[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

I doubt it very much.

They've just renovated the hotel.

[lirette]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Someone had mentioned a dollar store. No idea which brand.

The demand for dollar stores in this community is just incredible. I'm all for more retail options within the downtown core though even if I'm not the demographic

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I doubt it very much.

They've just renovated the hotel.

I can see them building another tower where the old bus depot was. With ground floor retail connecting them. Perhaps have residential on most of that tower.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I can see them building another tower where the old bus depot was. With ground floor retail connecting them. Perhaps have residential on most of that tower.

Yeah that would make sense. The residential would likely sell out in a heartbeat. I'd really like to see them do something. It's such a prime location. The type of projects that they are capable of would be a game changer for that area of downtown. But they purchased the block in 2011, so it seems like they're in no rush.

[flyer99]

Originally Posted by Aging Hipster

I noticed there’s a construction fence between the facades of Dolma Food and the vacant commercial block next to it, with a SkyJack parked in the parking lot. Any idea what’s going on there?

I drove by there Tuesday and noticed a "porta potty" or two also. I also saw a backhoe.... so something must be happening there

[Nashe]

I notice the crane is (mostly) up on the Moncton Hospital add-on!

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by flyer99

I drove by there Tuesday and noticed a "porta potty" or two also. I also saw a backhoe.... so something must be happening there

Is that the lot on the east side between Dolma and the older brick building?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Vorkuta

I notice the crane is (mostly) up on the Moncton Hospital add-on!

Say hello to greater Moncton's newest tower crane, at the Moncton Hospital.

[MonctonRad]

This is pretty far out in the Moncton west end to be considered "downtown", but this is still the most appropriate section to post this.

Apparently the province has settled on a location for the new K-8 anglophone school to replace Bessborough & Hillcrest. A surprising one at that.

They have chosen the woodlot to the west of the entrance driveway leading in to Bernice McNaughton High School as the location for the new school.

The positive for this bit of land as far as the province is concerned is the fact that they already own it. This will decrease cost, and there will be no haggling with any current owners.

There are several potential negatives I can think of.
- the land will be sandwiched between the existing high school, St George Blvd and Wheeler Blvd. Space may be an issue (as well as noise from the adjacent highway).
- they will likely share the existing parking lot for BMHS (which will increase congestion).
- the new school will not be as accommodating for walking students as it lies on the north side of the very busy St. George Blvd, while virtually all of the catchment area lies to the south of St. George.
- I've always liked how secluded BMHS was. All of my kids went there, and the driveway leading to the school always seemed very attractive as it cut through this mature hardwood woodlot. This will soon be gone forever.

This seems to be a fait accompli. The board chairman interviewed on CBC radio this morning seemed to indicate approval has already been given, and the land will be cleared very soon, possibly even by this fall. They may want to get ahead of this before the protests start to mount...……..

[Nashe]

Looks a bit tight on Google Maps, but they might be able to re-use/realign some of the BMHS lanes. It IS efficient, if nothing else.

[flyer99]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Is that the lot on the east side between Dolma and the older brick building?

They have a construction fence up between Dolma and the brick building at the corner or St George and Archibald. I assume that brick building will be undergoing some changes.

[flyer99]

170 Victoria Street apartment building update:

It's Thursday and the parking lot for the building is being paved. They put the curbs in a few days ago. The building also has a "For Rent" sign attached to it. The old website is still not working. The supervisor I was talking to a while back was shooting for a completion date of around Labour Day but, personally, I feel there is still a lot of work to be done considering there are about 20 worker vehicles parked around there every day.

[Lakeofthewood]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This is pretty far out in the Moncton west end to be considered "downtown", but this is still the most appropriate section to post this.

Apparently the province has settled on a location for the new K-8 anglophone school to replace Bessborough & Hillcrest. A surprising one at that.

They have chosen the woodlot to the west of the entrance driveway leading in to Bernice McNaughton High School as the location for the new school.

The positive for this bit of land as far as the province is concerned is the fact that they already own it. This will decrease cost, and there will be no haggling with any current owners.

There are several potential negatives I can think of.
- the land will be sandwiched between the existing high school, St George Blvd and Wheeler Blvd. Space may be an issue (as well as noise from the adjacent highway).
- they will likely share the existing parking lot for BMHS (which will increase congestion).
- the new school will not be as accommodating for walking students as it lies on the north side of the very busy St. George Blvd, while virtually all of the catchment area lies to the south of St. George.
- I've always liked how secluded BMHS was. All of my kids went there, and the driveway leading to the school always seemed very attractive as it cut through this mature hardwood woodlot. This will soon be gone forever.

This seems to be a fait accompli. The board chairman interviewed on CBC radio this morning seemed to indicate approval has already been given, and the land will be cleared very soon, possibly even by this fall. They may want to get ahead of this before the protests start to mount...……..

As someone who attended both Hillcrest and BMHS, I'm shocked that this is the chosen location. What happened to the option to expand or rebuild Bessborough on the existing property? The catchment area for students walking / cycling to school at this location is ridiculously small, whereas at least maintaining the Bessborough location kept most of the New West End neighbourhood as reasonably walkable to school.

It's approximately a 600m walk from what would be the "front door" of the school to the end of Bessborough Avenue, which is already further than some parents let their kids walk, and that's just to get to the edge of the New West End neighbourhood! Not to mention crossing St George Blvd right near the Wheeler Blvd ramps.

Really really poor choice here by the province that was clearly done for money, and not for the good of students or parents.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by flyer99

They have a construction fence up between Dolma and the brick building at the corner or St George and Archibald. I assume that brick building will be undergoing some changes.

According to Service N.B. that building and the lot were purchased on the same day for $650,000. So I would say they'll be redeveloped as one project. There were a couple of posts earlier about activity inside the building where people were in there doing an inspection.

It's great to see these vacant downtown buildings being brought back to life. Like the one at King & Main, and now this one.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Lakeofthewood

As someone who attended both Hillcrest and BMHS, I'm shocked that this is the chosen location. What happened to the option to expand or rebuild Bessborough on the existing property? The catchment area for students walking / cycling to school at this location is ridiculously small, whereas at least maintaining the Bessborough location kept most of the New West End neighbourhood as reasonably walkable to school.

It's approximately a 600m walk from what would be the "front door" of the school to the end of Bessborough Avenue, which is already further than some parents let their kids walk, and that's just to get to the edge of the New West End neighbourhood! Not to mention crossing St George Blvd right near the Wheeler Blvd ramps.

Really really poor choice here by the province that was clearly done for money, and not for the good of students or parents.

I'm really surprised that an article regarding the interview on CBC Moncton this morning hasn't shown up yet on the CBC New Brunswick website. In any event, this would be the parcel of land in question.



As Vorkuta pointed out, the siting of a school on this piece of land would indeed be "tight", and I have no idea what they have in mind for a sports field, unless they intend to build their field just to the west of the main building at BMHS. This might be possible.

In any event, this is sure to be controversial.

[MonctonRad]

Still no story on CBC.ca about the new west end K-8 school to be built on the BMHS property, but here is a link to the actual interview with Harry Doyle, chairman of the DEC that was aired on Information Morning today:

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1781798979972

[flyer99]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

According to Service N.B. that building and the lot were purchased on the same day for $650,000. So I would say they'll be redeveloped as one project. There were a couple of posts earlier about activity inside the building where people were in there doing an inspection.

It's great to see these vacant downtown buildings being brought back to life. Like the one at King & Main, and now this one.

I agree. And it's great that that corner is on the way to being redeveloped.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by flyer99

I agree. And it's great that that corner is on the way to being redeveloped.

It's a good looking building. They could do something very nice with it, especially having that lot next to it also available. It's been an eyesore for a long time, it's great to see it being redeveloped.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

66 Weldon Street:



Location Map:


Site Plan:


Elevation:


Render:


Comment - The rapid densification (and gentrification) of the downtown west end continues. Spitfire Designs continues to be very busy.

I took a drive by this site tonight just for the heck of it. It's a pretty good sized piece of property. There's nothing happening yet, but when they finally do erect a new apartment building on the lot, it will be a big improvement over what's there now. Another nice infilling project downtown, replacing older run down houses. Like the Ashford project.

[shazapple]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-school-plan-moncton-1.5706225?cmp=rss

Here's the news article regarding the new school. Both sides have valid points. They did the "build the school on the same property" with ecole sainte Bernadette. If it worked I think these properties could have the same treatment but I would think the final product comes with a higher cost, more headache, and more concessions. Maybe this new location is part of a long term plan to rebuild on one of the old locations?