This is the T&T's take on future developments in the Harrisville area:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=10427
Harrisville poised for growth
Thursday, January 03, 2013
Times & Transcript
By: James Foster
Once mostly rural, Harrisville area to boast residential, commercial growth
Residential and commercial developers have long eyed the area bordered by the Veterans Highway (Route 15) and Shediac Road, from the Harrisville area eastward, as the next area for rapid growth in Moncton.
That growth will pick up momentum in 2013, according to planning director Bill Budd.
'I think you'll begin to see development activity there real soon,' Budd said Wednesday.
Budd said to expect some big commercial developments along Harrisville Boulevard to be announced in 2013.
That would come on the heels of two significant projects that got off the ground in 2012. Those two projects, a big hardware store and a sizeable hotel development, join a condo project that began south of Harrisville Boulevard in 2010 and a housing development that began in the late 2000s, sprouting homes in a for mer far m field west of the Trans-Canada Highway and north of Shediac Road that continues to draw the attention of home builders and buyers.
Even this morning workers are toiling at the site of a new Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott just off Harrisville Boulevard, a four-storey, 82-room development with meeting space, an indoor pool and waterslides. It is slated to open this year.
Kent Building Supplies has already received approval to build a new retail store on the east side of Harrisville Boulevard, near Veterans Highway and across from the new hotel. The new hardware store could see shovels in the ground this spring.
And for months it has been an open secret that Sobeys plans to erect a new store along Harrisville Boulevard, though the chain typically does not confir m expansions until they are well underway owing to the competitive nature of the grocery business.
At the other end of Harrisville Boulevard, on the north side of Shediac Road, a three-storey condo building is already up, with more condos slated for that area as demand warrants.
And a small strip mall was built two years ago on the northwest corner of Harrisville Boulevard and Shediac Road, which is mostly taken up by a very successful restaurant.
And now with two more bigticket commercial projects already in the works for the area, what was a mostly rural area less than a decade ago is expected to attract still other retail players, and more residential development as well. All of the land along Harrisville Boulevard is zoned either for commercial development or to accommodate higher density residential developments.
Budd can't go into detail as to which retailers are planning to set up shop in the neighbourhood - it's up to developers to make their own announcements - but the Harrisville Boulevard area could be poised for some big-box retail developments. The area has a long-standing residential sector, offering it a ready-made market, and the anticipated future residential growth around Shediac Road is expected to pick up where Moncton's exploding north end residential area will eventually taper off.
As well, the area is between two four-lane highways (Veterans Highway and the Trans-Canada,). It almost straddles the border with Dieppe, with its ever-growing commercial and high-density residential zone just a stone's throw away on the south side of Veterans Highway, which serves as the border between the two cities.
The two highways also offer easy access to residents in areas such as Shediac - the second-fastest growing town in New Brunswick - and beyond, with commuters from as far away as Richibucto and Sackville travelling to and from work in Moncton driving past its doorstep twice daily.
Further, the provincial government plans to upgrade the intersection of Harrisville Boulevard and Veterans Highway. Details of their plans have not yet been released.
Personal note - nothing new here, but it is yet another independent media confirmation quoting city hall staff as saying that there may be more big box announcements in the offing for Harrisville above and beyond Kent and Sobeys. I have always assumed that the Harrisville commercial development by PlazaCorp was intended to be a neighbourhood centre like Findlay Park in Riverview. Perhaps PlazaCorp is planning on something larger and more impressive.....