Official Fredericton, NB projects thread

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by OliverD

99 King Street/299 Westmorland Street is for sale for $1.95M: https://www.partnersglobal.com/property/99-westmorland-street-299-king-street-fredericton-nb

It won't be on the market long. This will quickly be redeveloped. You can bet that whoever purchases this will develop it quickly. My prediction is for a 10-12 story build with mixed residential/office/commercial.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Freddypop

It won't be on the market long. This will quickly be redeveloped. You can bet that whoever purchases this will develop it quickly. My prediction is for a 10-12 story build with mixed residential/office/commercial.

I think that would be ideal, but 140 Carleton still has 40k sq ft of unleased space, Regency Park has 9k, Kings Place has 65k, and Barker House has 35k. So I don't think anyone will be in a hurry to add more class A office space. I could be wrong though.

The other problem is that the lot size only allows for < 50 residential units.

[OliverD]

Notable items going to PAC next month:

- 49 unit apartment building at 250 Lian
- allow more than one building on a lot at 7 Manhattan (off Cliffe across from Harold Doherty Court)
- rezoning the empty lot at the corner of Acorn and Durelle from BI to COR-2 and allowing dwelling units - presumably some sort of mixed use building?
- 30 unit apartment building on the corner of Brunswick and Sunbury

[OliverD]

Also, looks like the city is targeting a fall 2023 construction start for the new performing arts centre but the location has not yet been decided on. Personally I'm hoping they will choose the corner of King and Regent. It's a very prominent intersection and deserves a significant structure.

The estimated cost has gone from $45.1M to $58.3M.

https://pub-fredericton.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=9242

[Taeolas]

I agree, I'd prefer the Regent/King intersection, just to get a showcase building that will bring nightlife to more of downtown. And it means the costs cna be offset a bit by not needing to close the existing Playhouse for as long.

[Justin6463]

I wonder if the 30 unit building will be on the cemetery side or if some of the existing houses will be demolished for it?

[Taeolas]

Originally Posted by Justin6463

I wonder if the 30 unit building will be on the cemetery side or if some of the existing houses will be demolished for it?

I missed that. It'll be interesting to see details on that. The funeral home takes up a lot of space on that block and I don't see it going on the cemetary side (not without a lot of objections), so it would probably be narrow and take up most of Sunbury street. I suspect there will probably be a bit of a fight for that one.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Taeolas

I missed that. It'll be interesting to see details on that. The funeral home takes up a lot of space on that block and I don't see it going on the cemetary side (not without a lot of objections), so it would probably be narrow and take up most of Sunbury street. I suspect there will probably be a bit of a fight for that one.

It’s just the lot on Brunswick beside the funeral home and the lot behind it.

[Bishop2047]

https://huddle.today/2022/06/27/a-new-la...coffee-lovers-on-frederictons-northside/

The Landing opened up in Marysville.

[OliverD]

The Playhouse replacement was approved at council tonight. I think this is fantastic news. Looking forward to seeing which location they will choose for it.

[Freddypop]

Originally Posted by OliverD

The Playhouse replacement was approved at council tonight. I think this is fantastic news. Looking forward to seeing which location they will choose for it.

According to this morning's news, the Mayor confirms funding from the province and feds is set and the plan is to start construction by Fall 2023. Regarding the location, it was indicated that the corner of King and regent was still the preferred location but detailed design work had to be completed before the final decision

[Taeolas]

Feels like there's a lot of behind the scenes work going on (usual for big projects like this). So while they can't officially announce anything yet, most of the details are probably settled already. Especially if we're going to be seeing shovels in the ground a year from now, but we don't even have a render of what will be there yet.

And that means Regent and King is almost certainly going to be the location.

[OliverD]

CBC article about The Playhouse https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/funding-plan-art-centre-1.6503708

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by OliverD

CBC article about The Playhouse https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/funding-plan-art-centre-1.6503708

I'm still struggling with this being at the corner of King/Regent versus on the site of the current Playhouse. To me, it is a major missed opportunity. As a space that will only be used for performances, primarily weekends and evenings, it has lots of empty use which would be better served with a direct adjacent connection to the convention centre. Having an 850-seat theatre combined with the conference and ballroom space and the hotel would make it an even more attractive venue for larger-scale conferences. This would be an ideal use of the space when performances are not booked and to me, would be a wiser multi-purpose investment by the city.

For the corner of King and Regent, I think more residential or mixed-use would be ideal, with proper street-front retail and restaurants on the first floor. It would not only be better use of the street-front down King and then along Regent to Brunswick, but would also add a degree of continuum of much needed commercial space along Regent from Queen up to Brunswick.

[Taeolas]

I see it more the other way.

Remember the Regent/King location will be right next to the courthouse, so that's already breaking up the Commercial front along King street.

But it also synergizes well with the use, as far as parking goes. The Courthouse will be busy during the day, but in the evenings it will be empty, so the Playhouse with evening events will draw more activity into that area after work hours.

The new location is also MUCH closer to the downtown food locations; it will have 3 restaurants on the corners around it, 3-4 more pretty much on the blocks around it, and more beyond that. So "Dinner and a Show" has a lot more options for people to do.

There will also be more foot traffic around it, making it's Marquee advertising more effective; people are more likely to walk around it (especially with the courthouse) and see what shows are coming and may decide to get a ticket (not so much if you're the accused going in for a case; but lots of lawyers, clerks, and people with bog standard cases will be around to be motivated by the advertising)

The synergy loss they take from not having the Convention Centre next door is something to consider; but I think the potential gains are that much stronger. Especially since it is not THAT far of a walk between the two locations; 5 minutes even with lights can get you from the Centre to the new location with time to spare. (I know because I've done it very regularly over the past few years )

[Freddypop]

City press release re the Playhouse 2.0

https://www.fredericton.ca/en/news/city-...in-place-to-start-building-pac-next-year

[OliverD]

There's a building permit in the window of one of the units of the new building at 343 Queen for "interior fit-up for a new market/deli".

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

I'm still struggling with this being at the corner of King/Regent versus on the site of the current Playhouse. To me, it is a major missed opportunity. As a space that will only be used for performances, primarily weekends and evenings, it has lots of empty use which would be better served with a direct adjacent connection to the convention centre. Having an 850-seat theatre combined with the conference and ballroom space and the hotel would make it an even more attractive venue for larger-scale conferences. This would be an ideal use of the space when performances are not booked and to me, would be a wiser multi-purpose investment by the city.

For the corner of King and Regent, I think more residential or mixed-use would be ideal, with proper street-front retail and restaurants on the first floor. It would not only be better use of the street-front down King and then along Regent to Brunswick, but would also add a degree of continuum of much needed commercial space along Regent from Queen up to Brunswick.

I agree that the synergies with the convention centre and hotels are important, but the downsides are losing the current Playhouse as a performance venue for two years or so, and the encroachment onto St. John Street. I also think that the area around Regent and King would really benefit from a more prominent building in place of the empty space and 1-3 storey buildings that are there now.

It would also be interesting to see how the existing facility could be redeveloped, perhaps also offering synergies with the convention centre and the hotels.

[Taeolas]

Yeah the current playhouse location is interesting. It's valuable so it should be redeveloped; but being located between the Legislature and the Convention Centre and across from a major hotel may make it difficult to find the right project for it.

Two hotels next door mean putting another hotel wouldn't be wise.

Government Office Space or some other Provincial adjacent purpose would probably work; but they already have a tonne of space and COVID killed the office market.


Honestly, I'd be fine if they tore it down and turned it into a park/gathering space, maybe expand the Beaverbrook sculpture garden into the space and otherwise let it be pedestrian/public space. At least until the markets are good enough for something good to go there.

[OliverD]

I don't see the issue with putting a hotel there.

The government is actually short on office space that isn't leased. Remember, most of the people that used to work in the Centennial Building are now in leased spaced all over the city, including in stupid strip mall locations on Two Nations and Bishop.