[Saint John] 91 King Street | ?m | ?s | Site Prep

[NB_ExistsToo]

Originally Posted by Helladog

Another Perspective

This is what it looks like to someone who, after 40 years, still hasn't had an eye appointment in their life, citing "They can see just fine"

[Helladog]

From Percy Wilbur's comments on CHSJ News, it looks like this could be 12-15 stories not including parking...

“We’re in the design stage right now. We are trying to find a grocer or a pharmacy to occupy the street-level commercial retail space. Maybe a financial institution on the lower part of King Street followed by two floors of office/commercial and then nine to twelve stories of apartment buildings and two floors of underground parking,”

Full story, https://www.country94.ca/2021/06/02/...-king-street/#

[Fischbob]

Now comes the nerve-wracking part of the process... the part where we have a giant hole in the ground and just "trying"s and "maybe"s from the developer wrt securing the commercial tenants required to make the site's redevelopnent a reality. Now I'm confident that Percy will be able to pull this off, but we'd be naive to not have at least a bit of worry in the back of our minds until it's a done deal. I hope we get a good news update soon.

[Pugsley]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

Now comes the nerve-wracking part of the process... the part where we have a giant hole in the ground and just "trying"s and "maybe"s from the developer wrt securing the commercial tenants required to make the site's redevelopnent a reality. Now I'm confident that Percy will be able to pull this off, but we'd be naive to not have at least a bit of worry in the back of our minds until it's a done deal. I hope we get a good news update soon.

Curious, does Saint John have any by-laws around timelines and construction of developments once they receive approval? Some cities have these to ensure that when a development is proposed and approved, it has a set number of years to be completed otherwise the land owner (or developer) is slapped with some pretty significant fees and levies on the site. It is an approach used to ensure that there is a sense of urgency in the actual realization of a project and that things are not bulldozed and left as vacant eyesores. Seeing the number of projects for the market slip over the years which never materialized, I assume not. But given Saint John is now booming (somewhat), it might be something council should consider as a way to ensure serious development occurs.

From what I've read, this guy is pretty legit. So hopefully not needed.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

Curious, does Saint John have any by-laws around timelines and construction of developments once they receive approval? Some cities have these to ensure that when a development is proposed and approved, it has a set number of years to be completed otherwise the land owner (or developer) is slapped with some pretty significant fees and levies on the site. It is an approach used to ensure that there is a sense of urgency in the actual realization of a project and that things are not bulldozed and left as vacant eyesores. Seeing the number of projects for the market slip over the years which never materialized, I assume not. But given Saint John is now booming (somewhat), it might be something council should consider as a way to ensure serious development occurs.

From what I've read, this guy is pretty legit. So hopefully not needed.

IDK. Wellington was a plan for years before shovels hit dirt. If there's any developer I trust in Saint John it's Wilbur. He has a short but strong track record. I could see construction start before a flagship tenant is formally secured if residential interest is high and an office tenant is secured.

[Fischbob]

The public hearing for 91 King will take place on August 23rd. Applicant is seeking an increase of the site's maximum building height to 55m. link



I assume that means we'll see some more details about the proposal when the PAC package for August is released.

[Helladog]

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by Pugsley

Curious, does Saint John have any by-laws around timelines and construction of developments once they receive approval? Some cities have these to ensure that when a development is proposed and approved, it has a set number of years to be completed otherwise the land owner (or developer) is slapped with some pretty significant fees and levies on the site. It is an approach used to ensure that there is a sense of urgency in the actual realization of a project and that things are not bulldozed and left as vacant eyesores. Seeing the number of projects for the market slip over the years which never materialized, I assume not. But given Saint John is now booming (somewhat), it might be something council should consider as a way to ensure serious development occurs.

From what I've read, this guy is pretty legit. So hopefully not needed.

Ethos Ridge and The Landmark were both given 5 years to complete their projects

[cdnguys]

The new building will be under the address of 99 King St
(Just in case you wanted to update subject of thread)

[Fischbob]

This project is on the July PAC agenda - see the staff report and attachments for details.

They are proposing an amendment to the Central Peninsula height schedule to permit a maximum building height of 55 meters, which is shown in the elevation drawings as extending from average grade to the roof.

The building will have 57 underground parking spaces accessed off South Market Street, with street-facing commercial spaces on Charlotte and King, 2 floors of office space above that and then 93 residential units (1 and 2 bedrooms) in the tower for a total of 12 floors above grade. And they are indeed seeking an address of 99 King for the redevelopment.

What follows are the proposed site plan, elevations and renderings from the staff report attachments:


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Given this new information the thread title can probably be updated with the new address, height and number of floors.

[adamuptownsj]

Not a bad draft. I'd like to see balconies over King Square vs... pointed at Brunswick Square. Podium is a little '90s sports arena facade'. But definitely a decent starting point. Penthouse floors are interesting.

[theshark]

Saint John is getting some good quality heigh lately, an influx of people living uptown will boost the businesses in the area. How many units are in construction uptown at the moment?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by theshark

Saint John is getting some good quality heigh lately, an influx of people living uptown will boost the businesses in the area. How many units are in construction uptown at the moment?

29 - The Atlantic (almost complete)
83 - The Wentworth (almost complete)
32 - The Telegraph (almost complete)
47 - The Wellington (foundation work)
15 - Ritchie Building (work underway)
180 - The Landmark (construction has not started)

[ColSJ]

I love how well the facade facing King Street incorporates itself in with the existing neighbouring structure and street scrape. I am very pleased with the design and love the height!

[nwalbert]

Impressive project and great signal for SJ to finally have this high visibility location developed with such a high density, high quality project.

[OliverD]

I can't believe people like this design.

[Fischbob]

The design could be better; granted it could also be a lot worse. I appreciate the articulation of the podium to maintain the rhythm of the narrower buildings on King. I'm glad ground/lower floor commercial is being incorporated and that there won't be a garage off of King. The style is somewhat uninspiring IMO. The podium looks like something out of the 80s/90s and the tower and its fenestration is just... odd, almost institutional. I wish they had gone with a bolder and more contemporary design but I understand they probably wanted to play it safe to ensure public buy-in. At least it's not a Spitfire Special.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by OliverD

I can't believe people like this design.

I very much like the podium. The tower itself, not so much. I wonder if this will change (even a tweak to the cladding or size of the windows would make a difference). I agree with Fischbob - the fenestration ratio in the tower just looks off.........

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I very much like the podium. The tower itself, not so much. I wonder if this will change (even a tweak to the cladding or size of the windows would make a difference). I agree with Fischbob - the fenestration ratio in the tower just looks off.........

It all looks bland. I'll come out and say it.

-The front entrance takes more inspiration from auto dealerships or nice malls than the market next door.
-Beige paneling is doing a lot of work masquerading as sandstone over a giant surface area. Let's not kid ourselves, this is functionally beige concrete.
-Not a foot of stepback from podium, makes podium look even faker. Podium exhibits no detailing, it's as plain as the RBC building across the street. No floor by floor variation in window height, no decorative brickwork, nothing.
-King Square face is atrocious. Everything about it
-Middle section of King St podium looks like a kid's drawing.

Worst part is the treatment of views.

To the west is... office towers next door and Douglas Avenue on the horizon. Penthouse might get the mill, haha. Balconies are loaded to this side. Second worst views after the north side, which doesn't really have anything, even distance.

The views to the east (two mature parks!) and of course the south (the peninsula and ocean) are basically neglected.

[cdnguys]

I have to give it some time to digest / think about design. My immediate reaction was I liked the podium, but not so much the beige body and the “hat” on top of the building. Knowing Malcolm’s work on the Law Courts, he brings into the design the overall skyline and feel of the uptown architecture - and I think he is doing the same here. The issue is we look at it up close without zooming out and looking at it within context of the whole skyline. He’s obviously taking queues from other buildings:

[IMG] [/IMG]

I’m also concerned whether it will be “modular” like The Wentworth - not a big fan of seams in the facade. Also feels like Malcolm intentionally made the balconies subtle, drawing attention more to the facade and the appearance of several structures:

[IMG][/IMG]