[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[digitboy]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Historic Moncton castle sold

Castle Manor has sat vacant for more than a year
CBC News Posted: Jun 22, 2012 6:25 AM AT Last Updated: Jun 22, 2012 7:39 AM AT

Castle Manor in Moncton has been an orphanage, a Catholic school and a seniors home, but its new owner isn't revealing his plans for the historic building. (CBC)

“I've dreamt of owning it since I was a teenager. And now I'm in a position to make it real,” said local homebuilder Mathieu Fournier, who bought the castle and adjacent green space last week.

Fournier isn't revealing what his plans are for the heritage building, but a Toronto-based developer says she’s already trying to raise the money to buy it from him.

Read more:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...nor-owner.html



Excellent news. I like the Toronto developers idea of a boutique hotel. It would be interesting to know what the local developer had originally had in mind for this property....

It's a shame that such a nice building is left vacant. There is so much potential to make something awesome with that building. I don't know in which part of town this little castle is located but it shows great potential. I would never trade this type of building for most of the modern buildings that get built these days, you can't even compare. One of my dream would be to buy a small castle or manor just like this one in America or Europe and make sure it's preservated and / or renovated.

[mylesmalley]

The castle is just about a km north of downtown on a fairly prominent intersection. Moncton is a very new city compared to many of its peers in the region, so it's especially important that we protect the few noteworthy pieces of historical architecture that we do have. Buildings like this, Moncton High, and the Dominion Building are treasures that we shouldn't take for granted.

[Sunnybrae]

Hey, does anyone know what is going up by Ecole Sainte Bernadette on Chapman St.? Is it an expansion of the school itself? Pretty big block of land. Drove by there tonight and the whole area is fenced off and cleared and foundation already started.

Edit: Oh just found out its the new school going up. Nevermind!

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by Sunnybrae

Hey, does anyone know what is going up by Ecole Sainte Bernadette on Chapman St.? Is it an expansion of the school itself? Pretty big block of land. Drove by there tonight and the whole area is fenced off and cleared and foundation already started.

Edit: Oh just found out its the new school going up. Nevermind!

Yep its the new school, it will be quite large as the current school is 3/4 portables at the moment haha. It is supposed to accept students in Sept. 2013.

[BlackYear]

The empty lot on the right hand side of West Main McDonalds is finally going to see some life. There a new sign on the lot showing a 3 unit strip mall type of building.

Google maps
http://maps.google.ca/maps?hl=en&ll=...321.28,,0,0.12

[JasonL-Moncton]

Apparently on Mountain there is a new retail/office strip being built near the 'Miss Cue' intersection.

I will try and take a picture of the advertising sign later today.

[JasonL-Moncton]

Originally Posted by JasonL-Moncton

Apparently on Mountain there is a new retail/office strip being built near the 'Miss Cue' intersection.

I will try and take a picture of the advertising sign later today.

Here it is (in between Jones and High):



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by JasonL-Moncton

Apparently on Mountain there is a new retail/office strip being built near the 'Miss Cue' intersection.

I saw the sign on the property today. This proposal is distressingly strip-mall(ish) for (arguably) a central city location.......

[JasonL-Moncton]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I saw the sign on the property today. This proposal is distressingly strip-mall(ish) for (arguably) a central city location.......

And right beside a fairly heavy trafficked intersection. One thing is it will clean up that area a bit to have that new structure...it's kind of a run down area.

[David_99]

Dated as June 2012 but didn't see it til now.

http://petitcodiac.org/uploads/Petit...ne%202012).pdf

Some interesting additions to the plan, other than restoring the river such as:

The Monument

Reusing the causeway gates as a Landmark.

Estimated Cost $500,000
Estimated Benefits $150,000/y

The "Wall"

A protective Wall along the side of the old Landfill.
- Watch the Tidal Bore from numerous lookout posts.
- Experience the majestic tides of the Bay of Fundy (Stairs going down to water level)
- Giant Flower Garden brings colour to the river front

Estimated Cost $10,000,000
Estimated Benefits $1,000,000/y

How much if anything gets done? Who knows.

[MonctonRad]

Given the current level of pecuniary embarrassment of the provincial government, and the obstinancy of the federal government, I would say that the status of this plan would have to be considered in the realm of "when hell freezes over".

I am afraid we are looking at the new paradigm for the mighty Petitcodiac. A permanently narrowed (but ecologically healthy) river channel, with the old headpond above the causeway gradually silting in and reverting to marshland just like the river downstream from the causeway.

[Resurgo]

For more information on the Centre, please visit the City of Moncton's website.

Also, for more construction photos go to this page.

[Resurgo]

To learn more, please visit the City of Moncton's website. Here, you will have access to the official news release.

[ballain]

Originally Posted by Resurgo

To learn more, please visit the City of Moncton's website. Here, you will have access to the official news release.

Bout time they become card friendly, its not eveyday you have change laying around these days hehe

[Mattyyy]

Too bad - it would have been nice to see some more height. Looks like another low-rise crappy building for our downtown...

Plans for downtown building likely scrapped

by cole hobson

Times & TRANSCRIPT STAFF
15 Aug 2012 08:12AM

The plans to build a 10-storey building in the east Main Street area are likely to be scrapped, but the Moncton developer involved says a project is still planned for the location and the end result will still be a structure the city can take pride in.

Valmond Robichaud said in an April interview that construction was soon to start on a 10-storey building at the northwest corner of Harper Street and Main Street that would be comprised of two floors of office space and eight floors of condominiums and apartments.

Tuesday, however, Robichaud said those plans for 299 Main St. are likely to be modified after the developer lost out on a bid to lease office space in the building to the federal government.

“On that piece of land I can go 10-storeys and it will give me 80 units of condominium structures or I can go four-storeys in an L-shape and put the same amount of units,” he said. “What led to the delay was we were depending on being the lowest bidder (on the federal government contract). We had it and that meant a lot towards designing a certain project. Losing that bid … we kind of did away with (the 10-storey plans) because it’s no longer feasible. What would be more feasible for me is to build an 80-unit building design on an L-shape and it would be just condos and the project would look just as good.”

Robichaud said he still hasn’t confirmed the final plans for the project, but he’s planning on having that decision made in September, with a goal of starting on construction in the spring. From there, he said it’s likely to be about a 10-month construction period.

The developer said the 10-storey structure would have been an eye-catching design for the entrance to Moncton’s downtown, but he’s optimistic the new design will be visually-appealing as well.

“A 10-storey building would have definitely been a landmark. This building would probably be a landmark also,” he said. “We are going to design it to make sure it’s very attractive. It’s going to be high-end condominiums and we have to sell them. We are going to do something to make sure the building fits the site.”

Robichaud wouldn’t speculate on the potential cost of the new project, but said the original 10-storey design would have cost around $22 million.

[David_99]

Originally Posted by Mattyyy

Too bad - it would have been nice to see some more height. Looks like another low-rise crappy building for our downtown...

Damn. So was it the future mixed units in the Rogers parking that won that Government bid?

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by David_99

Damn. So was it the future mixed units in the Rogers parking that won that Government bid?

Since they were also bidding on the federal contract, that would seem likely but Crombie REIT is spending a lot of money to renovate and upgrade the terminal plaza complex. I wonder if they have bid on the federal contract too....

Overall, this is disappointing news. Downtown Moncton needs more height and this is a lost opportunity. I'm sure the building will still be nice (as Valmond's building on Dominion Street is), but four stories just doesn't cut it in terms of adding to the appeal of downtown.

[Lrdevlop]

This is soooo dissapointing. I was so happy that Moncton was going to get a 10 story building... and then we get this. 4 story is not enough. If only it could be 6, it would be so much better, less disappointing and would be a better fit for downtown. Jeez, it seems like almost every project Valmond Robichaud submits as a proposal (as more than 4 story) end up being 4 story. This totally disgust me.

[Monctonguy19]

I'm so pissed off
Moncton really needs that height!
Well its not official so theres is still a bit of hope.....

[mylesmalley]

We'd all like to see more height, but it isn't always practical or economical. Land in Moncton is very cheap compared with just about every other city in Canada. At the same time, there's a big jump in construction costs going from wood to steel construction after you exceed a certain height.

The real victory here, at least in my opinion, isn't the fact that the building would be tall, but rather that it's a continuation of the trend toward larger and larger structures. Developments with 80-100 units are starting to become increasingly common, which is something the city has never really seen before. Hell, up until about five years ago, it was pretty rare to see anything bigger than 48 units go up. We might not have the height yet, but it's a good sign that the demand is growing in the right direction and that density is becoming more desirable.

And let's not forget that regardless of height, this place is going up in an end of downtown that desperately needs some attention. I'd much rather see the empty lots around downtown get filled in with 4-5 story structures like we're seeing lately than have a 10-12er get built every couple of years while the rest of the area is used for surface parking. That said, with more and more infill comes less and less available land. Less land means height if developers want to maintain the same scale of projects that are becoming more common every year.

Too long; Didn't read?: Height is nice, but density is better. Scarcity of land will push buildings higher.