The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

The thing about that area that has made it tricky or unattractive for development is topography for the most part. If you look at SJ development over the years it largely follows lowland areas or creek beds as the main corridors, with development fanning out onto the surrounding hills (or wetlands...). That whole highland region is incredibly hilly, which I think makes it very attractive personally however, it probably means a lot of expenses lost to site prep and infrastructure.

I've been fiddling around with some topographic maps and it would be a 15-20m climb from Somerset/Millidge up to the plateau of where a lot of this vacant land is which is do-able but not amazing.

Even the recent PID purchase has a 30m elevation change from near the river to the further east of the lot.

https://en-ca.topographic-map.com/ma...New-Brunswick/

[Fischbob]

Originally Posted by JHikka

It's been a loooooong time since I made up some lame proposal map, so:

This area's central location makes it an obvious choice for future development, notwithstanding any site access/topography concerns. I'll dust off my own lame development concept from a couple years ago:

Originally Posted by Fischbob

I've sketched below some of what I'd personally like to see there - a new urbanist-style community near Robertson Lake that orients itself strongly to the transit corridor - although I think this kind of development isn't really on the radar of the landowners in the area.

I drew this up in the context of a discussion about the North End/Millidgeville bus route so the land use is heavily structured to support/be supported by frequent service along the corridor in red. An extension of Somerset would be the main access for automobile traffic, with other road connections at Cambridge Estates, Forbes and the eastern part of Highland Road. I deliberately left a wide natural buffer between the development and the river to maintain the natural vista of the Narrows.

Such a proposal would require a great deal of coordination and foresight between the City and landowners. So while my aspirations for what's possible are high, my expectations for what will actually transpire here are rather checked.

[cdnguys]

Ethos Ridge was approved by council last night. No contrary minded votes so pretty powerful message from city that we evolved from NIMBY culture.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by Fischbob

I drew this up in the context of a discussion about the North End/Millidgeville bus route so the land use is heavily structured to support/be supported by frequent service along the corridor in red. An extension of Somerset would be the main access for automobile traffic, with other road connections at Cambridge Estates, Forbes and the eastern part of Highland Road. I deliberately left a wide natural buffer between the development and the river to maintain the natural vista of the Narrows.

It feels like your scenario is more of a best-case and mine is more of a most-likely.

Yours would require roadwork through Bridge Street, particularly in adding a signalized interchange to Bridge & Spar Cove. It would be nice to have another route into Millidgeville, and I think another addition to your proposal would be to connect Boars Head & Woodward by connecting Cambridge Drive with Brentwood Crescent. I haven't heard any complaints about increased traffic on Millidge Ave, especially with the lane reductions, but i'm sure it'll come as Millidgeville's population increases.

Either way, would be pretty interesting to see this section of land open up for development. Would add another neighbourhood to the city.

[adamuptownsj]

Lancaster Mall fully converting from retail to services, with a gym tenant and an unnamed local tenant both moving into the mall, and the Library moving into a larger unit. Telegraph Journal paywalled. Good move for the mall and for the West Side.

[Fischbob]

The City posted a collage of construction photos of various developments earlier today on their Facebook page.


Source

The centre image is site prep at Daniel and Millidge, and then clockwise from top left are The Wentworth, The Telegraph, The Atlantic, commercial at Fairville and Harding, Main Street (former Scotiabank site), Calabria Estates off Mountain View and finally, The Wellington.

[adamuptownsj]

Council agenda has road/sidewalk upgrade plans through 2026 in it. Really nice to see but there's some improvements I would like to see.

1. Give the middle block of King East a treed median. Did it historically have one?
2. Vulcan and the end of Sydney will both need work if 300 Sydney comes to fruition. Hell, one year of its property taxes would cover both.
3. Queen past Queen Square continues to be neglected for some reason.
4. Union from Wellington to Coburg is probably the best part of the street to start redeveloping. It's halfway there anyway, and by 2026 all roads leading to it will be rebuilt.

https://imgur.com/a/UZdD8D8

A few comments. The more asphalt 'sidewalks' go, the better. Plant some trees on the verges instead of paving them in too.

-Peters is up next year. Good!
-Charlotte is going to be a nightmare. A different block every year. Odd.
-Germain getting a really overdue facelift given the property values.
-Pitt also getting work over a long time, with two random blocks getting left out. Saint James has one block excluded too.
-All of Britain will be done. Maybe that will spur investment in the deepest South.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Council agenda has road/sidewalk upgrade plans through 2026 in it. Really nice to see but there's some improvements I would like to see.

1. Give the middle block of King East a treed median. Did it historically have one?
2. Vulcan and the end of Sydney will both need work if 300 Sydney comes to fruition. Hell, one year of its property taxes would cover both.
3. Queen past Queen Square continues to be neglected for some reason.
4. Union from Wellington to Coburg is probably the best part of the street to start redeveloping. It's halfway there anyway, and by 2026 all roads leading to it will be rebuilt.

https://imgur.com/a/UZdD8D8

A few comments. The more asphalt 'sidewalks' go, the better. Plant some trees on the verges instead of paving them in too.

-Peters is up next year. Good!
-Charlotte is going to be a nightmare. A different block every year. Odd.
-Germain getting a really overdue facelift given the property values.
-Pitt also getting work over a long time, with two random blocks getting left out. Saint James has one block excluded too.
-All of Britain will be done. Maybe that will spur investment in the deepest South.

King St East used to have a streetcar going down the centre so my understanding (and I may be wrong) is that there was no historic median rather planted after streetcar

[adamuptownsj]

Someone bought the church at the north end of Douglas Avenue, along with the vacant lots flanking it and three vacant lots across the street, for $120K. Almost 18,000 square feet. That's surprising. They had a growing congregation. Maybe they got better digs.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Someone bought the church at the north end of Douglas Avenue, along with the vacant lots flanking it and three vacant lots across the street, for $120K. Almost 18,000 square feet. That's surprising. They had a growing congregation. Maybe they got better digs.

Or maybe it’s one of the “big 7” unannounced projects and will be a tear down

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Or maybe it’s one of the “big 7” unannounced projects and will be a tear down

Hearing it's something substantial. The west side of the street is 7,600 square feet, and the east/church side is 10,200 square feet with an easement between the church and the lot to the north.

I would put money on a teardown and MUR construction.

[JHikka]

Sorry, which church is this? St. Peter's or St. Luke's?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Sorry, which church is this? St. Peter's or St. Luke's?

Neither - used to be Douglas Ave Christian Church (6 Douglas Ave). With the vacant lot, it’s basically a corner lot directly across the street from the new MacKay builders apartment building now under construction.

[cdnguys]

Construction of the second 24 unit apartment building on the end of Heatherway breaks ground in 2 months.

[JHikka]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Neither - used to be Douglas Ave Christian Church (6 Douglas Ave). With the vacant lot, it’s basically a corner lot directly across the street from the new MacKay builders apartment building now under construction.

Ah, had forgotten there was even a church there.

Would be nice if everything from say 322 Main to the corner of Main & Douglas could be enveloped into a single large-scale multi-use build. Would do a lot to rejuvenate what's been an underused corner for a number of years. That stretch of Main down to Adelaide has a lot of potential as a mixed-use street with the right development injected into it.

We don't have any renderings of the former Scotiabank development, do we?

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Ah, had forgotten there was even a church there.

Would be nice if everything from say 322 Main to the corner of Main & Douglas could be enveloped into a single large-scale multi-use build. Would do a lot to rejuvenate what's been an underused corner for a number of years. That stretch of Main down to Adelaide has a lot of potential as a mixed-use street with the right development injected into it.

We don't have any renderings of the former Scotiabank development, do we?

No renderings yet - builder said they only have the building plans. Hoping I’ll be surprised and it will be like Rothesay Commons ones they built.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by JHikka

Ah, had forgotten there was even a church there.

Would be nice if everything from say 322 Main to the corner of Main & Douglas could be enveloped into a single large-scale multi-use build. Would do a lot to rejuvenate what's been an underused corner for a number of years. That stretch of Main down to Adelaide has a lot of potential as a mixed-use street with the right development injected into it.

We don't have any renderings of the former Scotiabank development, do we?

The weird part is, it's a growing and busy church. Maybe they found nicer digs elsewhere.

[Uptownini]

Originally Posted by Smevo

Found this when looking for updates on Sydney projects...


New Saint John Apartment Building Will Be A South End ‘Landmark’



9 storeys, 180 units, at 300 Sydney Street with views of the Bay of Fundy.

Hey everybody! First time poster!! Heard this was the place to be!!!
Im told some have concerns about the "blank" walls at the street edge. Walking by, all you would see is a huge two storey concrete walls.

[Uptownini]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

The weird part is, it's a growing and busy church. Maybe they found nicer digs elsewhere.

A pastor recently told me there are "not in the renovation business"

[OliverD]

Originally Posted by Uptownini

Hey everybody! First time poster!! Heard this was the place to be!!!
Im told some have concerns about the "blank" walls at the street edge. Walking by, all you would see is a huge two storey concrete walls.

I think there's an updated design that fixes that.