The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

City Hall- not sure how many units.

EDIT- totally forgot more.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION
~30- townhouses on Bridgeview Ct over west are up and running under new ownership.

PAC APPROVED
11- Riverview Dr townhouses

PROPOSALS
~130- Main across from the Beaverbrook
~40- An additional building on Noel Avenue in Millidgeville (I may be mistaken)
A non-apartment project in the Douglas Ave area

STALLED
20- Completion of Clipper Passage homes.

I believe Noel Ave is all built out - 4 buildings up there now. Website doesn’t advertise another phase and I haven’t heard anything else about it

[darkharbour]

The announcement this morning of $50.5 million investment in SMRs:

https://www.moltexenergy.com/moltex-rece...ent-of-canada-for-small-modular-reactor/

Moltex plans to build the world’s first 300 MW Stable Salt Reactor – Wasteburner (SSR-W) and WAste To Stable Salt (WATSS) facility at the Point Lepreau Generating Station site in Saint John, New Brunswick and provide carbon-free electricity to the grid by the early 2030s.

In addition to Moltex, ACOA provided $4,999,568 to NB Power and $561,750 to the University of New Brunswick to strengthen the small modular reactor (SMR) cluster in New Brunswick.

[adamuptownsj]

St. Vincent's hits a snag as feds reject funding it.

https://tj.news/greatersaintjohn/101514702

Separately, 149 Broad seems to have real work happening, not demo. Anyone hear anything?

[adamuptownsj]

PAC and council minutes have a rezoning for 300 Sydney from Community Facility to High Rise Residential. No other details at this time.

The Prince St development, named Fallsview Estates, will be built out at 39 units.

Nothing else too exciting in there.

TJ has the Wellington breaking ground Monday.

[Smevo]

Found this when looking for updates on Sydney projects...


New Saint John Apartment Building Will Be A South End ‘Landmark’



9 storeys, 180 units, at 300 Sydney Street with views of the Bay of Fundy.

[Franco401]

This (in addition to the hundred other things this means for the South End) might encourage the City or Port to get around to rebuilding a boardwalk or structure at Tin Can Beach.

[Smevo]

Originally Posted by Franco401

This (in addition to the hundred other things this means for the South End) might encourage the City or Port to get around to rebuilding a boardwalk or structure at Tin Can Beach.

That is one thing I felt was really a missed opportunity for the Saint John coastline when I was spending a lot of time there, at least the parts that weren't otherwise utilized (port, beach, etc).

[Franco401]

Originally Posted by Smevo

That is one thing I felt was really a missed opportunity for the Saint John coastline when I was spending a lot of time there, at least the parts that weren't otherwise utilized (port, beach, etc).

The extended Harbour Passage will obviously be great, but I do wish it could have been built right on the water rather than along Water and Broad. This is impossible with the cruise terminal, I know, but it would make a great access to the Lantic Sugar site (which can really only ever be a ruin, if what we're told about the soil is true). It'll be really cool when it runs along Crown.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by Franco401

The extended Harbour Passage will obviously be great, but I do wish it could have been built right on the water rather than along Water and Broad. This is impossible with the cruise terminal, I know, but it would make a great access to the Lantic Sugar site (which can really only ever be a ruin, if what we're told about the soil is true). It'll be really cool when it runs along Crown.

Lantic could be used for port business or light industrial, just not residential.

As far as the Passage goes, I think this is roughly the vision.

https://imgur.com/a/wdCrYW3

Dark red- existing
Light red- planned
Orange- cobbled together from what I've heard from various sources it should consist of when 'finished'.

[DyAm00394]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Lantic could be used for port business or light industrial, just not residential.

As far as the Passage goes, I think this is roughly the vision.

https://imgur.com/a/wdCrYW3

Dark red- existing
Light red- planned
Orange- cobbled together from what I've heard from various sources it should consist of when 'finished'.

From looking on The Landmark's website, it appears the developer wants to partner with the city to redevelop the former Lantic Sugar Refinery site. They mention something like "an entertainment destination with infrastructure to be used for festivals, events and cultural programming". https://sjlandmark.com/#faq

[cdnguys]

I watched the Ethos Ridge public hearing - some interesting commentary from proponents:
- the current construction boom in city has to increase 3 x to meet increased demand for housing in the city
- people from across Canada and the world are choosing to live in SJ
- demand has shifted from the desire to own a home to apartment living (lifestyle choice).

All three of those points bode well for uptown especially

Also, CREA real estate stats are out for region for February. Once again records smashed for number of sales, average home price, etc...
There are only 488 active listings in region (about 2 months of sales inventory) - once again explaining all the out of province licence plates as in the past number of active listings were in the 1500-1750 range.

[ColSJ]

Caught some interesting snippets in a CBC article

At the foot of Sea Street in Saint John, 14 lots with panoramic views of the Bay of Fundy that have been for sale with no takers since 2005 sold in a single transaction last month.

Kevin Harris, who owns the local Exit Realty franchise, formed a company with Vietnamese architect Nam Nguyen to build $359,000 garden homes on each lot...."We have already sold some of those homes," said Harris. "People just want to understand, 'We can have this view for this amount of money? Looking at the Bay of Fundy and this is the price?'"

One group of Vancouver investors have bought more than 300 hectares of land in Saint John in two transactions over the last two months, including some undeveloped riverfront property just three kilometres upstream from the Reversing Falls.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/real-estate-homes-new-brunswick-1.5972162

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Caught some interesting snippets in a CBC article

One group of Vancouver investors have bought more than 300 hectares of land in Saint John in two transactions over the last two months, including some undeveloped riverfront property just three kilometres upstream from the Reversing Falls.

So this is fun...3km as the crow flies from Reversing Falls is that undeveloped island in South Bay. The entire undeveloped portion north of Dominion Beach is 1.15km2 roughly, or only 115 of that 300 hectares.

If it's across the river in Millidgeville, that vacant land only accounts for roughly 100 hectares. It's not exactly riverfront as it's steep cliff down to the river from there.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Caught some interesting snippets in a CBC article




https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/real-estate-homes-new-brunswick-1.5972162

Oh man, those lots get shorter every year. It's a clay and gravel embankment rapidly eroding.

'3KM upstream' is intriguing. Highland Road or Milford both have large vacant areas.

PAN 06584078 at the end of Milford Rd sold for $75K on March 12th along with a lot beside it I can't view in the tool.

[adamuptownsj]

Buried in this week's city council minutes is the budget and outline for Waterloo between Castle and Haymarket. There's a brief mention of reconnecting Waterloo to Crown via Haymarket, which will be part of the project. Seems simple. Make the right-most lane of Haymarket right-on-Waterloo only, west of the intersection, then extend the sidewalk and curb into the lane until Waterloo has a clear western terminus at Crown/Haymarket.

Long overdue, helps with a weird and confusing traffic flow. Maybe it will help with the dead zone in the area.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by JHikka

So this is fun...3km as the crow flies from Reversing Falls is that undeveloped island in South Bay. The entire undeveloped portion north of Dominion Beach is 1.15km2 roughly, or only 115 of that 300 hectares.

If it's across the river in Millidgeville, that vacant land only accounts for roughly 100 hectares. It's not exactly riverfront as it's steep cliff down to the river from there.

That island [Randolph] is almost entirely owned by the City and JDI, so it’s not going anywhere. The article said it was 300 ha including riverfront, meaning that only a portion is on the river. Checking the property database it looks like it is this area of about 23 ha that just sold in February:

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

That island [Randolph] is almost entirely owned by the City and JDI, so it’s not going anywhere.

I was informed of this after my original post.

Originally Posted by darkharbour

The article said it was 300 ha including riverfront, meaning that only a portion is on the river. Checking the property database it looks like it is this area of about 23 ha that just sold in February:

I suppose it makes sense - this is one of the last remaining undeveloped parcels remaining in central SJ, together with Randolph, Boars Head, and the areas north of UNBSJ. I seem to recall UNBSJ or someone owning that land down to Kennebecasis but I can't recall exactly how much and to what extent.

Anyway, will be interesting to see developments off of Boars Head, Forbes, and Highland eat away at this land in the coming years. I'm sure others have a better idea of the development opportunities this land offers than I do wrt soil/rock conditions.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by JHikka

I was informed of this after my original post.



I suppose it makes sense - this is one of the last remaining undeveloped parcels remaining in central SJ, together with Randolph, Boars Head, and the areas north of UNBSJ. I seem to recall UNBSJ or someone owning that land down to Kennebecasis but I can't recall exactly how much and to what extent.

Anyway, will be interesting to see developments off of Boars Head, Forbes, and Highland eat away at this land in the coming years. I'm sure others have a better idea of the development opportunities this land offers than I do wrt soil/rock conditions.

The undeveloped area north of Highland is about the same size as the south-central peninsula. I don't think it's UNstable. Bedrock is pretty close to the surface, drainage is self-evident, etc. The City should strongly consider encouraging developers to connect to existing roads- those you mentioned plus Woodward- to better connect the North End and Millidgeville. I hope this area doesn't get turned into a big cul-de-sac.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

The undeveloped area north of Highland is about the same size as the south-central peninsula. I don't think it's UNstable. Bedrock is pretty close to the surface, drainage is self-evident, etc. The City should strongly consider encouraging developers to connect to existing roads- those you mentioned plus Woodward- to better connect the North End and Millidgeville. I hope this area doesn't get turned into a big cul-de-sac.

Along with the PID that darkharbour pointed out earlier, 335 Highland sold on March 16th for 178K, which includes a house with lot. If we were to assume that the vacant land north of it was purchased in tandem with this property then 335 Highland would serve as the road entrance to the property looking to be developed.

It's been a loooooong time since I made up some lame proposal map, so:



That's probably my ideal preferred outcome if indeed this area ends up getting developed. The Somerset and Forbes extensions are based on current property lines, with the Forbes extension dividing one in half. This also solves the messy Somerset/Millidge interchange by creating a proper four-way interchange. I'm assuming you access the vacant land from 335 Highland but Highland is not really a throughroad, so connecting it to other parcels in this area probably isn't a wise idea without significant upgrades. Been a while since i've been on Highland, though. I also don't think Leeds/Grantham is connected to anything for through traffic since those are very suburby residential streets. Again, i'm not up to date on the potential dev issues related to these lands (rock, elevation changes, etc.) so it's all just wild speculation.

Probably unrelated to all of this: the house behind the Subway on Millidge Ave (471 Millidge) sold last week.

Or it can all be for nought, but given the property and development path we're on nothing would really surprise me.

[darkharbour]

The thing about that area that has made it tricky or unattractive for development is topography for the most part. If you look at SJ development over the years it largely follows lowland areas or creek beds as the main corridors, with development fanning out onto the surrounding hills (or wetlands...). That whole highland region is incredibly hilly, which I think makes it very attractive personally however, it probably means a lot of expenses lost to site prep and infrastructure.

I'm convinced it'll happen someday, probably sooner rather than later, but it's going to take deep pockets and/or big sales prices in order to justify the upfront costs.