[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

Here's the CBC article regarding the Franklin Yards proposal:

Proposed Moncton apartment project detracts from Centennial Park, says community group
11 residential and commercial buildings are proposed for the 50-acre lot that borders on the park
Isabelle Leger · CBC News · Posted: Jul 21, 2021 12:29 PM AT | Last Updated: 25 minutes ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/centennial-park-apartment-proposed-project-1.6110840

Nothing new in the article however.

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The current plan certainly needs a lot of tweaking. It is too bland, uniform, uninspired, and has way too much surface parking. Instead of having 9 six storey generic apartment buildings, perhaps there should be a couple of 9-10 storey buildings, and a number of smaller four storey buildings, and include architectural diversity, rather than a suburban monoculture of identical buildings. This does nothing more than create a ghetto-like effect.

Pretty much sums it up. Ghetto, low rentals, the projects, call it what you want, that is what it looks like. I have nothing against it, because I believe everyone deserves a decent place to live. But if this project plans to set rents at $1400+/mth, good luck to ya. The Affordtable Housing complainers are going to chime in. Set the rents too low, well, the above comes into play. You just can't win with these type of developments. These type of cheap low cost developments screams, build cheap, collect rent, don't care about anything else.

[jonny golden]

I drive by the Ashford building under construction at the corner of Highfield & Gordon almost every Saturday. This morning was the first time I've ever seen workers on site on a Saturday. They were working on the exterior. Seems they want to get as much done as possible before they start their next building on Highfield.

I also took notice of the heritage building next to it on Highfield. It looks absolutely dreadful.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I drive by the Ashford building under construction at the corner of Highfield & Gordon almost every Saturday. This morning was the first time I've ever seen workers on site on a Saturday. They were working on the exterior. Seems they want to get as much done as possible before they start their next building on Highfield.

I also took notice of the heritage building next to it on Highfield. It looks absolutely dreadful.

I read in the T&T recently that Ashford wants to open this building by October. They still have a long way to go.

As for the heritage property next door, the same article stated that it was "currently under renovation"

[BlackYear]

Anyone know who's coming to Moncton later today from Vancouver on a chartered AirSprint EMBRAER EMB-545 Legacy private jet?

Or shall I just throw a wild crazy thought? Ok, I will.
Could it be someone of great wealth with real estate in Vancouver who also has some existing property here in Moncton and wants to come over to see what's all the fuss is about? Cough cough, Crowne Plaza. LOL, again, I'm just being silly. Or am I?

[MonctonRad]

Aquillini could certainly afford this.

Let the speculation begin!!!

[jonny golden]

It would be a major evolution for the whole Main/Highfield area if the Aquilini Group would finally decide to develop the "Brunswick Hotel Block." Especially knowing what quality of product they are capable of. We can only hope!!

[Riberview]

Neat find! I wonder!

[JHikka]

Would stick out like a sore thumb at Main & Highfield. Cut the tower in half and better integrate that choppy podium into the tower itself. Taller =/= better.

[Riberview]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Would stick out like a sore thumb at Main & Highfield. Cut the tower in half and better integrate that choppy podium into the tower itself. Taller =/= better.

17 floors instead of the 10 that's there now?

[MonctonRad]

Further to the above:

This headline was in the Saturday edition of the T&T:

Apartments Rise as Demand is Surging


T&T photo

The article of course is behind a paywall, but the gist is that Moncton has added nearly 3,000 housing units in the last three years, but, the CMA is adding 3,000 new residents per year over the same time frame, and if you assume every housing unit has 2.5-3.0 residents, then we are barely holding our own despite the explosive growth we are seeing in apartment construction.

Put another way, the large proposal for the Franklin Yards that was released just the other week has nearly 1,000 units on it's own, but, even a project as large as this would not be enough to sate the growth rate in Moncton in a single year!

At 3,000 people per year, by 2030, the Moncton CMA could have a population of 185,000.

I'm sure developers like Aquillini (or at least people in his employ) are aware of this, and are also aware of the enviable location of the entire city block that they control kitty-corner to the Avenir Centre. A mixed use development here with a large residential component could be making more and more sense to them. Especially if they are aware of how other development on Highfield Street is progressing, or the three 15 storey towers now under construction by Lafford across the tracks from the Aveinir Centre.

Anyone with a telephoto lens wanna lurk around the airport this evening?

[jonny golden]

I wonder just how in tune Aquilini Development is with the Moncton market? I would have no idea, but there's such a golden opportunity in front of them. I mean you couldn't ask for a better location now that the Avenir Center has been built. They must have bought up the whole block for reasons other than to just sit on it.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Would stick out like a sore thumb at Main & Highfield. Cut the tower in half and better integrate that choppy podium into the tower itself. Taller =/= better.

Well at east it would fit in better then it does at the actual corner where that photo was taken. 😁

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Well at east it would fit in better then it does at the actual corner where that photo was taken. 😁

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Riberview

17 floors instead of the 10 that's there now?

Obviously this is just fun speculation but if the block does get redeveloped, my preference is that the current tower isn’t torn down to make way for something else. There is plenty of land on that block for another tower next to the Crown Plaza. The adjacent 2-storey podium needs to go though.

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Anyone with a telephoto lens wanna lurk around the airport this evening?

I thought about it. But unfortunately the flight itinerary was removed from the data entry on FlightRadar24.

They must have read this post and said, oh oh, they're on to us, quick, abort abort!

[theshark]

Originally Posted by BlackYear

I thought about it. But unfortunately the flight itinerary was removed from the data entry on FlightRadar24.

They must have read this post and said, oh oh, they're on to us, quick, abort abort!

No, it landed about an hour ago from what flightaware says lol

[Riberview]

Originally Posted by BlackYear

I thought about it. But unfortunately the flight itinerary was removed from the data entry on FlightRadar24.

They must have read this post and said, oh oh, they're on to us, quick, abort abort!

Landed as ASP826 56 minutes ago

[Riberview]

Also you may see it heading to Washington D.C. area next.

Not Aquilini unfortunately

[MonctonRad]

It’s a charter though. They’re next job must be in DC