[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Being a new week, I was thinking we might have heard something on 1333 Main Street today. But still nothing!

Another week passes. Could the project be dead? I was initially optimistic but now I wouldn't be too surprised to hear about the developers selling the lot.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Another week passes. Could the project be dead? I was initially optimistic but now I wouldn't be too surprised to hear about the developers selling the lot.

I honestly don't know what to think about the whole deal on this project. I hope the developer steps up to the plate and follows through with his 10 floor plan. But I just have a gut feeling that somethings not right.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I honestly don't know what to think about the whole deal on this project. I hope the developer steps up to the plate and follows through with his 10 floor plan. But I just have a gut feeling that somethings not right.

[PEI highway guy]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

I have alwaya saiud theg 10 storeys would be built and even I am starting to wonder. My fiancee and I drove by the property Wednesday morning. Th houses on the west side of Atlantic are now staring at an empty lot and a noisy busy corner. I would want some sort of buffer between my place and that busy corner. iI am waiting for this project to get going, but my excitement is waning

[Mud]

In minor news the Hakim Optical location on St. Georges closed down as of April 1st. Maybe Rouère could move up to replace them, an actual street presence would be nice if they can afford it.

[MonctonRad]

Anticipating population growth, Moncton approves 10-year recreation plan
Plan recommends various new or improved facilities across city

Shane Magee · CBC News · Posted: Apr 04, 2023 7:00 AM ADT | Last Updated: 2 hours ago
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/moncton-council-recreation-plan-1.6799927

This specific quote from the report is interesting:

The report calls on the city to commission a study of a downtown centre with a library, market and recreation centre.

It suggests the centre could include retail and social space, a field house, walking track, fitness centre and a public plaza with a performance and presentation space.

This image from the city's in house proposal for Downing Street redevelopment from about five years ago already shows a proposed combo city market and new public library:



Pretty much everything the newly adopted recreational master plan calls for in the downtown is already part of the original city proposal for Downing Street, except for the bit about a "field house, walking track and fitness centre."

These reports are not necessarily issued in a vacuum, and, there may have been some back and forth between the report's proponents and staff in city planning. Could the city already be exploring the possibility of a downtown recreational facility as part of the redevelopment of the Assumption Place parking lot? If so, this would only make the area even more desirable for major downtown residential redevelopment.

Hmmmmmmmmm..................

[jonny golden]

It looks like we're getting a new development on the corner of Vaughan Harvey and Intercolonial way.

Here's the posting from Colliers website:

https://www.collierscanada.com/en-ca/pro...-moncton-new-brunswick-canada/can2001257

It's a commercial development, with restaurants and retail indicated as ideal tenants.

[MonctonRad]

I wouldn't hold your breath on this one - you'll turn purple.

Colliers is just shopping around here for a developer. There is nothing actually planned.

The Emmerson Business Park has been a massive disappointment. It started off with a bang with three buildings, but then the suburban office park market dried up completely.

I think a paradigm shit for Emmerson is necessary. It can't be residential because this is a brownfield. I imagine they will have to look at light industrial instead. The old Victory Industrial Park is next door anyway, so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I wouldn't hold your breath on this one - you'll turn purple.

Colliers is just shopping around here for a developer. There is nothing actually planned.

The Emmerson Business Park has been a massive disappointment. It started off with a bang with three buildings, but then the suburban office park market dried up completely.

I think a paradigm shit for Emmerson is necessary. It can't be residential because this is a brownfield. I imagine they will have to look at light industrial instead. The old Victory Industrial Park is next door anyway, so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

They built residential on grand trunk and that was a brownfield too wasn’t it? How bad would the difference be?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

They built residential on grand trunk and that was a brownfield too wasn’t it? How bad would the difference be?

There are brownfields, and then there are brownfields.........

The Emmerson Business Park is smack dab on top of the former CN Shops property, and, despite any remediation which has already occurred, there are probably still tonnes of toxic heavy metal contamination on site. Grand Trunk on the other hand was little more than a railway yard and siding. There are orders of magnitude of difference. I imagine they did soil testing at Grand Trunk and found things to be within acceptable limits.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

There are brownfields, and then there are brownfields.........

The Emmerson Business Park is smack dab on top of the former CN Shops property, and, despite any remediation which has already occurred, there are probably still tonnes of toxic heavy metal contamination on site. Grand Trunk on the other hand was little more than a railway yard and siding. There are orders of magnitude of difference. I imagine they did soil testing at Grand Trunk and found things to be within acceptable limits.

Ahh that makes sense. A rail yard compared to the CN shops would be significantly different. Speaking of brownfields, I wonder if we’ll ever see development on the former landfill along the river.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Ahh that makes sense. A rail yard compared to the CN shops would be significantly different. Speaking of brownfields, I wonder if we’ll ever see development on the former landfill along the river.

I imagine it's former role as a garbage dump will preclude any significant development and it will be converted into a more formalized parkland. At some point, they will extend Assumption Blvd all the way through to the former causeway and this portion of Assumption will function as an express commuter parkway leading to the downtown core.

[MonctonianSentinel01]

AFAIK you can't build large structures on landfill sites. Even with houses there are too many problems. They keep shifting unable to settle and that makes cracks in the foundations, cracks in the drywall, pipes that can snap and other problems. That's just with houses. Although if the building is large enough and they dig deep enough below the landfill then that might not pose such as issue, although I wouldn't bet on it. I know that they built the Wheeler Boulevard on an old landfill site next to the university but they had to excavate it out before they built it.

[MonctonRad]

Last fall, we discovered a listing on canada.constructconnect.com for a $48M project (I think) which sounded a lot like the Ashford/Downing Street project.

I think this has been updated and split in two. I found these two listings on the website today:

Retail Stores, Apartments, Parking Garages
Moncton, Westmorland County, New Brunswick ConstructConnect Project ID: 1006714936
Stage: Construction Documents Start Date: Aug 2023 Funding: Private Value: $25,300,000 Work Type: New Building Type: RESIDENTIAL

Entertainment
Moncton, Westmorland County, New Brunswick ConstructConnect Project ID: 1006080406
Stage: Pre-Design Start Date: Aug 2024 Funding: Private Value: $25,000,000 Work Type: Addition/Alteration Building Type: RETAIL

It would appear that there will be two phases to the project.

Phase 1 would be the Ashford apartment building (rumoured to be 14 storey), with associated ground level retail and a parking structure. The construction start date is August of this year.

Phase 2, labelled as "entertainment retail" would likely be the new downtown city market. A valuation of $25M seems pretty high, but rumours indicate the city is thinking of a multistorey building with multifunction space that can be reconfigured as a convention/conference facility. A permanent market would likely occupy the ground floor with weekend vendors on the upper levels. The building would likely be of a courtyard design to maximize its versatility. The concept drawing further up this page indicates a six storey structure, presumably with room for a relocated city library.

The construction start date for phase 2 appears to be in August 2024, hence the need to split the project into two.

[MonctonRad]

Another interesting recent listing on canada.constructconnect.com

Restaurants
Moncton, Westmorland County, New Brunswick ConstructConnect Project ID: 1006416954
Stage: Pre-Design Start Date: Sep 2023 Funding: Private Value: $4,750,000 Work Type: New Building Type: RETAIL

Could this be for the new Baton Rouge restaurant being built adjacent to and connecting to the Crowne Plaza Hotel?

The start date is listed as September of this year.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonianSentinel01

AFAIK you can't build large structures on landfill sites. Even with houses there are too many problems. They keep shifting unable to settle and that makes cracks in the foundations, cracks in the drywall, pipes that can snap and other problems. That's just with houses. Although if the building is large enough and they dig deep enough below the landfill then that might not pose such as issue, although I wouldn't bet on it. I know that they built the Wheeler Boulevard on an old landfill site next to the university but they had to excavate it out before they built it.

I’m just mentioning this as the Arizona Coyotes new area proposal is on a former landfill site so it got me thinking. The extension of assumption as some point will allow west main to have a road diet and have more pedestrian oriented development located fronting the street. This will make a big difference, especially for the part of west main between Jones Lake and Vaughan Harvey.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I wouldn't hold your breath on this one - you'll turn purple.

Colliers is just shopping around here for a developer. There is nothing actually planned.

The Emmerson Business Park has been a massive disappointment. It started off with a bang with three buildings, but then the suburban office park market dried up completely.

I think a paradigm shit for Emmerson is necessary. It can't be residential because this is a brownfield. I imagine they will have to look at light industrial instead. The old Victory Industrial Park is next door anyway, so this wouldn't be too much of a stretch.

So basically a fishing expedition by Colliers?

I completely agree that the Emmerson Business Park has been underwhelming. This plan suggesting restaurants - it doesn't seem to me like a good idea. Overall it's a great location, so could they not do multi-unit residential here? Or is the land not suitable?

[Franco401]

Roughly illustrated:

[MonctonRad]

Yes, this would be a probable configuration for the Assumption Parkway through to the causeway. Good job!

If Assumption Parkway is ever built (and I think it will be), then I would have no objection to West Main undergoing that road diet to three lanes with bike lanes on either side.

[MonctonRad]

There may be something afoot in the old Vien Dong space on Main Street. A contact has informed me there is some interior work going on.

Originally, an ethic corner store based in Charlottetown was looking at this space, but I think this fell through.