The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[cdnguys]

End of day we grew same pace as Montréal. It’s definitely picking up steam though and I think most of this growth was in the 2020/2021 time frame which is only getting busier than those years.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

I'll add that it appears the Old North End, Waterloo Village and Lower South End have all stabilized after declining precipitously in population at the last Census. In Waterloo Village's case it has actually bounced back quite significantly. Bodes well indeed.

Yes- especially given how much more room there is to develop at medium density. Lower South End is gentrifying VERY quickly, the city-maintained vacant building list is getting shorter and shorter. Maybe this will finally kick Peters/Paddock/Dorchester/etc into high gear- given how close they are to downtown it's somewhat surprising they're cleaning up slower than St James or whatever.

[bridgeoftea]

Anyone have any updates for the 367 Main Street? (I believe that's the address they use). That 4 story complex was making great progress and it seems the past couple months it's just been sitting dormant.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

Anyone have any updates for the 367 Main Street? (I believe that's the address they use). That 4 story complex was making great progress and it seems the past couple months it's just been sitting dormant.

I didn’t know it was dormant. The windows are in. I’m guessing they are waiting on supplies. The Wellington and Sea Bird Suites seem to be going through dormant phases too. The Wellington struggled to get finishing folks in there, especially crack fillers

[bridgeoftea]

Something I am curious about is this stretch of road here. City Road from the Irving to Crown Street overpass. What is this stretch of road going to look like in 5 - 10 years? 20 years even? Feels like there is a lot of empty space here that could be used. But every time I drive by the empty spots, I wouldn't know what to do or where to start.

Does this stretch of road have potential for more residential or will it be car dealerships and fast food drive thrus? Just a thought that I'd love to hear other peoples ideas on.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

Does this stretch of road have potential for more residential or will it be car dealerships and fast food drive thrus? Just a thought that I'd love to hear other peoples ideas on.

There are two drive-throughs for the Uptown and Central SJ: City Road and Union. If it were up to me i'd convert Union into a much more local street and persuade through traffic to use City Road. Given its connections to highway ramps at both ends I can't imagine it becoming much of a residential area in the future. Hotels, fast food chains, whatever. Keep the residential up the hill and push car-oriented businesses onto this stretch.

[RaginRonic]

Given what I'm seeing happen with City Road, I think it might be time for those who live in the part of City Road where Meadow St. is, get them moved into new houses on Waterloo, do the same for Blair St. and Ritchie St., and turn City Road into a business only thoroughfare. Get a location of McDonald's there, along with a new No Frills grocery store....why not? X-)

[ColSJ]

Took a drive down to the McAllister industrial park to see if any activity was going on and I found two excavators sitting a little bit into the area above. It is basically directly across the street from the new Canadian Coast Guard facility. One thing to note is the old rail line runs directly through this lot. From what I could tell the excavation extended almost to Whitebonway so this is a sizeable piece of land. I also noticed one of those Develop Saint John join the momentum signs on the lot so I assume this property has been under the city. Could this be a future AIM property?

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Took a drive down to the McAllister industrial park to see if any activity was going on and I found two excavators sitting a little bit into the area above. It is basically directly across the street from the new Canadian Coast Guard facility. One thing to note is the old rail line runs directly through this lot. From what I could tell the excavation extended almost to Whitebonway so this is a sizeable piece of land. I also noticed one of those Develop Saint John join the momentum signs on the lot so I assume this property has been under the city. Could this be a future AIM property?

Looks like it's two properties:

75 Whitebone Way and a portion of PAN 06573069, which is un-subdivided industrial land of course. The area you described would be about 800,000 square feet. The current facility, which is not really optimised space-wise, is 1.1M sq ft, not counting the dock.

However... the entirety of 75 Whitebone and the portion of the other piece of property within Mcilveen and Whitebone is 1.2M to 1.3M square feet.

How much does it cost to repair a little less than a mile of rail line? Two million dollars or so? It would make quite a few lots more appealing to different industrial clients on the way there.

I'd buy it!

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Looks like it's two properties:

75 Whitebone Way and a portion of PAN 06573069, which is un-subdivided industrial land of course. The area you described would be about 800,000 square feet. The current facility, which is not really optimised space-wise, is 1.1M sq ft, not counting the dock.

However... the entirety of 75 Whitebone and the portion of the other piece of property within Mcilveen and Whitebone is 1.2M to 1.3M square feet.

How much does it cost to repair a little less than a mile of rail line? Two million dollars or so? It would make quite a few lots more appealing to different industrial clients on the way there.

I'd buy it!

Is there a reason why that rail line would have been left to rot per se?
I'm surprised as there's enough space for more industrial places that could use the rail lines to their advantages.

[Fischbob]

Rental market data for October 2021 was recently released by CMHC. Would it surprise you to learn that generally speaking vacancy is down and average rents are up in SJ?

Here are a few numbers, pulled from the CMHC's Housing Market Information Portal. Comparison with 2020 numbers in brackets.

Vacancy rates, Saint John CMA by sub-area:
South - 2.3% (3.5% in 2020)
West - ** (1.2%)
North - 1.6% (2.4%)
East - 3.2% (3.9%)
City - 2.1% (2.9%)
Outlying Areas - 1.2% (4.1%)
CMA - 2.1% (3.0%)


Vacancy rates, Saint John (City) by unit size:
Bachelor - ** (4.6%)
1 Bedroom - 3.9% (2.9%)
2 Bedroom - 1.4% (2.7%)
3+ Bedroom - 1.0% (2.8%)

** Data suppressed to protect confidentiality or data not statistically reliable


Average rent, Saint John CMA by sub-area:
South - $843 (+5.6% since 2020)
West - $810 (+14.7%)
North - $882 (+8.4%)
East - $814 (+3.8%)
City - $846 (+7.3%)
Outlying Areas - $936 (+16.5%)
CMA - $856 (+8.4%)


Average rent, Saint John (City) by unit size:
Bachelor - $591 (+4.2%)
1 Bedroom - $754 (+7.3%)
2 Bedroom - $875 (+5.9%)
3+ Bedroom - $953 (+11.2%)


I personally saw my rent increase by around 3.4% this month at the end of my year lease term. Not too fun being a renter around here these days - meanwhile the train for homeownership is quickly leaving the station. Lots of households are going to get squeezed as a result.

[cdnguys]

The St. Peter’s church property is for sale. 2 acres. $595,000
Church to be removed. This has to be one of the most prime pieces of real estate in city. 2 minutes to uptown with views of the river.

[ColSJ]

Some east side developments: First one is Rocca’s new apartment building and the second is Phase 2 of the Heatherway complex.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

The St. Peter’s church property is for sale. 2 acres. $595,000
Church to be removed. This has to be one of the most prime pieces of real estate in city. 2 minutes to uptown with views of the river.

Very excited to see what can be conjured up for this property. Not sure if I want to see a development with activation and frontage on Douglas Ave or if I want the lawn preserved with the development sitting where the church and rectory are now. A bit torn. As you point out, given its proximity to just about everything I hope to see something large-scale and dense. This site could host a good number of residents.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Very excited to see what can be conjured up for this property. Not sure if I want to see a development with activation and frontage on Douglas Ave or if I want the lawn preserved with the development sitting where the church and rectory are now. A bit torn. As you point out, given its proximity to just about everything I hope to see something large-scale and dense. This site could host a good number of residents.

There is almost definitely a graveyard along the Douglas frontage. I hope they preserve some of the older trees along the perimeter of the site and orient the building appropriately for a river view.

[bridgeoftea]

Some progress on the Milledgeville site after a few months sitting dormant.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Some east side developments: First one is Rocca’s new apartment building and the second is Phase 2 of the Heatherway complex.

I'm excited to see the Rocca's in the summer after they finish the front lawn/garden section. From the renders it looked awesome!

[ivegotaname]

I live across from Air Canada Call Centre on Boars Head Road since 1989 in fact we used to be the first house on the left back then now were house 30. Across from me was nothing but a field and steel fence.. So I just want to say I can see that place ACC becoming a indoor mall with food court like millidgeville hasdreamed of hopefully a bookstore and maybe movie theatre Lord knows we have the room for all that.

[ColSJ]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

[IMG][/IMG]

Excavation has started on this project.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Excavation has started on this project.

Feels like once March hit everything has kicked back into action. The boardwalk at market square is now completely demolished and the Fundy Quay site is looking like a construction zone. More windows and progress on the building across from the loyalist house. The Milledgeville site has a set of walls. AND now the Technology drive site has started?

Should be an exciting spring and summer for project updates.. hopefully!