[Saint John] Fundy Quay (South Market Wharf) | 19-6s | 70m-26m | U/C

[JakeNB]

Wonder whether the City will go forward with leasing the property if the proponent isn’t proceeding with the project on the original timelines.

[Pugsley]

Maybe there is talk circling around this and the funding discussions related to the museum? Wouldn't be a bad thing if the city is telling the NB government that this project could be stalled without a signature development. So maybe the original plans for the museum are back on the table to kick-start things? It would just mean that two of the towers would need to be given up for the museum.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

Maybe there is talk circling around this and the funding discussions related to the museum? Wouldn't be a bad thing if the city is telling the NB government that this project could be stalled without a signature development. So maybe the original plans for the museum are back on the table to kick-start things? It would just mean that two of the towers would need to be given up for the museum.

I’m fairly certain the museum isn’t going on Fundy Quay, as there is too much interest from the top of the government and, of greatest influence, the local philanthropists who would be contributing to the funding, in remaining in the Douglas Avenue location. The museum needs a huge square footage to accommodate their long-term needs, and will not be building anything that cannot allow for at least 25% growth of their collection.

I’d bet money on there being a temporary/interim space to allow everything to move out of both existing locations, then hopefully an announcement of the gutting and reconfiguration of Douglas Ave as a public exhibition space, complimented by a second new building in a more removed location (maybe by UNBSJ, or perhaps further away) to accommodate research and archival storage. I’d personally prefer an Uptown exhibition space, but at least Douglas Ave is still a nearby, and very accessible location via both transit and bike/walking paths. Honestly I’d take anything at this point to ensure we have an open facility and an investment in protecting the province’s natural and cultural history collections.

[JakeNB]

In my opinion the Museum should be on or near the waterfront in the uptown area. To do otherwise would waste a huge opportunity to enhance the Uptown. Just think of Fredericton with the Beaverbrook Gallery in the uptown core and the planned AGNS in downtown Halifax (since put on hold by the premier). To simply refurbish the Douglas Avenue location may be the lowest cost option, but would do very little if anything to move the City forward.

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

In my opinion the Museum should be on or near the waterfront in the uptown area. To do otherwise would waste a huge opportunity to enhance the Uptown. Just think of Fredericton with the Beaverbrook Gallery in the uptown core and the planned AGNS in downtown Halifax (since put on hold by the premier). To simply refurbish the Douglas Avenue location may be the lowest cost option, but would do very little if anything to move the City forward.

Ahem, the Beaverbrook Gallery is downtown, not uptown.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

In my opinion the Museum should be on or near the waterfront in the uptown area. To do otherwise would waste a huge opportunity to enhance the Uptown. Just think of Fredericton with the Beaverbrook Gallery in the uptown core and the planned AGNS in downtown Halifax (since put on hold by the premier). To simply refurbish the Douglas Avenue location may be the lowest cost option, but would do very little if anything to move the City forward.

I agree in principle that the museum would be nice Uptown and start with a better blank slate, but why do you feel as if it being on Douglas would not move the city forward? It’s likely to be the most expensive cultural project ever built in this province, that’s hardly standing still. Also for the record I doubt refurbishing Douglas Ave would be the cheapest option, the building is partly condemned and very ill suited to be a modern museum, it might cost even more to make it functional than starting from scratch. The main advantage the existing location has is that the province already owns and is liable for it, aside from that the building itself is only good for nostalgia at this point.

[bridgeoftea]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

I agree in principle that the museum would be nice Uptown and start with a better blank slate, but why do you feel as if it being on Douglas would not move the city forward? It’s likely to be the most expensive cultural project ever built in this province, that’s hardly standing still. Also for the record I doubt refurbishing Douglas Ave would be the cheapest option, the building is partly condemned and very ill suited to be a modern museum, it might cost even more to make it functional than starting from scratch. The main advantage the existing location has is that the province already owns and is liable for it, aside from that the building itself is only good for nostalgia at this point.

I think the old building is awesome and hope it stays relevant to the history of Saint John. I just think an uptown museum that will be a 5-7 minute walk for anyone who leaves a cruise ship. People who spend an afternoon uptown at the shops and getting food would be more likely to walk into the museum uptown then walking the harbour path there.

As a younger adult where that walk is nothing to me, but I know that's the minority compared to people with families, older families on cruise ships.

I'd love a new building with a half sized marco polo lol.

[bridgeoftea]

But on topic of the actual fundy quay.
It's dead in the water again isn't it?

[JakeNB]

Originally Posted by bridgeoftea

But on topic of the actual fundy quay.
It's dead in the water again isn't it?

Yup-certainly looks that way.

[cdnguys]

We don’t know that, let’s just wait for an update.

[Fischbob]

Yeah, everyone is way too antsy about this. It's possible the delay is just related to site works timing or supply chain issues. The impact of inflation/interest rates on the project's financials is unfortunately plausible as well, but until we hear something from official channels, that is purely speculation. Let's not jump to conclusions!

[JakeNB]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

Yeah, everyone is way too antsy about this. It's possible the delay is just related to site works timing or supply chain issues. The impact of inflation/interest rates on the project's financials is unfortunately plausible as well, but until we hear something from official channels, that is purely speculation. Let's not jump to conclusions!

Why should we not jump to conclusions when the proponent has not bothered to make a public statement re the status of this project for months, and the last statements made by the City and Envision SJ were in late April in which they were very firm on construction commencing in July? For a so-called "catalytic" project, the communications have been appallingly poor.

[OliverD]

I'm not sure that the proponent is obligated to communicate anything.

[JakeNB]

Originally Posted by OliverD

I'm not sure that the proponent is obligated to communicate anything.

Maybe not- but when you are talking about a significant piece of publicly owned property, I think it is a reasonable expectation that they will keep the public advised of the status of the project. Their website doesn’t appear to have been updated in over a year.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

Maybe not- but when you are talking about a significant piece of publicly owned property, I think it is a reasonable expectation that they will keep the public advised of the status of the project. Their website doesn’t appear to have been updated in over a year.

In fairness I don’t think I ever heard from them on anything.

[Seely32]

Originally Posted by JakeNB

Yup-certainly looks that way.

It feels as if you come here to shit on these projects and timelines and continously say its never going to happen. We are all civic minded building enthusiasts here, we are all well aware that buildings can have false starts and can be delayed. We all know what the CG site and 91 King looked like prior. If both of these projects fail then we have a cleared sites for 2 brand new developers.

I think most of us are cautiously optimistic when it comes to any large transformative projects in Saint John. I dont know if you have a vested interest in these projects failing but it certainly feels like it.

Sometimes projects take years if not decades to build, some never update the public, some city's (dieppe lol) projects start without even a notice to the public. We were updated in April its been 4 months since and 2 months since 91 King that feels extremely reasonable. I dont think negative speculation helps us discover anything new or get these sites developed any faster.

[ColSJ]

The city is seeking recommendations from the public for a new name for the area that we refer to as Market Slip.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with Market Slip and really I like it how the word Market is in the name as it gives the impression there will be lots of shops in the area. Thoughts?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by ColSJ

The city is seeking recommendations from the public for a new name for the area that we refer to as Market Slip.

I personally don’t see anything wrong with Market Slip and really I like it how the word Market is in the name as it gives the impression there will be lots of shops in the area. Thoughts?

We need to stop changing names (not referring to street names or Indiantown) rather same as wanting to change reversing falls to “Fundy vortex” and uptown to “downtown”. Market slip is market slip

[ColSJ]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

We need to stop changing names (not referring to street names or Indiantown) rather same as wanting to change reversing falls to “Fundy vortex” and uptown to “downtown”. Market slip is market slip

Agreed. I think there is a historical aspect to the name too. I’m sure if you looked through the archives of the NB museum you would probably find a lot of documentation that refers to the area in question as Market Slip. No sense in changing it.

[adamuptownsj]

It never ends. They're listening to consultants who get paid serious tax dollars to ctrl+f and replace city names in documents and add some Google Earth screenshots. No more renaming!