[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

I was told [...] that there would be underground parking, and a street front presence on Assumption and Albert street...

Well,there's some hope at least it won't be as bad as Emerson Park. Eager to see what they come up with.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

I was reading more into the 10 million dollar office complex and was in contact with a very good source, that the issues for this project are indeed, purchasing the land, which they purchased part of the land from the city last night and now just need to purchase the rest of the land from the province, once that is finished, they do plan on moving forward with this project.

I was told that they already have a few interested leasers and that there would be underground parking, and a street front presence on Assumption and Albert street, I know a lot of people don't like the idea of placing something here at this moment, but it really will change the area, giving it a more friendly feel and with the new arena project soon to be happening just across the tracks, it is going to become a popular area for growth downtown. There are a lot of spin off projects waiting on this arena to get the full green light and this is just on of I can promise many that are just getting a head start.

I do like the idea of having a substantial building on this corner. It's just that I share NBNYer's concern that we should be establishing a critical mass in the heart of the downtown core. Putting a building here at this point in time only will further decentralize the downtown of the city. Still, from what you say, this sounds like it might be a very nice project, and in some ways will further expedite the Main/Vaughan Harvey/Assumption area as the western terminus of the downtown. I suppose it might be a larger version of the E=MC2 Building at the corner of Main and Vaughan Harvey. That's not so bad. It would also extend the skyline of the city a bit as you drive southbound on Vaughan Harvey.

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

Preferably this would be located of the new downing street project, but this is a key development on a run down side of the tracks, Albert street needs something like this at the bottom of it, giving it new life.

Perhaps the destiny of Downing Street will be mixed use residential buildings (condos above a ground floor of retail presence) This might be preferable anyway given the plan that this street might be used for festivals and events and will connect city hall with the riverfront. Office buildings in this location might be too barren and sterile to suitably enliven the street front……..

[MonctonRad]

Here is a link to the pdf of the presentation regarding the repurposing of the Moncton Coliseum if the downtown events centre goes ahead.

http://www.moncton.ca/Assets/Busines...esentation.pdf

Some interesting reading here…….

[Monctoncore]

The condo on Dominion has now posted on there site a link called future projects with a page showing Phase 2.

http://25dominion.com/25/BOTH-BUILDINGS.pdf

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Monctoncore

The condo on Dominion has now posted on there site a link called future projects with a page showing Phase 2.

http://25dominion.com/25/BOTH-BUILDINGS.pdf

Thanks for the link. There was always going to be a second condo building on this site and I'm glad to see that they are still planning on going ahead with construction. The second building is going to go exactly where I thought it would……..

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Here is a link to the pdf of the presentation regarding the repurposing of the Moncton Coliseum if the downtown events centre goes ahead.

http://www.moncton.ca/Assets/Busines...esentation.pdf

Some interesting reading here…….

The Idea of removing the lower bowl looks very attractive!

- Have much more floor space for trade shows and sports...

BUT

- Keep some seats for spectator events...imagine provincial level volleyball/soccer/hockey tournaments.

[josh_cat_eyes]

I like the idea of removing only half of the lower bowl. Keep the half of the lower bowl on the same side as the upper bowl. Keep the ice making capabilities, in case a second arena is ever needed for a short period of time. (IE. memorial cup, royal bank cup, Brier etc) Don't allow it to be a permanent rink, but have the capability to set up a rink if need be. Maybe even do it like the Metro Centre, where the seats push back to create a large floor space. So essentially it will look like the UPEI arena, but act like the metro centre.

[josh_cat_eyes]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Here is a link to the pdf of the presentation regarding the repurposing of the Moncton Coliseum if the downtown events centre goes ahead.

http://www.moncton.ca/Assets/Busines...esentation.pdf

Some interesting reading here…….

Originally Posted by mmmatt

The Idea of removing the lower bowl looks very attractive!

- Have much more floor space for trade shows and sports...

BUT

- Keep some seats for spectator events...imagine provincial level volleyball/soccer/hockey tournaments.

I like the idea of removing only half of the lower bowl, funny that wasn't mentioned. Keep the half of the lower bowl on the same side as the upper bowl. Keep the ice making capabilities, in case a second arena is ever needed for a short period of time. (IE. memorial cup, royal bank cup, Brier etc) Don't allow it to be a permanent rink, but have the capability to set up a rink if need be. Maybe even do it like the Metro Centre, where the seats push back to create a large floor space. So essentially it will look like the UPEI arena, but act like the metro centre.

[gehrhardt]

I was driving on St. George Blvd last night and noticed there is now a mini tower crane across from Centennial Park. I assume this is for the previously announced apartment building?

When I say "mini", I mean it wouldn't be any good for anything over 5 stories or so.

[mylesmalley]

It's a 4-story apartment/condo building. IIRC there will be two there.

[MonctonRad]

Reposting this just to refresh everyone's memory about what is going to be built there:

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This is what is planned for the old "Orchard Hill" condominium site at 850 St George Blvd across from Centennial Park.





Note that there is a "phase 1" and a "phase 2" to this project. The phase 2 building (pictured above) will be 5 stories. In the T&T, it was previously reported that phase 1 will be 4 stories.

[MonctonRad]

Regarding the project to save the Notre Dame de l'Assomption Cathedral:


A total of five Acadian cultural organizations have agreed to rent space in the basement of the cathedral to provide the congregation with cash flow so that they can fund the necessary $7M of renovations needed to secure the long term viability of the structure.

The plan is similar to the Moncton Peace Centre which was built attached to (and incorporating) the Central United Church, at the corner of Church and Queen Streets in downtown.

The organizations involved include:
- Societe Nationale de l'Acadie
- Federation des Jeunes Francophone de Nouveau Brunswick
- Conseil Provincial des Societes Culturelle
- Universite de Moncton
- Archdiocese de Moncton

In addition to the basement renovations, a new community space to be called Place de la Cathedrale will be built. This will be located on the west side of the church, and the renderings suggest that it might be a glass enclosed space.



This sounds like a great project which will serve to secure the long term future of one of Moncton's most iconic downtown structures. In addition, this should give some added vitality to the St. George Street area in central Moncton.

[Monctoncore]

DMCI talks downtown centre at AGM
St. George Streetscape improvements also discussed
Jason Chevrier
MONCTON, N.B. – Community partners, businesses and the general public were given an update this morning on a major development project in downtown Moncton.

http://www.news919.com/2014/04/15/dm...centre-at-agm/

I put this on here because it also talks about the St. George st. upgrades

[Walk then Run]

Although it doesn't mention exactly where they plan to undertake the St. George Street revamp, it would be very interesting to know what city blocks they have in mind.

With the amount of money set for the project, I can see it starting at Vaughan Harvey and not going beyond Church Street.

Saying that, is there still nothing developed on the corner of Wesley and St. George. What a gorgeous place to put a 4-6 story apartment building. If memory serves me right, cars were being parked there.

[MonctonRad]

The Piatto Pizzeria & Enotecta restaurant on Main Street will apparently open in June.
http://canadianrestaurantnews.com/at...p-in-maritimes

Excerpts:
- Brian Vallis is bringing his Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN) certified pies to Moncton, NB, and Charlottetown in June. Further plans are to open a fifth location in Dartmouth, NS, next year.
- The Moncton location will open at Main and Church streets in a century-old, renovated bank building. It is about 3,000 square feet and will have 90 seats.
- Greg McAfee is currently training in Halifax—which Vallis’ daughter Jay Vallis runs—to head up the Moncton location.
- The black and grey with red accents will carry throughout the locations and an open kitchen will have a hand-tiled oven made in Italy as the centrepiece.
- “Moncton has a long railway history, so we want to very subtly put in a touch of that,” said Vallis.

[pierremoncton]

[Self-edit: This was a plaintive rant about the two giant trees south of Deluxe on St George having been cut down. I'm posting an update below.]

[MonctonRad]

Why would they cut these trees down? They were at the back of the property adjacent to the CN ROW. It makes no sense. Were they diseased?? Who did this?? Maybe the city has no idea about this……..

[MonctonRad]

New Oncology Clinic at the Moncton Hospital - current status:





This is along the backside of the hospital, next to the Professional Arts Building on Arden Street.

The original proposal had been for something much larger, including an expansion to the Professional Arts Building and a parking garage, but the government balked at this - despite the fact that the vast majority of the proposal was to have been privately financed. The proposal died because of massive political interference and concern that an expansion at the Moncton Hospital might provoke similar demands at the Georges Dumont Hospital. The Dumont of course is going to be expanded anyway (new surgical suite etc), so the only loser here was the Moncton Hospital. Meanwhile, the Moncton Hospital is fighting a continuing (losing) battle with the Saint John Regional Hospital to preserve it's status within the Horizon Health Network.

The medical politics in this province just kills me. The Moncton Hospital is frequently the monkey in the middle between the Dumont and the Saint John Regional Hospital.

The Moncton Hospital remains an excellent hospital with top notch staff and important tertiary programs like neurosurgery, traumatology, orthopaedics, vascular surgery, interventional radiology, medical oncology, advanced obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine, neonatology etc, but the new paradigm in the province seems to be a two health care region model anchored by two principal teaching hospitals (neither one of which is the Moncton Hospital). I of course can't predict the future, and perhaps Horizon is truly committed to maintaining the status of the Moncton Hospital, but right now, looking at recent equipment purchases (3T MRI in Saint John and PET-CT in Saint John and at the Dumont), I fear that in 10-20 years time the Moncton Hospital may be nothing more than a second tier regional hospital similar to the Miramichi Regional Hospital or the Chalmers in Fredericton.

At one time the Moncton Hospital was clearly the second most important hospital in the province. I fear that soon this will no longer be the case…….

[pierremoncton]

Though this is not necessarily downtown-specific, I'll follow up here:

Pitchfork down; my assumptions were incorrect.

I emailed city council & staff about the trees and quickly received a detailed reply (on a holiday no less).

I'm told that:

1. As per the agreement reached in 2009 between the city and the developer of the apartment building, the trees had to remain.
2. Last year, the owner expressed concern about the integrity of the trees.
3. In order for the condition to be lifted, an assessment had to be made by a qualified arborist.
4. Such report showed the trees were at risk of falling over.
5. In January, the PAC approved the removal of the trees.
6. The owner must plant new trees.

I've edited my earlier post to remove the vulgarities and unfair rant.

Also, in the interest of the readers here and in order to remedy my attacks on the city, I'll take the liberty of copying verbatim the paragraph below, which corrects my assumption that the city is asleep at the wheel:

The City of Moncton has also just undergone a full scale review of its municipal plan culminating in 2013 and in that process we now have the only enforceable tree preservation conditions as part of the zoning by-law in the province of New Brunswick. We now have a permitting process and fines associated with unauthorized tree removal of trees greater than 30 cm (12 inches) in diameter on private property in the downtown zone. We have also made in mandatory that all new subdivisions and streets built plant trees at a rate of 1 tree per 10 meters of street frontage to ensure that we create an urban forest as we expand our city. Again we are one of the only cities in New Brunswick that have this in place and other communities in the province are looking to us as leaders and will be following suit in the months and years to come. Although this type of thing does not often make front page news it is going on in the background and it is the forward thinking and positive attitude of the community and council that makes this all possible.

[MonctonRad]

Councillor Dawn Arnold's top ten reasons to support downtown development (from Facebook)

1. DTs are the heart of cities and regions – and having a healthy heart is essential to having a strong city and region. Have you ever visited a big city and NOT visited its DT? DTs are the hotbeds of business creativity, neighbourhood activism, non-profit entrepreneurs, economic diversity and an attraction for visitors, seniors and young talent.
2. It is a good idea economically: while DT only represents 1.5% of the city’s geographical area, it pays 14.4% of all the taxes paid in our city…therefore, the denser our DT is, the more tax is paid there (on things that bring in MUCH more money than surface parking lots) meaning that potentially less tax money needs to be paid by everyone else.
3. DTs are an extremely efficient use of land. Compact and walkable, DTs have retail, service, small industry, housing, government, churches, civic organizations, cultural activities…all in a relatively small amount of land.
4. DTs represent an enormous amount of investment already in place. We’ve already spent the money for water, sewer, curbs, streets, sidewalks, police and fire stations…it makes fiscal sense to maximize these existing investments.
5. DT historic buildings provide a distinctive identity for our community…they tell our stories in ways that shopping malls and commercial strips will never be able to. Also, our DT makes us unique, a place where true innovation can occur. I’ll never forget when award-winning author Yan Martel was in town having just come from London, Paris and Buenos Aires and he commented that he loved Moncton because it was unique … so many cities have become homogeneous with corporate chains and have lost their uniqueness.
6. DTs attract and cultivate independent, locally-owned businesses. Obviously, we’re not there yet, but we’re making progress and I’m sure that once Downing Plaza and the DT Centre are done, our DT will be filled with local businesses…businesses who generally return a higher percentage of their profits to the community than national retailers (who more typically return their profits to their stockholders).
7. DTs create new jobs. I was just in Toronto and toured the distillery district. Wow. Historic DT districts create jobs from “location neutral” businesses…businesses that, because of the advent of the internet and overnight delivery services, can locate anywhere. Many of these are in small industries that gravitate to upper-floor spaces, old warehouses and other unique DT spaces...and boy, do we ever have a lot of opportunity on this one in Moncton.
8. DT development minimizes air pollution. Because DTs are walkable (once you are there) and have a dense concentration of uses, DTs are actually much less car-dependent than highway-oriented commercial development…and of course, there is Codiac Transit that runs both ways on Main Street every 15 minutes!
9. DTs are true civic places where we celebrate Canada Day, the Frye Festival, Acadie Rock, Hubcap…and the list goes on! You can also stage a demonstration or hand out political flyers…something that you can’t usually do in a mall.
10. DT revitalization is the ultimate form of recycling. Let’s re-use historic buildings and save our land-fills.