[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Mapleton_Roadie

I had heard of a 30 storey.....seems way out of line for here, completely out of character for Moncton so am having a hard time buying into it.......yet here I am talking about it hahahahahaha!!!

Well, this is far too tall for the new development that I have been hinting at.

The tallest thing I have been hearing as being rumoured is in the Ashford development behind Assumption, which I have heard being rumoured as being as tall as 18 storeys.

Where did this rumour at your workplace originate from? Is this someone just wildly speculating, or is there any possibility that is a kernel of truth here..........

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Mapleton_Roadie

I had heard of a 30 storey.....seems way out of line for here, completely out of character for Moncton so am having a hard time buying into it.......yet here I am talking about it hahahahahaha!!!

Well, 30 storeys for Moncton does seem pretty outlandish, but, I have received PMs from two individuals (both of which have insider connections) in the last few days both essentially stating they have never seen so many midrise and high-rise proposals for Moncton in various stages of evolution (conception, design, financing etc) as they have right now. They did not say what these proposals were.

There is certainly a lot of smoke out there. It will be interesting to see if any fires spark into full fledged ignition. Lots of things could still go wrong (inflation, recession, labour shortages, supply chain issues etc), but I predict an interesting 4-5 years ahead.

As for a 30 storey building, while this seems unlikely, one only has to look at Kelowna BC to see what might be possible. Kelowna is located in the Okanagan Valley, and, at about 200,000 people, is not that much larger than Moncton, but, there is a flurry of new high rise construction in that city with several towers between 20-35 storeys in height under construction. And then there is this proposal for that city which is 155m in height, totalling 45 floors. This building is for the UBCO campus in downtown Kelowna.



These things can happen.

[jonny golden]

This is a development that Aquilini has built in Kelowna! Could you imagine if they decided to develop their property here in Moncton!

[MonctonRad]

Ashford Living building at Highfield/Campbell - now working on the sixth and final floor.

[Monctoncore]

Honestly, I would prefer the developers stay for now between 10-20 floors. I think 30 would really slow development on many other buildings.

[Leroy321]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Well, 30 storeys for Moncton does seem pretty outlandish, but, I have received PMs from two individuals (both of which have insider connections) in the last few days both essentially stating they have never seen so many midrise and high-rise proposals for Moncton in various stages of evolution (conception, design, financing etc) as they have right now. They did not say what these proposals were.

There is certainly a lot of smoke out there. It will be interesting to see if any fires spark into full fledged ignition. Lots of things could still go wrong (inflation, recession, labour shortages, supply chain issues etc), but I predict an interesting 4-5 years ahead.

As for a 30 storey building, while this seems unlikely, one only has to look at Kelowna BC to see what might be possible. Kelowna is located in the Okanagan Valley, and, at about 200,000 people, is not that much larger than Moncton, but, there is a flurry of new high rise construction in that city with several towers between 20-35 storeys in height under construction. And then there is this proposal for that city which is 155m in height, totalling 45 floors. This building is for the UBCO campus in downtown Kelowna.



These things can happen.

when would these proposals go public?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Leroy321

when would these proposals go public?

- Only when the proponents are ready.
- If they require zoning variances, then they will become public as part of the information packages for Moncton PAC meetings.
- Sometimes they become public during Moncton city council meetings (like the recent proposal for 1299 Main).

Even if they become public, things can still go wrong and nothing will get built (like with the St. Bernard Square project, or the mythical Harper Building).

In essence, don't count your chickens until you see excavators digging on site.

[pierremoncton]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The new normal is six storeys, yes, and this is taller, yes.

And, yes, you are most definitely trying to pry more information out of me!

My guesses:

1. The T&T building location: it has recently sold, but it's also very close to the tracks. If that's not it, does anyone know who bought it and why? Is this just legal shuffling?

2. Waterloo St & Assomption Blvd: many properties have recently sold, and most lots are vacant.

Re Ashford:

- The sketch of the Lorentz apartments showing misaligned windows is apparently (hopefully) incorrect.

- There won't be any significant work for a couple of years behind the Assomption building. The roads need to be built first.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

My guesses:

1. The T&T building location: it has recently sold, but it's also very close to the tracks. If that's not it, does anyone know who bought it and why? Is this just legal shuffling?

Nope, not it. It could be just a legal shuffle. Perhaps the building was bought by the new owners of Brunswick News.

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

2. Waterloo St & Assomption Blvd: many properties have recently sold, and most lots are vacant.

Interesting. Nope. Not it.

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

re: Ashford:

- The sketch of the Lorentz apartments showing misaligned windows is apparently (hopefully) incorrect.

Alas, this seems to be the "in" thing for Spitfire right now. Expect more of it around the city.

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

- There won't be any significant work for a couple of years behind the Assomption building. The roads need to be built first.

Agree 100%. We won't see any building construction until 2024 or 2025 at least.

[bam63]

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

My guesses:

1. The T&T building location: it has recently sold, but it's also very close to the tracks. If that's not it, does anyone know who bought it and why? Is this just legal shuffling?

2. Waterloo St & Assomption Blvd: many properties have recently sold, and most lots are vacant.

Re Ashford:

- The sketch of the Lorentz apartments showing misaligned windows is apparently (hopefully) incorrect.


- There won't be any significant work for a couple of years behind the Assomption building. The roads need to be built first.

I can’t help but feel before Ashford constructs a new glass tower downtown they will first look at re cladding the Assumption tower as well as clean up the lower levels especially the backside at street level. It’s a mess. It can also be done while the new roadway is under construction. I could see both projects happening in 2023.
Just a guess.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by pierremoncton

My guesses:

1. The T&T building location: it has recently sold, but it's also very close to the tracks. If that's not it, does anyone know who bought it and why? Is this just legal shuffling?

2. Waterloo St & Assomption Blvd: many properties have recently sold, and most lots are vacant.

Re Ashford:

- The sketch of the Lorentz apartments showing misaligned windows is apparently (hopefully) incorrect.

- There won't be any significant work for a couple of years behind the Assomption building. The roads need to be built first.

I'm pretty sure that the T&T building sale would be to Postmedia. since they purchased Brunswick News from Irving.

The interesting thing about Waterloo-Assomption is that 4 side-by-side lots were all purchased in October. It looks like somebody has plans for this land. They could be consolidated into one single lot, allowing for a larger project.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I'm pretty sure that the T&T building sale would be to Postmedia. since they purchased Brunswick News from Irving.

Highly doubt it was sold to Post Media. The sale of the building closed in December, a few months before the acquisition was completed.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Highly doubt it was sold to Post Media. The sale of the building closed in December, a few months before the acquisition was completed.

OK Thanks. Was not aware of the timing on the sale. Isn't it strange that they would sell the building then a few months later sell the business? Or I guess there could be a perfectly logical explanation.

[teebs]

Originally Posted by OliverD

Highly doubt it was sold to Post Media. The sale of the building closed in December, a few months before the acquisition was completed.

Surely this was just about JDI retaining the prime office space before flipping BNI (for pennies).

[L'homard]

The TT building has a massive printing press in its basement that is worth more than the building itself, or close to it. They print everything from their competitors' newspapers, to their own (formerly) papers, flyers, you name it. It is so busy that it runs for most of the day, every day.
It's like a licence to print money.
I would be surprised if this building is going anywhere. It would take several, several months of downtime just to move out the press. It took more than a year, including a big expansion of the building, just to put it in, which required experts from Europe to get it done.
Despite the timelines of the sale of the Irving newspapers not seeming to line up with the Irvings' divestiture of its papers, I suspect this is just part of their sale to Post Media.
That being said, I'm just speculating. I know nothing of what was and was not included in the sale to Post Media as I paid very little attention to the details when it all went down.
But it has to be noted that the new printing press made someone a shit-ton of money every day, far more than selling newspapers. I can't imagine them either moving it, or getting rid of it, but hey ya never know. Maybe it is cheaper for Post Media to print the local fish wrapper in Etobicoke rather than in Moncton despite boasting Atlantic Canada's largest and most automated printing press and its accompanying automated loading bays. (that whole printing operaation, from the press to the loading and unloading of the trucks, runs on very few people.) I very much doubt it though.

[MonctonPerson]

The T&T building was "sold" to J.D. Irving, Ltd.

As has been mentioned, the printing press in that building means it isn't going anywhere anytime soon.

[MaritimerJAB]

It appears a new restaurant will be replacing Clos. It will apparently be called "Euphoria"

[MonctonRad]

Glad to see the storefront occupied. I ate at Clos once - had the tasting menu. It was very good and I was sorry to see it go. Given the haute cuisine, it would have had only a limited clientele in the Moncton market, and the COVID pandemic was the kiss of death to them.

I wonder what the specialite of Euphoria will be???

[Sandbagger]

This isn't really downtown, but there's no thread I can see for Moncton Center. The Shell station on the corner of Vaughan Harvey and Collishaw has been completely demolished and removed in the past couple of weeks. Not sure if there's any plans here. It's a fairly prominent corner.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by Sandbagger

This isn't really downtown, but there's no thread I can see for Moncton Center. The Shell station on the corner of Vaughan Harvey and Collishaw has been completely demolished and removed in the past couple of weeks. Not sure if there's any plans here. It's a fairly prominent corner.

There's no sale of the property registered on the SNB property site yet, but that can take a month or so. If the Shell station has just been torn down in the last couple of weeks, perhaps we'll see a sale listed on the site soon. It is a prominent location, and it would be nice to see it developed.