[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[flyer99]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

There's a nice website from Ashford Properties. It's called 'Ashford Living' and it's regarding their Highfield/Gordon development. https://ashfordliving.ca/

I was trying lately to get on the website of 170 Victoria Street. It was a great website with apartment plans, rents, etc. All useful info. It appears though that the website no longer exists and the domain is available.

It used to be: https://170victoria.com

Any ideas? Do they have a new website? I searched but couldn't find one.

BTW: I talked to some of the crew working there and they said it would be a miracle if the building is ready for occupancy in August.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by flyer99

I was trying lately to get on the website of 170 Victoria Street. It was a great website with apartment plans, rents, etc. All useful info. It appears though that the website no longer exists and the domain is available.

It used to be: https://170victoria.com

Any ideas? Do they have a new website? I searched but couldn't find one.

BTW: I talked to some of the crew working there and they said it would be a miracle if the building is ready for occupancy in August.

A lot of these higher end apartments are rented out even before the buildings are completed. I'd be curious to know if that's the case with the 170 Victoria Street building.

[MonctonRad]

The Hilton Garden Inn is nearing completion.

[MonctonRad]

Here's a shot of the construction site for the new Ashford property on the NW corner of Highfield & Gordon:



The forms have been installed and the concrete for the underground parking has been poured. It will be interesting to see how closely the end product will resemble the original rendering:



Regarding that green & white Victorian with the turret in the background, it is important to remember that this is included as part of this project as you can see in the site plan below. It will be interesting to see how this building is refurbished, and what it's ultimate destiny will be.

[MonctonRad]

66 Weldon Street:

Amico Construction on behalf of/au nom de Seville Properties Group (56-58 rue Weldon Street (PID/NID 00699397 and/et 60-70 rue Weldon Street (PID/NID 70423025) Moncton, a variance application to increase the permitted maximum height of the building within ten metres of a street from 13 metres to 19.2 metres to allow the construction of a 60 unit building

Location Map:


Site Plan:


Elevation:


Render:


Comment - The rapid densification (and gentrification) of the downtown west end continues. Spitfire Designs continues to be very busy.

[Lrdevlop]

If someone doesn't come back to their senses real soon - either the Spitfire team, developers, or the city - it won't take long before that whole block downtown looks like a bland and boring sea of sameness with those terrible Spitfire designs.

But who's gonna tell them and will they even care...

[MonctonDowntown]

Originally Posted by Lrdevlop

If someone doesn't come back to their senses real soon - either the Spitfire team, developers, or the city - it won't take long before that whole block downtown looks like a bland and boring sea of sameness with those terrible Spitfire designs.

But who's gonna tell them and will they even care...

Agreed. Basic designs! And I think we can move beyond grey/black cladding.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by MonctonDowntown

Agreed. Basic designs! And I think we can move beyond grey/black cladding.

We have seen some exciting designs for proposed apartment buildings outside the core. Wouldn't it be nice if some of these showed up downtown too...……..

Examples:





There's something to be said about employing a real architectural firm if you want a superior result...…...

[jonny golden]

If they ever decide to move forward, I don't think the Aquilini Group will be using Spitfire.

[MonctonRad]

According to 91.9FM, the private business owners on Main Street are most displeased with the barricade/bicycle lane experiment conducted this summer, and they want normal two way traffic restored post haste. A petition has been sent to city hall to that effect.

The only business that really tried to capitalize on this was Mexicali Rosa's. They set up a new outdoor patio in front of their restaurant, extending onto adjacent parking spaces. This seems to have worked well for them, but I really don't think their new patio required one way traffic in order to work. They could do the same thing next summer without disrupting traffic flow whatsoever.

This experiment by the city was a epic fail as far as I'm concerned...…...

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

According to 91.9FM, the private business owners on Main Street are most displeased with the barricade/bicycle lane experiment conducted this summer, and they want normal two way traffic restored post haste. A petition has been sent to city hall to that effect.

The only business that really tried to capitalize on this was Mexicali Rosa's. They set up a new outdoor patio in front of their restaurant, extending onto adjacent parking spaces. This seems to have worked well for them, but I really don't think their new patio required one way traffic in order to work. They could do the same thing next summer without disrupting traffic flow whatsoever.

This experiment by the city was a epic fail as far as I'm concerned...…...

Totally agree with you. I used to spend a lot of time downtown, but not this summer. Very inconvenient driving, and it looks like a construction zone. I hope they retire this idea permanently.

[L'homard]

The whole Main Street experiment seemed designed solely to fail.
It was such a sorry sight to see the downtown transformed into what looked like a war zone.
Retailers in particular got the dirty end of this stick, which didn't even help any restaurants which it was intended to do.
THe whole debacle makes me fear that the days of Moncton exuding excellence in their endeavours has truly passed.

[MonctonRad]

The official opening of Parc Gerald LeBlanc Park at Moncton City Hall will be today (Quinze Aout) at 2PM.

Bon fete Acadien tout le monde.

[BlackYear]

Spitfire. I don't really hate their designs, I just wish they would mix it up a bit more. I looked back a few threads and gathered a few of the projects.

I do like 1, 6 and 3 in that order, however I do wish they would move on beyond that brown/orange tri-color scheme. But it's all about what the customer wants.

[MonctonRad]

Good compilation.

I agree - there is nothing particularly wrong with their designs, it's just that there is a notable lack of variation in style amongst many of their projects. This is a problem only because right now, their design studio has soaked up about 80% of the new apartment projects in the greater Moncton area. Over time, this could result in a monolithic skyline and streetscape which could be considered conformist, boring and relatively drab. I don't think anybody wants that...………

I like #1 above, as it is a little different than their other designs, and should fit in well on that lot at Highfield/Gordon.

I also like #5, not so much for the architectural style, but for how I think the building will fit into the landscape as you pass by it driving down Harrisville Blvd.

The others are just a variation on a theme. Spitfire really needs to step up their game.

[flyer99]

Originally Posted by Lrdevlop

If someone doesn't come back to their senses real soon - either the Spitfire team, developers, or the city - it won't take long before that whole block downtown looks like a bland and boring sea of sameness with those terrible Spitfire designs.

But who's gonna tell them and will they even care...

I totally agree with this comment. Every building is becoming the same. Surely Spitfire has different designs in their portfolio. Yes, they do, but they still all look similar. BUT, if the city wants to look really nice, please, developers... hire a real architect and not one spitting out the same designs over and over from its computers.

Add to this the fact that people are paying a fortune in rent for these cookie cutter buildings. I live in a concrete and steel building. There is a lot to be said for this: better fire protection, better soundproofing, etc. Most, if not all, of these Spitfire buildings are just wooden prefabs that are built like Legos. Every piece lettered and numbered and lifted into and nailed in place.

I understand the vacancy rate has everything to do with what the building owners can charge for rent. Right now they can pretty much get what they ask. Moncton needs buildings with character. Can't the city put more restrictions on the types of buildings being built and their materials?

Meanwhile the downtown area especially is going to be swimming in the same designed buildings becoming like the residential housing sections of cities like New York.

[jonny golden]

I keep thinking about the Higgins block and the plan by Fusion Commercial Properties to turn the upper floors into office space. With the trend of people now working from home, and the vacant office space that already exists downtown, making one of the two upper floors residential apartments might have been a good idea. So many apartment buildings are fully leased even before they are constructed. I would think that apartments in this building would be quickly snapped up.

[mylesmalley]

Building designs follow trends just like anything else. Hardly surprising that once a look takes off you'll get a lot of similar designs up until that starts to look dated and the next thing comes along. Architecture is expensive, too. The really big projects are the type of work that attract unique designs. A 40 unit apartment building is not going to fetch a return big enough to justify something really striking. Moncton just isn't big enough to support a ton of marquee work.

For about 20 years, every new apartment building in town looked just like this and this

There are easily 50 buildings just like this design from the 70s and 80s.

Now we're moving into a more
"contemporary look". Squarer, flat roofed, less colour etc.

This 'Spitfire' look is just the latest trend. Give it a few years and something else will come along.

[MonctonRad]

A lot of truth to this.

Still, there are so many Spitfire designed buildings in the city going up so quickly, that it threatens to overwhelm the architectural style of the city. Nothing against Spitfire, they do fine work, but it might be nice if they broadened their portfolio a bit.

[josh_cat_eyes]

In the 1990’s there was a lot of red brick buildings just like the blue cross building. Glass facades were very popular as well like the BMO building. Meanwhile Assumption Place screams 1970’s. Every era has a certain look to it. Spitfire is just designing what is trendy. I do wish they’d use different colours. I don’t care if there’s grey brown or black, just don’t keep using the EXACT SAME shade of those colours!

The building on dominion that Myles shared is a good example of how a trendy design can look good.