[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[Monctoncore]

I mentioned before in the previous, its a screen print I took today on the computer, from the rogers tv website from last nights council meeting. So its a screen shot off of the rogers tv site
http://www.rogerstv.com/page.aspx?rid=49&lid=237&gid=111428

That is the link if you want to watch the whole council meeting. So yes I took the picture using print screen.

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

[IMG][/IMG]

Nice project for downtown! Looks more like 9 stories, not eight.

I have to say the design is a bit busy, hopefully it'll look better on clearer renders and with quality materials. The Queen street front seems to be lined by steps or some kind of small retaining wall, not unlike the old AshVerd proposal on Westmorland.

It sure would be nice to see some public art to go along with this, dt sure does need it!

[Lrdevlop]

That render looks a bit too blurry

Here's a clear one:



Screenshot taken by me

[RyeJay]

Originally Posted by NBNYer

Nice project for downtown! Looks more like 9 stories, not eight.

I have to say the design is a bit busy, hopefully it'll look better on clearer renders and with quality materials. The Queen street front seems to be lined by steps or some kind of small retaining wall, not unlike the old AshVerd proposal on Westmorland.

It sure would be nice to see some public art to go along with this, dt sure does need it!

Public art? I'd say this building is artistic enough to satisfy that. Landscaping and wider sidewalks through out the downtown would be more practical, in my opinion.

If more people are to live in the core, we must dress it up to look cozy enough to call it home. We must permit more space for foot traffic.

[mmmatt]

^ Wow!! That's really cool!

Looks much better in a clear render

I will say it does look a bit busy (why not 2 accent colors instead of 5?) but it is certainly a high quality development of significant height which is what we really need. Now I just wish this and the new downsized Harper building could change places...this building deserves a spot on Main or St George.

[JHikka]

The NIMBYs are going to be out in force when they see that render. There better be a few people from the forum at the hearing so pro-development people aren't outnumbered.

[kwajo]

I like the creativity in the building design, but the streetfrontage is terrible. Raised concrete walkway, barriers, no retail or office on the ground floor, no interaction with the street at all.

Other than that, I hope it gets built.

[mmmatt]

.

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by kwajo

I like the creativity in the building design, but the streetfrontage is terrible. Raised concrete walkway, barriers, no retail or office on the ground floor, no interaction with the street at all.

Other than that, I hope it gets built.

According to the proposal it will have "first floor commercial space". To me the raised walkway you refer to looks like a restaurant patio.

http://m.news919.com/2013/04/16/new-building-slated-for-downtown-moncton/

[Lrdevlop]

Originally Posted by kwajo

I like the creativity in the building design, but the streetfrontage is terrible. Raised concrete walkway, barriers, no retail or office on the ground floor, no interaction with the street at all.

Other than that, I hope it gets built.

I agree with you about the street frontage... It could be better. However, the ground floor is commercial space for retail and offices, and there will be outdoor furniture on the raised walkway, so it might not be that bad.

[pierremoncton]

Nice to see development downtown, but I agree that it's way too busy. Looks to me like something a young boy would build with Lego blocks -- too many colours, cheap and disposable. I'd much rather see a timeless design like Belmar Plaza on Mountain Rd or like the small brick building at 31 Church. We shouldn't be emulating Toronto's ugly buildings just because they're bigger.

In any case, there shouldn't be too many complaints from NIMBYs because it's just surrounded by more open parking space.

Also, I watched part of the council meeting, and I can add that:

- there will be underground parking
- a few surface parking spots
- 6 penthouses (hence the '9th' floor)
- Bourgeois asked "what's the catch?" in regards to costs the city will incur, and the developer said infrastructure investments would be required, but to keep in mind that there are "other projects" on the way

[BlackYear]

Really nice indeed. I might sell my house and take a top floor condo facing Main st. Not sure if I would want anything facing North-East though.

I agree that the location of this building isn't really ideal, it certainly deserves a street front location on Main or St- George. I would expect to see something like this in Dieppe, seems to fit their development style, not in the backyard of City Hall.

In any case, I'm not complaining. Anything is better than nothing.

[Monctoncore]

That is a lot better screen shot! Thanks Lrdevlop!

As for the building yes its busy and the location isn't where we would want it, but think of the positives of it being there, when looking up Orange lane you will no longer see just an empty parking lot. Here is a prnt. scrn. I took of Orange Lane from google maps:

[IMG][/IMG]

I think this will be a catalyst for nicer development in that part of downtown, Imagine queen st. with the churches and more development like that, plus its also time the city puts some effort into fixing up those roads and sidewalks, Queen st. has a lot potential.

[theshark]

Awesome news, nice to see that they will incorporate 1 st floor commercial, this might increase foot traffic in the area might have the effect of filling an empty store front or 2in the area. I'm not sure if it was mentionned before but how many residential units in total??

[MonctonRad]

re: 55 Queen St.

A bit busy - yes.

Avant Garde - absolutely, but for downtown Moncton that's probably a good thing.

There is no question that this will shake up the east end of downtown but one has to remember that this lot is immediately behind the city hall complex and within a block of Blue Cross and the Marriot Hotel.

If another couple of buildings of similar scale could be built in this neighbourhood, then I think you would really have the critical mass in the east end of downtown to lead this section of the city into the future!

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

I think this will be a catalyst for nicer development in that part of downtown, Imagine queen st. with the churches and more development like that, plus its also time the city puts some effort into fixing up those roads and sidewalks, Queen st. has a lot potential.

Yes, I think Queen street is often overlooked. It wouldn't take too much to make it into a great urban street, especially considering its proximity to both Main and a slowly improving St-George street. Two great commercial streets on either side make for an appealing location for higher density residential. Add to that the existing stock of historic buildings and you've got a great neighborhood. It would also help with tying in St-George and Main and make the downtown feel less fragmented.

[Good2go]

Now the announcement that Queen between Botsford and Steadman would be rebuilt makes more sense. The story in the paper emphasized the widening and realigning of Lewis...

http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10800

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Good2go

Now the announcement that Queen between Botsford and Steadman would be rebuilt makes more sense. The story in the paper emphasized the widening and realigning of Lewis...

http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10800

I agree, definitely not a coincidence.....

[Monctoncore]

As you can tell I have nothing to do today, other than spend the day in the sun and think about Downtown haha

I was thinking about Orange Lane and looking at the picture I posted of it on here, anyway, what they should do is turn the end of orange lane by Main into something similar to Robinson Square. That end of the street really isn't used that much and would look great with trees and possibly archway leading back to the Pumphouse... I should have put this in the Idea page but, with the talk going on in that area, seemed to fit!

[MonctonRad]

T&T article from today about the new 9 storey condo/apt building at 55 Queen St

Condo project to give downtown a new look
Thursday, April 18, 2013
Times & Trasncript
By: Brent Mazerolle

It's just the sort of thing Moncton has been looking for.

When the City of Moncton and Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc. sponsored a community visioning exercise for downtown back in 2006, both the expert consultants hired to run the symposium and the more than 100 citizens who volunteered their time to brainstorm the future look and character of Moncton's urban core talked about the sort of development they wanted.

First of all, they said the city needed more people living downtown. They said it was time for the city to get past old ideas of embracing any development just because, that it was time to demand more of developers, especially when it came to facades and quality of building materials. They reasserted the idea that surface parking is the lowest possible use of land and something that for too long has made downtown a windswept, barren plain.

They also said it was time to infill, to build up, and to replace Moncton's one-street downtown with developments north and south of Main Street.

All that dreaming - and the visioning report that told potential developers what the city was looking for - is coming to fruition with a new building on a block that today holds only a parking lot and a small empty building.

read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10904

Main take aways:
- the developers are quite reputable, being responsible for Bella Casa at the Moncton G&CC amongst others.
- the architect is the same fellow who designed the medical/dental building at 585 Mapleton
- construction may begin as early as this fall, or possibly next spring.