[Saint John] Uptown Thread

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

Excavator is digging up 222 Water Street

Back at it today. Looks like they've got most of the old building's foundation exposed now. Not to craft a narrative out of an excavation, but perhaps a prospective buyer is exploring how difficult building from Prince William up to Water would be. It's a narrow and challenging site, only 90' by 50' (90' by 90' if you include Murder Hill, which is of unknown ownership), with an old foundation in the middle of it and God knows what else under that, and whatever goes here will be curb-to-curb. Due diligence should be expected. It's a really prominent site and I'd love to see uptown creep farther down Prince William.

Something south of the Harbourfront Residences is overdue too.

The Customs parking lot should be a decent sized parking garage, maybe, with commercial at Prince William-level and residential higher. Three floors of parking accessed from Water below. You could build literally anything here and it would impact precisely zero residential views. This would let the city hopefully dispose of some of the more egregious parking lots, namely 60 Canterbury and 155 Duke.

Every time I see the old granite facade along the back of the lot, I get depressed. What once was!

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Back at it today. Looks like they've got most of the old building's foundation exposed now. Not to craft a narrative out of an excavation, but perhaps a prospective buyer is exploring how difficult building from Prince William up to Water would be. It's a narrow and challenging site, only 90' by 50' (90' by 90' if you include Murder Hill, which is of unknown ownership), with an old foundation in the middle of it and God knows what else under that, and whatever goes here will be curb-to-curb. Due diligence should be expected. It's a really prominent site and I'd love to see uptown creep farther down Prince William.

Something south of the Harbourfront Residences is overdue too.

The Customs parking lot should be a decent sized parking garage, maybe, with commercial at Prince William-level and residential higher. Three floors of parking accessed from Water below. You could build literally anything here and it would impact precisely zero residential views. This would let the city hopefully dispose of some of the more egregious parking lots, namely 60 Canterbury and 155 Duke.

Every time I see the old granite facade along the back of the lot, I get depressed. What once was!

I just walked by and a dump truck was leaving fill, and the excavator was compacting it down. Makes sense they want to present a site ready property.

[cdnguys]

Trailway Brewing just opened Union House burgers and beer on corner of Union and Dorchester. Nice addition to uptown!

[JHikka]

That's great for Union. Slow and steady...

[nwalbert]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Trailway Brewing just opened Union House burgers and beer on corner of Union and Dorchester. Nice addition to uptown!

It was packed on Saturday for their opening. I can confirm good beer and good burgers, worth checking out.

It is amazing the variety that uptown offers now.

[cdnguys]

[IMG][/IMG]

[tot9804]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Back at it today. Looks like they've got most of the old building's foundation exposed now. Not to craft a narrative out of an excavation, but perhaps a prospective buyer is exploring how difficult building from Prince William up to Water would be. It's a narrow and challenging site, only 90' by 50' (90' by 90' if you include Murder Hill, which is of unknown ownership), with an old foundation in the middle of it and God knows what else under that, and whatever goes here will be curb-to-curb. Due diligence should be expected. It's a really prominent site and I'd love to see uptown creep farther down Prince William.

Something south of the Harbourfront Residences is overdue too.

The Customs parking lot should be a decent sized parking garage, maybe, with commercial at Prince William-level and residential higher. Three floors of parking accessed from Water below. You could build literally anything here and it would impact precisely zero residential views. This would let the city hopefully dispose of some of the more egregious parking lots, namely 60 Canterbury and 155 Duke.

Every time I see the old granite facade along the back of the lot, I get depressed. What once was!

How did murder hill get its name?

[UptownJeff]

Originally Posted by tot9804

How did murder hill get its name?

From what I understand that was once a street and was “murder” to drive up or down in the winter!

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by UptownJeff

From what I understand that was once a street and was “murder” to drive up or down in the winter!

I heard slightly different version - hard on transmission the steep grade.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

I heard slightly different version - hard on transmission the steep grade.

Third version that's likely an urban legend is the obvious one- site of a nineteenth century murder.

I noticed the dirt is packed down again, but a lot of the foundation towards Prince William and north of Harbourfront is now exposed.

[Franco401]

I'm confident there was no street there. There absolutely was not during the time that cars have existed. There's no sign of anything there in any old maps (just checked a bunch of them) and this 1927 aerial from the city's website just shows the same empty lot.

[UptownJeff]

Originally Posted by Franco401

I'm confident there was no street there. There absolutely was not during the time that cars have existed. There's no sign of anything there in any old maps (just checked a bunch of them) and this 1927 aerial from the city's website just shows the same empty lot.

It may not have been a formal street but I know more than one person who went to SJ High in the 70s who have told me that it was a "roadway" of some sort - or at least a pathway that a car could use.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by UptownJeff

It may not have been a formal street but I know more than one person who went to SJ High in the 70s who have told me that it was a "roadway" of some sort - or at least a pathway that a car could use.

Yes it definitely had a steep sidewalk / stairs and black top - I’m sure an “unofficial” street

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

I heard slightly different version - hard on transmission the steep grade.

I swear I saw a plaque about this. Or read something recently. However it was in relation to the transmission and the steep incline when the first Model-Ts arrived in the city. It was apparently nicknamed this for it "killing" any Model T that tried to climb it.

[adamuptownsj]

Now that the substation is moving to Paradise Row and a school is coming next door, it would be a great opportunity to redevelop the Smythe Street area. There's a whole block between Long Wharf and Union St that will be completely open. All land owners are government- the port and city own parts of the Smythe parking lot.

It would nice to see the Red Rose Tea building get a taller neighbour to its south. It's very isolated.

And lastly, a Harbour Passage spur to Harbour Station. Only 200m, it would be cheap.

https://imgur.com/a/eszaCrI

[DyAm00394]

Paula Copeland of Port Saint John did a recent interview, (on March 16th), with CBC Information Morning. She talked about the Long Wharf Landing project. Fences recently came down between Long Wharf and Fort Le Tour. She said that when warmer weather comes, work will become more visible.

"Fences have started coming down along the Harbour Passage between Long Wharf and Fort LaTour, prompting some people to wonder what's happening at the waterfront. The answer is a lot. It's the beginning phase of an effort to redevelop the area into a pedestrian-friendly space. Paula Copeland of Port Saint John walks us through the project".

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2...clip/15972554-long-wharf-landing-project



Overall, I'm hoping the large mixed-use neighborhood the city proposed for Long Wharf back in May 2018, comes fully to fruition.
A link to an article about it in case you missed it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...ral-peninsula-south-end-uptown-1.4662388

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by DyAm00394

Paula Copeland of Port Saint John did a recent interview, (on March 16th), with CBC Information Morning. She talked about the Long Wharf Landing project. Fences recently came down between Long Wharf and Fort Le Tour. She said that when warmer weather comes, work will become more visible.



https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-2...clip/15972554-long-wharf-landing-project



Overall, I'm hoping the large mixed-use neighborhood the city proposed for Long Wharf back in May 2018, comes fully to fruition.
A link to an article about it in case you missed it: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-bruns...ral-peninsula-south-end-uptown-1.4662388

Shame it's not going to be that big housing project. That would be amazing and a great use of space near the waterfront!

[ColSJ]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

Shame it's not going to be that big housing project. That would be amazing and a great use of space near the waterfront!

The long term vision of Long Wharf is no doubt exciting but we still have a long ways to go on the central peninsula. The south end could take in thousands more units.

[tot9804]

what new business is going uptown besides pharos property management on the corner of prince william and duke?

[cdnguys]

DyAm00394 posted on Fundy Quay thread something interesting - April 4th Water Street one lane blocked off in front of 1 Princess St for “crane lift operations”.