as well.

I miss the bridge as well, but I think that ship has sailed. I'm pretty sure the islands in the middle of the pond are now officially considered duck habitat.

MonctonianSentinel01 · #**4168** Posted **Jul 12, 2019, 2:54 PM**

Looks nice! I'll have to go check it out when it's all done.

jonny golden · #**4169** Posted **Jul 12, 2019, 7:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Driving downtown this AM it looks like there's something happening at the corner of Main & Botsford. The Higgins block was purchased a few months ago with the intention of developing the two upper floors. This is long overdue. It will be a real improvement right in the heart of downtown as the boarded up windows looked terrible. Great location, great potential.

I guess they were just doing an inspection/assessment on the building. There was a bucket lift with 2 people in it who appeared to be examining the front exterior of the upper 2 floors. I'm assuming they've been in the planning stages up to now. Fusion Commercial Properties, a newly formed company have purchased the property with the intention of developing the upper floors. It's an excellent location with great potential.

jonny golden · #**4170** Posted **Jul 14, 2019, 3:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Quote from a January 2019 story:
"the two lots facing Victoria Street are flagged in the land gazette because they were contaminated by a leaking oil tank in 2010. While a Record of Site Condition confirms the contaminated soil and groundwater was remediated to appropriate and approved residential standards, the report noted that there could still be a chance that contamination can be encountered during excavation because some of it was under the concrete floor."

The most recent info I saw on this project is that the next thing required was to get the building permit. It would be great to see this project completed. ML Rentals Ltd. already has 100 rental units, so it should come together.

I took a drive by the ML Rentals site on Victoria Street today. They are planning to build an apartment building there. Absolutely nothing happening yet. I wonder what the hold up is?

MonctonRad · #**4171** Posted **Jul 14, 2019, 4:22 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I took a drive by the ML Rentals site on Victoria Street today. They are planning to build an apartment building there. Absolutely nothing happening yet. I wonder what the hold up is?

There can be a lot of reasons for a project to be delayed. In this case there is apparently a noise study being done and maybe soil testing too. There could be final design and/or engineering issues, troubles with financing, delays getting contractors or with scheduling tradespeople. There's a lot of construction going on in the city - there might not be people available right away to get things going. They might need a really good project manager.

It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or two between PAC & city council approval and shovels in the ground, sometimes even longer.

Patience grasshopper - this building will get built, you just might not see anything happen until 2020 or 2021.

jonny golden · #**4172** Posted **Jul 14, 2019, 12:29 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There can be a lot of reasons for a project to be delayed. In this case there is apparently a noise study being done and maybe soil testing too. There could be final design and/or engineering issues, troubles with financing, delays getting contractors or with scheduling tradespeople. There's a lot of construction going on in the city - there might not be people available right away to get things going. They might need a really good project manager.

It is not uncommon to have to wait a year or two between PAC & city council approval and shovels in the ground, sometimes even longer.

Patience grasshopper - this building will get built, you just might not see anything happen until 2020 or 2021.

Yeah I guess there is a lot going on behind the scenes that the public is not aware of. Good point about the availability of construction workers. There is so much construction happening in the Moncton area. The reasons you mentioned could also explain why nothing has happened at the Kensington apartment project in Riverview.

There is another potential project that I've been curious about. The city traded the Robinson Court parking lot & cash for the Castle manor lawn a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure there was a condition that the parking lot had to be developed? Do you know anything about this file?

MonctonRad · #**4173** Posted **Jul 14, 2019, 1:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jonny golden

There is another potential project that I've been curious about. The city traded the Robinson Court parking lot & cash for the Castle manor lawn a couple of years ago. I'm pretty sure there was a condition that the parking lot had to be developed? Do you know anything about this file?

That is a good question. I think the developer may be looking for the right project, and this could in fact include the entire city block, since virtually the entire adjacent Subway Block fronting Main Street is vacant. Again, it may take some time for all the ducks to get in a row.

Another example is the Aquillini Block - a prime piece of land, an excellent location and a well funded development company, yet nothing in the offing (that we are aware of). Aquillini is probably sitting on this property until the right opportunity comes along.

Timing is everything.

jonny golden · #**4174** Posted **Jul 14, 2019, 4:14 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

That is a good question. I think the developer may be looking for the right project, and this could in fact include the entire city block, since virtually the entire adjacent Subway Block fronting Main Street is vacant. Again, it may take some time for all the ducks to get in a row.

Another example is the Aquillini Block - a prime piece of land, an excellent location and a well funded development company, yet nothing in the offing (that we are aware of). Aquillini is probably sitting on this property until the right opportunity comes along.

Timing is everything.

The Aquillini web site shows that they are capable of doing some pretty major developments. They are definitely big league.

BlackYear · #**4175** Posted **Jul 15, 2019, 2:22 AM**

On my way to Sobeys this evening after the thunder shower, the government building was lit up from the sunset. Pulled over and snapped a photo.

MonctonRad · #**4176** Posted **Jul 15, 2019, 3:13 AM**

Excellent photo Budyser!!!

I was actually driving by on Main Street at just about the same time. I turned down Canada Street to avoid the detour on West Main.

I was actually coming back from a failed attempt to get a neat photo of the tower crane at the Promenade Neuf in Dieppe. I noticed a few nights ago a really neat perspective on the crane looking south from Rue de Marche near the Wyndham Hotel, which shows the tower crane in the distance, giving the impression of considerable density to downtown Dieppe. Unfortunately the crane was turned the wrong way, and it had started raining again in any event. I'll try again later this week.

tmacdougall · #**4177** Posted **Jul 16, 2019, 11:18 AM**

According to the front page of the Times and Transcript there will be a new brew pub open up on the corner of John and Dominion. Riverview couple purchased the old Tire Shack. The Tire Shack Brewing Company is scheduled to open this fall.

Nashe · #**4178** Posted **Jul 16, 2019, 2:18 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmacdougall

According to the front page of the Times and Transcript there will be a new brew pub open up on the corner of John and Dominion. Riverview couple purchased the old Tire Shack. The Tire Shack Brewing Company is scheduled to open this fall.

Interesting choice of location... but at least it has parking.

teebs · #**4179** Posted **Jul 16, 2019, 4:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

That is a good question. I think the developer may be looking for the right project, and this could in fact include the entire city block, since virtually the entire adjacent Subway Block fronting Main Street is vacant. Again, it may take some time for all the ducks to get in a row.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the deal gave Galco (the developer in question) five years to develop or the city buys back at market value. That was in 2016, so there's still time.

jonny golden · #**4180** Posted **Jul 16, 2019, 4:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by teebs

Yeah I'm pretty sure the deal gave Galco (the developer in question) five years to develop or the city buys back at market value. That was in 2016, so there's still time.

Hopefully with all the development going on it will spur them into doing something. Robinson Street close to Main Street would be a prime location. I'm not too familiar with Galco, have they done a lot of projects in Moncton?