Quote:
Originally Posted by TorontoDrew
Nice, whats the location?
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Brunswick Square a "dead mall" with a Delta Hotel along with the tallest office building in New Brunswick, in the heart of Uptown (downtown) Saint John, New Brunswick. It's surely one of the most dismally dull, dingy, and dead malls in all of Canada... like it's a
truly depressing place. Nonetheless, it does have good bones... and an amazing location in the heart of the city. Pizza Hut and Starbucks were two of the last remaining draws the mall had, but they both left soon after covid happened. I don't think there's a single store or restaurant that could be considered a draw. It's a sad place, and fixing it is vital to improving the city centre of Saint John, NB, Canada's oldest incorporated city.
It's only 19 storeys, the office tower was designed to support up to 36 storeys, in the case of a future expansion.
Helladog over at the Atlantic Canada sub had some renderings of the design for the 36 storey tower.
and I did this one in photoshop... the real height is only half of this.
yellow line is the current height
Basically my idea is to fix and expand the mall... and make it more like a multi storey mall found in East Asia. With a few big draws like Uniqlo, H&M, a few other realistic fashion brands, popular stores, along with the return of bars and restaurants, and it could once again become an important shopping location /third place. With an expansion and re-design, I think there's room for a multiplex cinema, which could possibly spill upwards into the high rise portion of the Brunswick Square complex. Currently, there's only one cinema in Saint John, way over on the east side of downtown.
The real "pièce de résistance", however, is the expansion of the tower to 36 storeys, which will then be converted into at least 50% residential. This will require a huge amount of capital, but it's a big idea that's worthy of government funding and cooperation. Heck, I'd argue the Government of NB, would be the ideal candidate to buy Brunswick Square (which, iirc, is still currently for sale) and finance the expansion of the tower to become a mostly residential building, as part of the provincial government's housing strategy (along with contributions from the federal government).
I literally can't think of a better way to "save a dead mall" than to build an entire high rise condo or apartment complex full of people on top of it.
The fly by night REITs that have managed the complex have had a lot of trouble renting office space, and even more trouble renting space in the mall, even before covid, but especially afterwards. It is pretty close to being considered a white elephant, even though there's nothing fundamentally wrong with the building, and it's an amazing location. I read a post by the REIT company on LinkedIn recently about how "birthday parties" was going to be part of their new strategy going forward...
I'm sorry, but that just made me laugh, because a "dead and depressing mall" which has turned into a hangout spot for the less fortunate and unhoused people, is about the last place any parent is going to book a birthday party for their kids.
With the right strategy, and a few big fashion draws like Uniqlo or H&M with mass appeal, along with the return of popular restaurants, bars, and a cinema, Brunswick Square could once again be the beating heart of Uptown Saint John.
Moncton is currently kicking Saint John's ass in terms of high rise developments, as it's growing a lot quicker, but Saint John also has a distinct shortage of housing, especially in the "Uptown" core. Saint John isn't going to catch up to Moncton on its own,
especially not as the city most exposed to US tariffs. Imo, that just adds to the justification for the type of massive investment it would take to build Brunswick Square up to its 36 storey potential. This would be a big, in your face project for the government to point to and say "look what we are doing about the housing crisis"... while breathing new life into the core of Canada's oldest incorporated city, that is long overdue a big spending project that directly benefits its citizens, and not just its industry.
I'm a firm believer that there's a reason to build higher in smaller cities, too, especially ones like Saint John are surrounded with amazing coastal scenery. If Moncton has 30 storey projects in their development pipeline... Saint John should be trying to figure out how we can get similar projects in our development pipeline next. Building up Brunswick Square to its designed 36 storey potential is a shortcut that could have Saint John reach 30 storeys before Moncton. (and give Moncton and Halifax motivation to build even bigger projections) This spirit of competition used to exist between the cities of the Maritimes, but unfortunately, that spirit has been mostly lost here in Saint John... and I think the new motto, "
Small City, Big Heart" pretty much encapsulates the shift in mentality here in SJ.
From 30 storeys up at the top of King Street in Saint John, the surrounding ocean and river valley views would be spectacular, and on a clear day, one could even get a pretty clear view of Nova Scotia Scotia across the Bay of Fundy.
Anyways, I might need a bit of an extension to submit beyond May 1st.
Though, I've basically laid out my vision for how to make Brunswick Square Great Again.
Thoughts on how to actually make it happen, though, wouldl be greatly appreciated!
Much too often on the "Atlantic Canada" sub, I think posters forget the name of this site and forum that they post on so much... and the irony isn't lost on me.
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