The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[Wishblade]

Yeesh, what ever happened to Saint John being back on the rise? I assumed from the comments posted on this thread that things were looking up for that city...

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

Yeesh, what ever happened to Saint John being back on the rise? I assumed from the comments posted on this thread that things were looking up for that city...

Maybe with the energy-projects and Uptown revitalization as well will help to slow down this projection, well, I hope

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by HalifaxMtl666

Maybe with the energy-projects and Uptown revitalization as well will help to slow down this projection, well, I hope

I still consider Saint John to be more of a city than Moncton.

[PersonPlaceorThing]

There is no reply that Moncton has been growing faster than Saint John - in fact, Saint John has had some major population set backs over the years - but new projects and a strong vision for the future are helping Saint John regain some momentum.

Metro Moncton is growing fast – thanks in a big part to Dieppe’s draw. If I were a Dieppe resident I would start questioning why they aren’t living in a place called Metro Dieppe.

Saint John is coming back, and growth will be happening in the core of the city – hopefully creating a more sustainable growth in population and true growth in community.

[PersonPlaceorThing]

I have used the FP Markets data several times and the data used are often shakey and inconsistent with StatCan and other official data.

The tool is good because it covers a lot of data annually, but should not be relied upon as an only source.

[Ottawa]

Saint John has certainly had more than it's fair share of economic hurdles in recent history but there are many great reasons to be optimistic about the short and long term future of the city from here forward.

There are so many major projects lined up for the city that rarely a week goes by without a major update. The effects of these projects can't be taken into account yet because the big ones haven't broken ground, but it would be a bit of folly to base numbers on the 1996 - 2001 period showing a continued decline in the population.

One of the reasons this site is getting multiple hits is because there is so much to be optimistic about. As every statement made lately indicates, the economic numbers are just starting to turn positive.

The numbers will continue to crank up faster as these numerous projects start to turn sod.

Here's a link to an update on the 2nd refinery project.

http://cbc.ca/informationmorningsain...105SCOTT05.ram

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Haliguy

I still consider Saint John to be more of a city than Moncton.

The better example of this - Moncton has planned to built four-stories big box courthouse in Downtown core. In the same times SJ tries to get underground few skylines with linked pedway. However, when i look publicity penetration in both markets as well as retail developement, Moncton get win over SJ. Moncton becomes more and more sophisticated.

Hub city have to thank you to many Acadians that came in city

Without forgetting that Moncton had an advantage last 15 years with Lord and Mckenna government

[Haliguy]

Originally Posted by HalifaxMtl666

The better example of this - Moncton has planned to built four-stories big box courthouse in Downtown core. In the same times SJ tries to get underground few skylines with linked pedway. However, when i look publicity penetration in both markets as well as retail developement, Moncton get win over SJ. Moncton becomes more and more sophisticated.

Hub city have to thank you to many Acadians that came in city

Without forgetting that Moncton had an advantage last 15 years with Lord and Mckenna government

Other than big box stores.. which are going up in every city I don't see a lot going on in Moncton really.

[Wishblade]

Originally Posted by Haliguy

Other than big box stores.. which are going up in every city I don't see a lot going on in Moncton really.

Thats exactly what I think. I mean I just never see anything going on in Moncton at all. And when your actually in the city, it doesnt even really feel very urban at all. just my opinion...

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Wishblade

Thats exactly what I think. I mean I just never see anything going on in Moncton at all. And when your actually in the city, it doesnt even really feel very urban at all. just my opinion...

I am agree with you, in my mind SJ still remain the only urban area in NB.

[MTL Lucas]

I agree with the content of the exchange thus far - Saint John suffered huge setback in 96 to 01 period with the loss of thousands of people and families from the closure of Saint John Shipbuilding (I myself remember several people in my class leaving as their families left for Ontario and BC).

Moncton is growing and I am not surprised that its metro is larger - but we have to keep in mind that Moncton and Saint John are set up very differently. Moncton follows the metropolitan model with density at the core - Saint John is more of connurbation with a definite core but with more dispered population and separate nodes of density (Grand Bay - Westfield, Saint George, Quispamsis/Rothesay, Saint Martin's, Hampton, etc.,).

As we discussed on the first page of this thread, Enterpise Saint John measured Saint John's commuter basin as 175,000 people in 2005 which makes sense. Moncton has a bigger CMA but I am sure Saint John has a larger commuter basin and client population.

I think with all the announced projects Saint John's commuter basin will grow faster than any other in the province and that further efforts at densification and urban development in the core might allow Saint John's CMA to again surpass Moncton's. The next census will be more telling - Saint John is in an upswing and so is Moncton, so we will be able to compare what they both acheive with momentum.

[MTL Lucas]

Originally Posted by HalifaxMtl666

I am agree with you, in my mind SJ still remain the only urban area in NB.

I agree completely.

[ErickMontreal]

Korean councillor hopes to woo immigrants to Saint John

Last Updated: Monday, January 8, 2007 | 10:21 AM AT
CBC News

A Saint John city councillor to be featured in a half-hour television documentary broadcast in South Korea is hoping the show will entice more Koreans to move to the city.

Coun. Jay-Young Chang, a Korean-Canadian, is the subject of a show for Korea's Global Television Station. The show is filming 10 episodes focused on young Korean politicians living around the world.

The film crew is spending three days with Chang. They rode all-terrain vehicles with him and will shoot his lunch date with Mayor Norm McFarlane on Monday afternoon.

Chang said he plans to show off city landmarks and introduce the crew to other Korean immigrants living in the city. He's hoping the show will encourage more Koreans to move to Saint John.

"This television show will play well in Korea and it will display Saint John as a great place to live and a great place to do business," he said.

During the last year, more than 200 Koreans have immigrated to the Saint John area. Chang said the documentary will encourage even more to consider making the city their new home.


http://cbc.ca/informationmorningsain...108KOREA08.ram
_______________________________________________________________________________________

There's Talk About NBCC Moving To Tucker Park

http://cbc.ca/informationmorningsain...0108NBCC08.ram

[PersonPlaceorThing]

That is cool news about councilor Chang. I'm not sure what the data will say, but there has been a strong push to step up immigration over the last while. There are a number of new Canadians buying and improving investment properties in the uptown area.

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by PersonPlaceorThing

That is cool news about councilor Chang. I'm not sure what the data will say, but there has been a strong push to step up immigration over the last while. There are a number of new Canadians buying and improving investment properties in the uptown area.

This is a great for Saint John because the city seem unpopular within New-Brunswick. Many rural citizens in majority choose Fredericton and Moncton when the time is come for them to leave their region. For the city size, I am always surprised when i walk through Saint John and i see a considerable amount of immigrants mainly in Uptown
_________________________________________________________________

Check it out new city homepage :

http://www.saintjohn.ca/

[Ottawa]

It's great to see the new retail activity on both sides of the city. The retailers are recognizing that Saint John is growing and they want to take part in that. As always, follow the money to find the action...

Copied from Enterprise SJ website Jan. 9, 2007:

The Golden Mile may soon get some of its glitter back with the news that Saint John Transit is close to securing a new home. Mayor Norm McFarlane expects it to be finalized in the next four to six weeks.

"We've got to get started because West Side development has to go," said McFarlane, who lives nearby. "It's got to be done.

"We've been too slow in making that decision."

The Fairville Boulevard transit headquarters is being eyed by a developer. The city and Montreal-based developer Plaza BG Inc. entered into a tentative sales agreement almost five months ago. The group is now doing soil testing in and around the site.

Both sides are being tight-lipped about the BG development, but it's no big secret that Wal-Mart wants to build in the area and the relocation of the transit station is holding up the development.

According to the mayor, there are two locations on the short list for the new transit headquarters. He wouldn't divulge the locations fearing it would affect negotiations.

"Once we put it out there, then prices go up."

Further fueling speculation is the recent sale of the Lancaster Mall to Counsel Corporation. Bruce Creber, vice-president of real estate operations, said West End residents want their own shopping destination and its more convenient for the thousands of potential shoppers from towns such as Grand Bay-Westfield. Not to mention that West Siders are fiercely proud of their end of town and want to shop on the West Side and not travel across the bridge to the East Side and its fields of box stores.

"Lancaster Mall has a long and bright future ahead of it," Creber said.

Rumours that Lancaster Mall would be turned inside out - industry insiders call it de-malling - like the Parkway Mall on the East Side aren't in the plans unless, said Creber, there's a demand from current or potential tenants. The idea of de-malling is to mimic the trend of box stores and move away from indoor malls and back to the strip malls of the 70s and 80s.

"Then you look across the street at McAllister Place and it is just a thriving and vibrant and crowded-to-the-hilt place."

McFarlane will travel to Toronto to meet with Creber next week to discuss the Golden Mile and its potential.

"It should be quite a bit more attractive to other retailers," Creber said.

"I think we'll be able to renovate the mall and lease-up the mall and create some more retail space on the site, in some form, that is going to rejuvenate the whole thing."

Creber expects the shine to be back on the Golden Mile in the next two years.

"What Irving is doing with the (proposed) refinery is fueling everyone's expectations about the retail dollars that are going to be available to be spent there," Creber said.

A number of other buildings on the Golden Mile have been bought by a Toronto investor, but the mayor wasn't about to let the cat out of the shopping bag.

"The West Side is ready to really move this year," said McFarlane.

[ErickMontreal]

Published Tuesday January 9th, 2007
Appeared on page C1


Saint John on WestJet radar

Jeff Ducharme
Telegraph-Journal


Travellers in Saint John have been hoping WestJet would touch down here, and now it looks like that may be one more step closer to reality.

Neither WestJet Airlines Ltd. nor the Saint John Airport Authority would confirm or deny reports that the low-fare carrier would be adding Saint John to its roster.

"We're not in position to make any comment at the moment," said John Buchanan, president and CEO of the Saint John Airport Authority.

Buchanan has long been trying to land WestJet in Saint John. The company's only New Brunswick connection is Moncton.

Gillian Bentley, a spokeswoman for WestJet, said the airline's summer schedule is weeks away from being released and wouldn't confirm or deny the report.

"There's a lot of different cities on our radar and Saint John is definitely one that we have looked at"...," Bentley said from Calgary.

The Saint John Airport has only one major domestic carrier, Air Canada. Earlier this year, SunWing announced that it will be making flights to such destinations as Florida and Mexico from Saint John beginning in March.

It's been a strong year for the airport with numbers increasing by nine per cent.

"We just approached 200,000 passengers, which is the first time in a number of years that we've done that," Buchanan said Monday.

The last time the airport reached that milestone was in the mid-1990s.

With the energy sector heating up, the liquefied natural gas facility nearing completion and talk of another oil refinery, negotiations to land an American carrier so that a direct route to Boston or New York can be put in place becomes even more critical, said Buchanan. But with most of the major carriers bankrupt or in bankruptcy protection, it's not an easy task, he said.

"Quite honestly it's tough for them to take on a new risk at the moment," Buchanan said. "We're confident it's going to happen. It's not a matter of if, it's just when."

The decision is totally carrier driven, said Buchanan.

"We have to make sure that there are the opportunities to not only get out of Saint John on business and leisure travel, but to bring people in."

News that the Greater Fredericton Airport will soon receive international designation from the federal minister of Transport won't have any negative impact on Saint John, said Buchanan.

"That's minimal to us because we already meet that criteria."

The application process to Ottawa costs money and Buchanan doesn't see any value in it. Saint John already meets such requirements as Canada Custom facilities being in place to handle international flights.

"It doesn't really mean anything to the airport's ability to operate or to market itself either domestically, trans-border or international," he said.

"All we would have to do is go through the application process, but certainly having Moncton and Fredericton now designated as international airports makes not a bit of difference to us."

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

It's great to see the new retail activity on both sides of the city. The retailers are recognizing that Saint John is growing and they want to take part in that. As always, follow the money to find the action...

Copied from Enterprise SJ website Jan. 9, 2007:

The Golden Mile may soon get some of its glitter back with the news that Saint John Transit is close to securing a new home. Mayor Norm McFarlane expects it to be finalized in the next four to six weeks.

"We've got to get started because West Side development has to go," said McFarlane, who lives nearby. "It's got to be done.

"We've been too slow in making that decision."

The Fairville Boulevard transit headquarters is being eyed by a developer. The city and Montreal-based developer Plaza BG Inc. entered into a tentative sales agreement almost five months ago. The group is now doing soil testing in and around the site.

Both sides are being tight-lipped about the BG development, but it's no big secret that Wal-Mart wants to build in the area and the relocation of the transit station is holding up the development.

According to the mayor, there are two locations on the short list for the new transit headquarters. He wouldn't divulge the locations fearing it would affect negotiations.

Good news!

[Ottawa]

Here's an update on one of the big one's...

Published 2007-01-03 | Page C1
Irving Oil will decide soon if second refinery is going ahead
Sandra Davis
Telegraph-Journal

There are still two major hurdles to be cleared, but 2007 could be the year planning starts in earnest to pave the way for a second oil refinery in Saint John.

The first step is for officials to decide, early this year, whether to go ahead and seek permits to build the facility near the Canaport liquefied natural gas terminal at Mispec Point.

A number of environmental, feasibility, socio-economic and market studies are underway, says refinery spokeswoman Jennifer Parker.

After that, a group of senior executives will recommend whether to pursue permitting applications with the provincial and federal governments.

"Making that decision is the next big milestone for us," said Parker.

The permitting process generally takes between 18 and 24 months, but depends totally on government time lines, she said.

Finding a partner is the other big hurdle the company must clear, and that's on top of ensuring the project is feasible and the right one for the market, said Parker.

Irving is in talks with several energy firms, but has declined to say which ones.

"One thing we are doing is meeting with people in business, in the community and in education and training sectors, even though these are very early days and no decisions are made yet," said Parker.

The purpose of the sessions, she said, is to talk about what can be done to make sure people are ready in terms of training and to ensure they understand the project, its benefits and how it could affect them.

Irving Oil announced in October that it was considering building a second refinery and has said the mega project would create 5,000 construction jobs during the building stages, 1,000 permanent full-time jobs at the refinery, and more jobs as the economy grows in the city. Tradespeople would have to be educated to fill the positions and the city would also have to be prepared to educate people for the spinoff jobs including lawyers, doctors and accountants.

The proposed 300,000-barrel-a-day refinery would cost between $5 billion and $7 billion. It would increase the barrels of oil processed a day in the Port City to 600,000 and would position Irving Oil among the most influential energy companies in North America.

While Irving Oil is cautious about whether the project will proceed, it has already purchased 3,000 acres in the Red Head area; a new refinery would require 400 to 500 acres.

The existing Saint John refinery is already the largest in Canada. As it stands, the region imports more than one million barrels of oil per day.

The addition of a second refinery is aimed at providing transportation fuels to the U.S. northeast market, a region that consumes 1.7 million barrels a day of various fuels.

The estimate for the multiplier effect of a second refinery on investment in energy projects has been said to be roughly $1.40 in spinoffs for every dollar in capital investment.

Building it would also have a significant impact on the province's exports, which stand at more than $10 billion, export experts have said. The project has the backing of both the provincial and federal governments.

The best-case scenario for Irving Oil would see construction start by 2009 and finish by 2012.

"It is early days but we are very excited about what the project could mean for Saint John," said Parker.

The project would be the first new major oil refinery built in North America in 25 years.

[ErickMontreal]

Originally Posted by Ottawa

Here's an update on one of the big one's...

Published 2007-01-03 | Page C1
Irving Oil will decide soon if second refinery is going ahead
Sandra Davis
Telegraph-Journal

This is very huge, Saint John could change really quickly whether that project get approbation