[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[FarmerTom]

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/departments/health/news/news_release.2015.06.0618.html

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Hogie75

as I understand it, it is a parking garage.

Good Lord no...........



As the article linked in FarmerTom's post above states, it will be a brand new surgical suite for the Dumont Hospital.

The surgical suite project consists of a single-storey addition with a basement totaling 10,248 sq. metres (113,870 sq. feet) and 1,281 sq. metres (14,240 sq. feet) of renovations at the north end of the hospital. The expansion will house a new surgical suite, recovery room, a day surgery unit, an intensive care unit, a step-down unit, physiotherapy and occupational therapy, central sterile reprocessing, and shipping/receiving.

The entire $101-million surgical suite project is expected to be completed in three phases by 2019.

This is a necessary project as the old surgical suite was out of date and had problems with mold in it's ventilation system (I believe). I'm rather surprised at the cost however - that's almost as much as the cost of the new events centre!!!

I believe the expansion will also include some space for the medical school, and for administration. Although not a parking garage per se, there will be underground parking available underneath the new wing.

Next up for the Dumont will be the new Centre for Precision Medicine. This will be a new $26.5M five storey building immediately adjacent to and connecting with the old Providence Building.

It will see researchers from the Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (ACRI), the University of Moncton and its affiliated University of Sherbrooke medical school all housed under one roof, with space for animal testing and patient clinical trials.

The 40,000-square-foot, five-floor centre of excellence will focus on developing new diagnostic tools and therapeutics that are patient-specific, based on their unique molecular biomarkers and what options would be most effective for them.

Surette expects the centre to house about 100 researchers when it opens, with room to accommodate up to about 160.

He believes the collaborative approach of the centre, not only among the three research teams housed there, but with other researchers in New Brunswick, across Canada and around the world, will help attract more researchers to set up shop.

The centre will also offer space for rent to existing or startup private research companies, along with access to its state-of-the-art equipment and animal lab with mice, he said.

The federal and provincial governments are investing $10.5 million and $5.25 million respectively through the Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, while the University of Moncton and other partners are contributing an additional $10.7 million.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunsw...ancer-moncton-precision-centre-1.3727766

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Meanwhile, over at the Moncton Hospital, they are busily printing up a nifty brand new sign for the recently renamed Dr Sheldon Rubin Oncology Clinic.

Also, they are trying to figure out what to do with the Obstetrics Department and the Maternal/Fetal Medicine program, since they had to close down the ob/gyn surgical suite because of contamination problems, and the obstetrics floor because of ventilation problems. This will cost millions of dollars to address, which Horizon Health does not currently have........

Meanwhile, ob/gyn surgeries are being conducted in the main OR, and obstetric patients have been relocated in the hospital, but the situation is not ideal. The Moncton Hospital currently has a top quality maternal/fetal medicine unit including obstetrician/gynecologists, perinatologists, neonatologists and a state of the art NICU. If the infrastructure problems in the hospital aren't addressed, all this could be put at risk because of problems with accreditation and recruitment.

I wish the provincial government put as much emphasis on the Moncton Hospital as it does the Dumont Hospital..........

[josh_cat_eyes]

Wouldn't it have been nice if the province had built a single hospital instead of building two and trying to support both. Or if they had built them as a campus while sharing the most important parts such as CT Scans or the emergency room. I know I've brought this up before but it just bugs me that a city of this size has two big hospitals.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Wouldn't it have been nice if the province had built a single hospital instead of building two and trying to support both.

An ethnolinguistic impossibility (or so I've been told).

The province's hand has been tied ever since the Montfort Hospital decision in Ottawa (I think this went to the supreme court). This required the province of Ontario to provide french language health services in Ottawa in a primarily francophone environment, thus saving the (francophone) Montfort Hospital from closure. The NB government saw the writing on the wall from this, knowing that the Acadian minority in NB would use this decision as a weapon to demand full duality in the provision of health care services in NB, and within a "francophone environment" to boot.

Also, the Quebec government and the Universite de Sherbrooke screwed us over about a decade ago. First the Quebec government decided to limit placements in their francophone medical schools to only Quebec residents. This eliminated the tradition of sending Acadian medical students to the Universite de Sherbrooke. To deal with this dilemma, the province worked with the Universite de Sherbrooke to develop a satellite medical program at the Dumont Hospital, partially administered by UdeM. Several years later, the Universite de Sherbrooke decided that only hospitals designated as "university hospital centres" could work with medical students in their program. It was because of this that the Dumont became the "Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Dr Georges-L Dumont". Since this happened, the Dumont has been on the fast track to become an institution befitting such an august name.

The Moncton Hospital (traditionally the main hospital in the city) has generally been treading water during all this. Don't get me wrong, we're still a first rate hospital with a number of tertiary level programs (neurosciences, trauma centre, orthopaedics, vascular surgery & interventional radiology, burn unit, medical oncology, neonatal care, child & adolescent psychiatry etc), but no new programs have been added in a long time. We have had some improvements to our infrastructure (new ambulatory care centre, laboratory, emergency/trauma centre, main operating room, intensive care unit, oncology clinic) but nothing like what is going on at the Dumont. We are also a teaching hospital in our own right (affiliated with UNBSJ & Dalhousie University with about 25 medical students and residents at any time), but we don't seem to get any recognition for this.

The thing that disturbs me is that the rate at which the balance is being tilted towards the Dumont Hospital seems to be accelerating with time. It makes me wonder about the future..........

I could go on about the intrigue surrounding medical politics in this city, but it would make "Game of Thrones" look like a children's fable. I'll leave it at that then.........

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by josh_cat_eyes

Wouldn't it have been nice if the province had built a single hospital instead of building two and trying to support both. Or if they had built them as a campus while sharing the most important parts such as CT Scans or the emergency room. I know I've brought this up before but it just bugs me that a city of this size has two big hospitals.

They could have built the hospitals one across the road from the other. So at least they din't go that far But I think the Hospitals are needed but maybe they should have built them farther apart, and looked into city expansion earlier then they did. The issues when it comes to where they put the money either GD, or MH could have been avoided by having just 1 hospital that would have been larger, and more central. I'd say John Street between Emmerson, Pine, and backing onto York.

[BlackYear]

Anyone know what's up with this location? Main & Lutz. They appear to be painting the brinks black. Window trim first then the rest I guess!

Bar & Grill? Just a bar? The choice in color makes it seem that way. A Jack Astor's?

A good location for either or. First place to see after a Downtown Centre event coming under the ugly subway!

[MonctonRad]

AFAIK, it is still Actus Law. There was recently an amicable split in their partnership, with some of their lawyers leaving to establish Tandem Law across the street. Maybe the remaining partners felt a need to renovate.

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by Budyser

Anyone know what's up with this location? Main & Lutz. They appear to be painting the brinks black. Window trim first then the rest I guess!

Bar & Grill? Just a bar? The choice in color makes it seem that way. A Jack Astor's?

A good location for either or. First place to see after a Downtown Centre event coming under the ugly subway!

The black will look so much better than that ugly brick, some people might like it, but it's just such an off colour.

[Feneant]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Good Lord no...........

I wish the provincial government put as much emphasis on the Moncton Hospital as it does the Dumont Hospital..........

The 2 hospitals are a perfect example of NB politics and duality at "work". My Sister in Law (Anglophone) works in the OR at the City and commented to my mother (Francophone), who retired from Dumont, about how it seems that Dumont is getting lots of attention these days whereas the City lays forgotten. My mother was so outraged, to her it was a slap to the face for my SIL to even consider that the City should get some of these tens of millions to improve/update.

Seriously at this point I think both hospitals should be divided by service and not by language. Both excel in some areas so why instead of having basically 2 full service hospitals don't they just divide the specialties. I mean we're in 2016 at the peak of human evolution but yet we still need to have segregated hospitals .

[lirette]

Apparently Old Cosmo will be closing down

Not much of a surprise, if the owner making offensive comments on FB and telling customers their business wasn't wanted didnt kill it, the opening of revolution did.

Thats some prime real estate up for grabs now in downtown Moncton.

With the square footage they have that would be a great spot for a big brewpub to open up, but the place would need to be gutted.

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by lirette

Apparently Old Cosmo will be closing down

Not much of a surprise, if the owner making offensive comments on FB and telling customers their business wasn't wanted didnt kill it, the opening of revolution did.

Thats some prime real estate up for grabs now in downtown Moncton.

With the square footage they have that would be a great spot for a big brewpub to open up, but the place would need to be gutted.

This would explain why a buddy of mine said he was interested in buying out an old out of date closed out club to build a competing business. If I'm not mistaken this guy owns a Pub style Restaurant, and brewery out in Toronto, and has been looking at real estate to open one up in Moncton, and potentially compete with P.H. Hmmmm I'm wondering.

1.Is The old Cosmo really closing. Because they have closed there doors a few times over the years, and always managed to re-open.
and
2 Will it go up for lease, or sale, and will someone actually purchase it to renovate it into a new style business.

I'm in no way hopping that it does but do hope if the Old Cosmo is shutting down for good. I do hope another styled business opens in it's location. even if it's a Pub styled restaurant with there own brewery.

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by lirette

Apparently Old Cosmo will be closing down

Not much of a surprise, if the owner making offensive comments on FB and telling customers their business wasn't wanted didnt kill it, the opening of revolution did.

Thats some prime real estate up for grabs now in downtown Moncton.

With the square footage they have that would be a great spot for a big brewpub to open up, but the place would need to be gutted.

The old Cosmo was a terrible place, but it still is a blow to downtown. 2 am downtown will be a lot different without the Cosmo, I know some of the restaurants will feel it. Now don't get me wrong there will still be lots of people, but I find the bar scene in Moncton is really lacking and taking away the major nightclub, will be a hit.

Now on to revolution, terrible place as well, the owner seems to have good intentions, but they have already had multiple incidents ( the bear spray is one example) and then add in the fact that it's literally on the outskirts. I can drive to Caledonia industrial park faster than to downtown. That always seems to be how the city works though, avoid downtown, even the night scene is starting to go away from the downtown.

[lirette]

Originally Posted by Scarface

This would explain why a buddy of mine said he was interested in buying out an old out of date closed out club to build a competing business. If I'm not mistaken this guy owns a Pub style Restaurant, and brewery out in Toronto, and has been looking at real estate to open one up in Moncton, and potentially compete with P.H. Hmmmm I'm wondering.

1.Is The old Cosmo really closing. Because they have closed there doors a few times over the years, and always managed to re-open.
and
2 Will it go up for lease, or sale, and will someone actually purchase it to renovate it into a new style business.

I'm in no way hopping that it does but do hope if the Old Cosmo is shutting down for good. I do hope another styled business opens in it's location. even if it's a Pub styled restaurant with there own brewery.

Yes it is really closing.

Its been posted on the owners personal FB as well as the public cosmo page.

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by lirette

Yes it is really closing.

Its been posted on the owners personal FB as well as the public cosmo page.

After reading his post.. I hope he isn't serious that social media destroyed his business because people no long go out to interact.. Night club will be missed, him running it, not so much. I think he needs to look at his business plan and other horrible dealings, before blaming others..

[MonctonRad]

The Actus Law building is now painted entirely black - a definite improvement as far as I'm concerned........

[David_99]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The Actus Law building is now painted entirely black - a definite improvement as far as I'm concerned........

Definitely. It's more of a dark grey with black trim. I tried to take a picture today when I was stopped at the red light but I noticed a cop car behind me so I quickly put away my phone...

[tmacdougall]

Downing St. closed to vehicles? Maybe. Alexandra Whyte's article in the Times & Transcript today addresses public input stating it should be pedestrian only.

[Ammn_guy]

Originally Posted by tmacdougall

Downing St. closed to vehicles? Maybe. Alexandra Whyte's article in the Times & Transcript today addresses public input stating it should be pedestrian only.

Its almost a little dangerous.. it feels like a sidewalk.. looks like a sidewalk, i un intentionally walked in front of a car yesterday on it. It just doesn t have the "normal" mental triggers remind you your on a street. They should have at least put curbs in... as its all one level plane..be interesting when winter sets in.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Ammn_guy

Its almost a little dangerous.. it feels like a sidewalk.. looks like a sidewalk, i un intentionally walked in front of a car yesterday on it. It just doesn t have the "normal" mental triggers remind you your on a street. They should have at least put curbs in... as its all one level plane..be interesting when winter sets in.

It's a shared space roadway. The visual clue as to what constitutes "sidewalk" is the colour of the paving stone. This is a familiar concept in parts of Europe and, increasingly, on downtown streets in North America with low traffic volumes where they are trying to encourage pedestrian use.

The present set up is confusing, because it does look like an extra wide sidewalk. This will change once they complete the boulevard and put in the other lane.

I wonder when they plan on doing that?

[BlackYear]

I see no reasons why they should open Downing st to vehicles at this time. There's zero benefits. Mechanic street on the opposite side of Blue Cross handles the cross traffic just fine.

Why confuse the public by allowing cars through now, then having to shut it back down when phase 2 begins.

So stupid. Leave it for pedestrians only. Give then peace of mind that a distracted driver on their phones won't run them over!