[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

It appears that Colpitts is now open in their new location in the National Bank Building.

[MonctonRad]

Moncton wants upscale downtown developments
Friday, June 01, 2012
Times & Transcript
By: Brent Mazerolle

The city wants more than vinyl and vast asphalt lots in downtown these days, and a new generation of developers are answering the call

Today, two crumbling old homes, one of them gutted by fire, stand empty on Victoria Street between Lutz and Archibald in downtown Moncton.

Soon though, the long narrow lot will house an apartment building that uses every available inch of the space on the long narrow lot, using design elements that drive home the fact the city is no longer willing to settle for vinyl siding and other lowest common denominators in its downtown.

Read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=9050

personal note - These are the two buildings in question. The developer is standing in front with a rendering of the proposed apartment building.



This is a crappy close-up of the rendering but it's the best I can do right now.



This is an excellent example of high quality urban infill and helps to show the way forward for the central core of the city. It is actually very exciting to see the number of proposals and plans that have come forward within the last year. I honestly think that the downtown is turning the corner.

I wonder how much of this activity is predicated on the presumption that the city is moving forward with the events centre? I think that there is no turning back on the events centre project. The city will buy Highfield Square by the March closing date on the option to purchase. There is very lttle choice otherwise. The anticipation amongst the populace is just too great. Finding the funds for the $100M project will be very difficult, but apparently private investors are showing increased interest.

Once the events centre is finalized, you will see much more infill development such as this cropping up all over the core. I guarantee it.

[MonctonRad]

I decided to check out where this neat little apartment building will be built on Victoria Street.

These are the two houses in question which will be torn down:



The things that really excite me about this project (despite the small size of the proposed building) are:

1- the quality of the build and the thought put into the design
2- the fact that this is infill in a downtown neighbourhood that has been steadily increasing in density over the last decade.
3- the fact that it seems that the era of vinyl siding in the downtown core truly appears to be over.

I decided to do a little phototour of the immediate neighbourhood (within about a block and a half of this particular block on Victoria Street) just to demonstrate how this section of the central downtown of the city between Main Street and St. George Street has densified during the last decade or so. This could serve as a template for how the whole north central part of the core should develop in the upcoming years. This particular neighbourhood is especially well situated, being only a 5-7 minute walk from Highfield Square and the site of the new proposed downtown events centre.














This brick building on St. George St. is currently under renovations for high end condos


The parking lot in front of this apartment building will soon be occupied by this new large apartment building proposed by Killam Properties:




The density is starting to build in downtown Moncton. The height may still be somewhat lacking, but that will come with time. The defining moment that will forever change the face of the core will come when the events centre (and the ancillary developments) is finally announced. That will be when momentum will build for the repopulation of the centre of the city. That will be when we will start to see some 12-20 storey apartment and condo towers in the downtown, as well as more of these little boutique condo projects, just like this newly announced infill apartment building on Victoria Street.

I predict the downtown will look very different in 20 years time!

[NBNYer]

Looks like a quality building. There has definitely been an increase in the quantity and quality of residential developments in DT lately. It's probably not an accident that this coincides with talk of major investments downtown (i.e. events centre). I agree that an actual announcement would be quite de game changer.

Central St-George street and the surrounding area has the potential to become a great urban neighborhood once that critical mass of people is reached. Time will tell.

[JasonL-Moncton]

Very nice...and looks like a fairly young developer too so if this goes well for him, perhaps other project will pop up as well!

[Good2go]

I was at Harveys today having a mystery-meat burger, and noticed the old End Zone Pub across the street has a sign in the window saying "Coming Soon Bakery Restaurant Cafe."

[BlackYear]

From the news919.com web site...It was already previously mentioned on Skyscraper, however, I don't ever recall seeing a rendering, so here it is. Looks nice! Original photo was small, so I took the liberty to upscale it.

Former CN building being redeveloped
Allan Dearing - Staff Jun 08, 2012 14:36:52 PM

MONCTON, N.B. - A prominent building in downtown Moncton is getting a makeover.

The Crombie-owned building at 1234 Main Street, the former CN headquarters, is being redesigned, according to spokesman Jeff Yerksa.

He says it will be stripped to its core, and will become more modern and energy-efficient.

Yerksa says the time is right, especially with a proposed downtown events centre next door.

He says the neighbouring building at 1222 Main Street will also be redesigned in the years to come, as part of Crombie's future plans.

[MonctonRad]

Thanks Budyser

Time to update this list I think:

Compilation of Major Proposed Projects in Moncton Centre:

Moncton Downtown Events Centre

Status - proposed
Height - unknown
Construction - ?2014
Rendering - not exactly as illustrated



Harper Building

Status - planning
Height - 10 stories
Construction - 2013
Rendering - accurate



Ashverd Development on Assomption Blvd

Status - planning
Height - 4-5 stories
Construction - 2013
Rendering - not exactly as illustrated



Killam Apartment Building on St George St & Archibald

Status - planning
Height - 7 stories
Construction - ?
Rendering - accurate as far as we know.



Dominion St condo development by Valmond Robichaud

Status - under construction
Height - 4 stories
Construction - completion this year
Rendering - accurate



Renovations to Terminal Plaza Building

Status - Planning
Height - 8 stories
Construction - ?2013
Rendering - Accurate



Transportation Discovery Centre at the Moncton Museum

Status - under construction
Height - 2 stories
Completion - 2013
Rendering - accurate

[mylesmalley]

With two of those projects right along the waterfront, the skyline from Riverview is going to improve considerably.

[mmmatt]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Renovations to Terminal Plaza Building

Status - Planning
Height - 8 stories
Construction - ?2013
Rendering - Accurate

WOW! That's gonna look fantastic!

I remember when Asurion left the other smaller building they said it was because Crombie refused to put any money into it...hopefully this signals a turn in their thinking

I'll be able to post pics of this upgrade easily as its clearly visible from the front windows of my house!

[Monctonguy19]

Yesterday, I was on wheeler blvd and I could see that some Construction going down on Carson Rd. Is it the 10 floor apartement building or somthing else? It looked like a pretty big hole!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Monctonguy19

Yesterday, I was on wheeler blvd and I could see that some Construction going down on Carson Rd. Is it the 10 floor apartement building or somthing else? It looked like a pretty big hole!

Greetings Monctonguy19 and welcome to the forum!

I just saw this excavation this evening. You may be right that this is for the proposed Sira apartment complex. It does seem like a large construction site.

We know this proposal is large, encompassing at least a couple of hundred rental units. We however do not know the height. Do you have a source indicating that this would be 10 stories? If you have some hard information, let us know.

[Monctonguy19]

Thanks MonctonRad!

I just talk to my source today and he told me that the last time he heard about that project there was controverse but he heard that it was going to be around 8-9 floors, also, he wasn't sure if the plans have changed or not. Let's hope they didn't but if they did, let's hope its for the best!

[NBNYer]

What's the controversy about? height?


...also, welcome MonctonGuy19

[Monctonguy19]

Thanks NBNYer!

And he did not specified what was the controverse was about..

[brod3211]

According to my source, which is Sira enterprise the owners of the property being built. This is the email they sent to me:


Sira Enterprises Ltd. sira@sira.nb.ca
8:58 AM (6 hours ago)

It’s a 4 storey building with 107 units.

So sadly, it's not going to be a big building, just large length and width, but no height. It probably very similar to there other building on there website, which is 92 units.

http://www.sira.nb.ca/chateau/chateau.htm

[NBNYer]

Originally Posted by brod3211

It’s a 4 storey building with 107 units.[/COLOR]

So sadly, it's not going to be a big building, just large length and width, but no height. It probably very similar to there other building on there website, which is 92 units.

http://www.sira.nb.ca/chateau/chateau.htm

Too bad, another large vinyl-sided monstrosity Also, too bad that it's in such a prominent, visible location.

[onecrazyleafsfan]

Is there a height restriction in place for moncton or is the skys the limit but nobody is brave enough to build it yet?

[Resurgo]

Enough with these ugly cheap building materials like vinyl siding... I wish the city could/ would do something about this...

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Resurgo

Enough with these ugly cheap building materials like vinyl siding... I wish the city could/ would do something about this...

Well, at least it's not in the downtown core!

It sounds like the building will be a lot like Chateau Mapleton



While it is certainly disappointing that this building won't be adding any height to the neighbourhood; to be fair, if it is anything like Chateau Mapleton, it should turn out to be a reasonably decent building. We could certainly be doing worse.

Vinyl siding needs to be banished downtown and we need added height in the downtown desperately. What happens outside the core I am somewhat less concerned about.