[Moncton] Junction Urban Village | Mixed Residential Commercial Urban Development

[jonny golden]

This commercial listing by Cushman & Wakefield has been up for quite some time now. Three parcels of land for lease, for sale, or build-to-suit. It would be nice if something was happening behind the scenes, and we were to get an "out of left field" announcement that we didn't see coming.

https://cwatlantic.com/listings/junction-urban-village/

[MonctonRad]

Signage for the new location of Klozet Clothing Boutique has gone up in Tannery Place North.

[MonctonRad]

As per the master site plan for the Junction Village from the most recent Colliers East property brochure, there have been some recent changes in the proposed design of the development.



1) - there is no mention of the "Junction Hall." This proposed building is now only referred to as an "office tower complex."
2) - there is no mention of the "Home 2 Suites by Hilton" hotel. The building on the SW corner of Main & Vaughan Harvey is now referred to as "Junction House." We already know there are rumours of an upgraded 10 storey apartment building in this location.
3) - plans for a proposed apartment building that was to have been built between Goodlife and the Junction Hall appears to have been abandoned in favour of additional parking for the now proposed office tower complex.
4) - plans for an additional "future residential building " on the other side of Ivan Rand across from Goodlife also appear to have been abandoned.

Overall, there has been a reduction in the scale and ambition of this project. One has to wonder why? Is this due to the skyrocketing interest rates making new construction projects less financially viable???

This image below shows the most recent previous site plan. You can see the differences. The total number of buildings is now five, a reduction from seven.

[Leroy321]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

As per the master site plan for the Junction Village from the most recent Colliers East property brochure, there have been some recent changes in the proposed design of the development.



1) - there is no mention of the "Junction Hall." This proposed building is now only referred to as an "office tower complex."
2) - there is no mention of the "Home 2 Suites by Hilton" hotel. The building on the SW corner of Main & Vaughan Harvey is now referred to as "Junction House." We already know there are rumours of an upgraded 10 storey apartment building in this location.
3) - plans for a proposed apartment building that was to have been built between Goodlife and the Junction Hall appears to have been abandoned in favour of additional parking for the now proposed office tower complex.
4) - plans for an additional "future residential building " on the other side of Ivan Rand across from Goodlife also appear to have been abandoned.

Overall, there has been a reduction in the scale and ambition of this project. One has to wonder why? Is this due to the skyrocketing interest rates making new construction projects less financially viable???

This image below shows the most recent previous site plan. You can see the differences. The total number of buildings is now five, a reduction from seven.

So the office tower looks like it will be built first before the junction house. I wonder if they will be taller than just 6 stories

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Leroy321

So the office tower looks like it will be built first before the junction house. I wonder if they will be taller than just 6 stories

Good point!

A, B & C are sequentially correct, so it would make sense that "D" is built next.

The footprint and shape of the "office tower" is essentially identical to the old "Junction Hall", so there may not be any real difference in the design.



Junction Hall was going to be a "tall" five storey building (equivalent to six residential floors). I would imagine this building would be the same. The commercial office space market is still very weak, so there is no point building a really tall office tower. The fact they are no longer calling the building "Junction Hall" may be because of a change in the proposed mix of tenants. Perhaps there will be no restaurant or ground level retail. A name like "Junction Hall" may convey the impression of a mixed use building with public space. The name might not have been a good fit for a purely commercial office building. Just a thought.

[MonctonianSentinel01]

If you ask me, there wouldn't have been much room in between Goodlife and Ivan Rand Drive anyways. They mostly would have been too small and thin and I don't necessarily think that would have looked great. You can see in the diagram above that they would even be smaller than Goodlife in footprint size.

[new kid in town]

I wonder if, with the reduced number of buildings, they could make the remaining a bit taller instead.

[MonctonRad]

Klozet clothing boutique will be opening in their new location in Tannery Place North on October 1st.

[jonny golden]

I was just looking at the new Colliers site plan above. Two things stand out to me:

Building D is listed as an "office tower complex." I thought the office space market had pretty much dried up? If you look at the commercial realtors web sites, there's a huge amount of office inventory already available in Moncton, a lot of which has been on the market for a long time.

Also the site plan shows what looks to be a smaller building facing Main Street. The two adjacent properties on Stewart Street were purchased last year and I remember that it was speculated that these were going to be demolished to allow for a larger footprint, and hence a more substantial building on Main St. Maybe that was just a rumor, or perhaps those 2 lots could accommodate another building?

I just hope that the developers don't substantially scale back their plans. They've been putting out a pretty nice product so far. Building the rumoured 10 floor building on Main Street next, would be a nice addition.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Building D is listed as an "office tower complex." I thought the office space market had pretty much dried up? If you look at the commercial realtors web sites, there's a huge amount of office inventory already available in Moncton, a lot of which has been on the market for a long time.

Given the lettering system being used, I am confident the next building to be built will be the "office complex", but I (like you) have little confidence that we will see any action on this in the short term. I suspect a hiatus in building activity in the Junction Village until at least 2025.

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Also the site plan shows what looks to be a smaller building facing Main Street. The two adjacent properties on Stewart Street were purchased last year and I remember that it was speculated that these were going to be demolished to allow for a larger footprint, and hence a more substantial building on Main St. Maybe that was just a rumor, or perhaps those 2 lots could accommodate another building?

There are two other adjacent properties on Stewart Street that have not sold, but, if the developers could eventually purchase them, would increase their flexibility with regard to the Main Street facing portion of the Junction Village. I think this is why they are going with Building "D" first. They are trying to wait out the recalcitrant owners. If we don't see any work on Building "D" until 2025, it could be 2027-30 before we see anything on Main Street.

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I just hope that the developers don't substantially scale back their plans. They've been putting out a pretty nice product so far. Building the rumoured 10 floor building on Main Street next, would be a nice addition.

One thing I've learned after watching the local development scene for the last 15 years or so, is that nothing happens quickly. It's almost a game of chess getting something built. It takes a long time to get all your ducks in a row..............

[jonny golden]

Very good points all of them. I did see that there are 2 more properties on Stewart Street, but hadn't thought about the possibility of the developers also acquiring them. It does make a lot of sense - it would complete their overall footprint, and allow either a broader building, or maybe even two buildings on that end of the property.

For now it looks like a waiting game.

[MonctonRad]

Very nice nighttime shot of Tannery Place North & South


Thanks to Jeff Boucher of Retail Talk & Share for giving permission

When I first moved to Moncton in 1989, everything to the west of the Terminal Plaza office complex was an industrial wasteland, and the connector from Vaughan Harvey Blvd to the Gunningsville Bridge had not been built (shit, the new Gunningsville Bridge was also just a dream at that point). There has been quite a renaissance in the meantime!

I think there are only three empty ground floor CRUs in these two buildings as well. I find that pretty impressive.

[MonctonRad]

A rumour has just popped up that Home 2 Suites by Hilton is now planned for the vacant lot next to the Hampton Inn, paralleling the TCH.

Very interesting. This would explain why the Home 2 Suites is no longer being mentioned in the plans for the Junction Village.

[MonctonRad]

Yuzu Sushi in Tannery Place South is apparently permanently closed.

[jonny golden]

I noticed that the Junction Urban Village is no longer listed on the Cushman and Wakefield web site.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

I noticed that the Junction Urban Village is no longer listed on the Cushman and Wakefield web site.

Colliers East now:
https://www.collierscanada.com/en-ca...ada/can2013211

[jonny golden]

I should have checked! There are some really great pictures in the listing.

The Colliers site also shows the building at 1440-1442 Main Street for lease. This was one of the two abutting properties that the Junction developers purchased last year.

What's interesting is that the lease is being offered as month to month or up to 6 months; so it looks like this building will eventually be demolished. This will give the developers a much larger footprint to work with, and more frontage on Main Street. Their site does show a hotel on the Main Street block of land.

If the next building phase for the Junction development starts next year, the Main/VH corner will be a pretty busy construction zone.

[jonny golden]

Another interesting tidbit from the Colliers website - The Freshii restaurant is for sale.

https://www.collierscanada.com/en-ca...ada/can2013719

[jnaygull]

Originally Posted by jonny golden

Another interesting tidbit from the Colliers website - The Freshii restaurant is for sale.

https://www.collierscanada.com/en-ca...ada/can2013719

You'd think that many apartments above restaurants would thrive. However, with Doordash (and their equivalents), any restaurant food is "nearby." I think you must do your homework with these mixed-use commercial/residential buildings before setting up a restaurant. I sometimes wonder if a spacious cafe with some meeting space would better serve the tenants. Cater to the at-home working crew who may want a change of scenery attached to their building.

[jonny golden]

Originally Posted by jnaygull

You'd think that many apartments above restaurants would thrive. However, with Doordash (and their equivalents), any restaurant food is "nearby." I think you must do your homework with these mixed-use commercial/residential buildings before setting up a restaurant. I sometimes wonder if a spacious cafe with some meeting space would better serve the tenants. Cater to the at-home working crew who may want a change of scenery attached to their building.

The demographic in the Tannery Place buildings is mainly retired people with disposable income. There's a lot of empty nesters who have sold their homes in the suburbs to live in a high end apartment downtown.

I think a good café would do really well there. Being able to just go downstairs instead of taking your car out would be pretty convenient.