The Official Saint John, NB Project Thread

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by homebody

Thanks for the update. It seems like it’s been a standstill down there for a while now. Kinda hoping to see a crane for that one as well. Maybe I am a little anxious lol.

There are workers there every day I drive by

[cdnguys]

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[cdnguys]

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[cdnguys]

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[cdnguys]

The top floor (or portion) of 555 McAllister Drive (former Canada Revenue Agency building) is leased by BrokerLink, a subsidiary of Intact Financial Corp.
This appears to be a move from 555 Somerset St office building.

[KnoxfordGuy]

That Harding street development is exactly what perfect middle housing infill looks like. Bravo.

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

Construction at Americold finishing at Port Saint John. It will be the largest cold storage facility on Canada's east coast.


• Video Link
Thanks to the best drone photographer in New Brunswick, jorgenrique217! Check out his instagram @jorgenrique217

[EnvisionSaintJohn]

The speed at which this gargantuan Americold facility went up was very impressive to see.

It also goes to show that projects under federal jurisdiction can get built a lot faster than projects under municipal and provincial jurisdiction.

There continues to be a lot of opportunity to redevelop small portions of federally owned port lands across Canada, including here in Saint John. Moreover, there's even greater opportunities for land reclamation projects to expand our port's footprints far more than the amount of land that would be given up for redevelopment.

I think the site of the former AIM offices, once it clears legal limbo, could be a great place for the port to build a 30+ storey tower (as tall as the tallest cranes) with a 360° observation logistics deck at the top. The port could move the entirety of their offices into this tower, and make lots of room for companies like DPWorld, MSC, CMA CGM, and Hapag-Lloyd, Americold, Crosby's and other prospective parters to have office space in a world class mixed use development including office space, dormitories for port workers, and space for port operations. There's also a lot of federal and provincial offices that are involved with the port that could fill up office space in the tower.

Building a 30 storey office tower at the former AIM offices wouldn't only open up the Marco Polo and Diamond Jubilee terminals for redevelopment as hotels and other more profitable mixed use developments located within a functioning cruise terminal, it could also free up a lot of federally and provincially owned buildings in Uptown Saint John to be redeveloped as residential and mixed use developments. Furthermore, a strip down Sydney St. and the Lower Cove loop could be swapped with the city in exchange for the sugar refinery site to be made available for mixed used developments, and clean up one of the dirtiest streets and ugliest transition points that exist between the port and the city.

The Port could expand their operations within the inner harbour by almost 100 acres, while redeveloping a portion of their current footprint as mixed use developments, and surrendering a small portion of Lower Cove to the City of Saint John for mixed use residential developments.





I hope our MP and our new government continue to support ambitious expansion projects at Port Saint John, but I also they invest in more mixed used developments on liminal federally owned port lands. Mixed use developments will directly benefit residents that call the Port City home, and will further enhance the area around cruise ship terminals to make Port Saint John a more attractive cruise destination. Swapping the city the Lower Cove Loop and Sydney Streets streetfronts in exchange for the Sugar refinery site would be a win-win for the port, city, and people of Saint John.

[adamuptownsj]

Thanks guys. Starting a similar one across the street at 32 Harding as soon as we're closed in.

[bingun]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Thanks guys. Starting a similar one across the street at 32 Harding as soon as we're closed in.

Awesome. The lot next door, which caught fire a year or two ago and has now been cleared, is another with great potential.

[cdnguys]

Originally Posted by adamuptownsj

Thanks guys. Starting a similar one across the street at 32 Harding as soon as we're closed in.

Just off of Queen Sq, next to the new school, new build with a garage, quiet one way street, living life uptown with the restaurants and entertainment - you could build a 100 of those and they’d be snapped up.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Just off of Queen Sq, next to the new school, new build with a garage, quiet one way street, living life uptown with the restaurants and entertainment - you could build a 100 of those and they’d be snapped up.

Agreed, I walk past/on Harding almost every day and I have thought to myself, "great, now we just need another hundred of these" in vacant lots throughout the urban core.

[bingun]

Yes, the block or two around Queen's Square, especially to the south, is prime for infill developments or increased density and has great potential—Harding St, St James St, St Andrews St, Britain St, etc.

I always think Queen's Square is underappreciated. King Square is always busier, which makes sense, including with some of the city's more interesting characters, but most of the time I walk Queen's Square, there might be half a dozen people, a few dog walkers, someone smoking, and some teenagers groping each other on a bench. It's a really nice green space and helps compensate for the minimal private or green space in people's homes or apartments.

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by darkharbour

Agreed, I walk past/on Harding almost every day and I have thought to myself, "great, now we just need another hundred of these" in vacant lots throughout the urban core.

Agreed. This type of thing scattered around the south-central peninsula would make a huge improvement to the city's urban core.

Was it adamuptownsj who was considering a loft development on Waterloo down opposite the Service Canada entrance? I'm assuming the deteriorating conditions in the area have put that on hold? (at least until or if things improve?)

[sailor734]

Originally Posted by bingun

Yes, the block or two around Queen's Square, especially to the south, is prime for infill developments or increased density and has great potential—Harding St, St James St, St Andrews St, Britain St, etc.

I always think Queen's Square is underappreciated. King Square is always busier, which makes sense, including with some of the city's more interesting characters, but most of the time I walk Queen's Square, there might be half a dozen people, a few dog walkers, someone smoking, and some teenagers groping each other on a bench. It's a really nice green space and helps compensate for the minimal private or green space in people's homes or apartments.

I've always thought the Uptown was somewhat lacking in green spaces to cater to urban dwellers. Something a little less structured than King or Queen Sq...... suitable for dog walking, frisbee/throwing a football around or just laying on a blanket and reading a book. Too bad something couldn't be done with the tip of the peninsula. Sort of a mini Point Pleasant Park or Stanley Park.

Our Public Gardens/Lily Lake/Rockwood Park are great but they are really quite separated from everyday life uptown.

[bingun]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I've always thought the Uptown was somewhat lacking in green spaces to cater to urban dwellers. Something a little less structured than King or Queen Sq...... suitable for dog walking, frisbee/throwing a football around or just laying on a blanket and reading a book. Too bad something couldn't be done with the tip of the peninsula. Sort of a mini Point Pleasant Park or Stanley Park.

Our Public Gardens/Lily Lake/Rockwood Park are great, but they are really quite separated from everyday life uptown.

I agree with you, I was just pointing out that Queen's Square is underappreciated, at least from my perspective.

Halifax is really fortunate to have Point Pleasant, and they can be grateful to their forebears for it. However, it is worth keeping in mind that it is a fair distance from much of the peninsula. I'd argue Rockwood Park is quicker or easier to reach from much of our peninsula than Point Pleasant is to theirs.

Sadly, I don't think we have much hope of something less structured unless the Lantic site is remediated into a park or the military gives up Barrack Green Armouries.

[darkharbour]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I've always thought the Uptown was somewhat lacking in green spaces to cater to urban dwellers. Something a little less structured than King or Queen Sq...... suitable for dog walking, frisbee/throwing a football around or just laying on a blanket and reading a book. Too bad something couldn't be done with the tip of the peninsula. Sort of a mini Point Pleasant Park or Stanley Park.

Our Public Gardens/Lily Lake/Rockwood Park are great but they are really quite separated from everyday life uptown.

It could be though, the city has talked about turning the Lantic Sugar site into greenspace many times (it already is to a certain extent). With the right investment it could be capped with liner and earth to enclose the contamination, then reforested to an extent to create the environment you're describing. It would take years to grow up, so better to start soon, and would act as a storm surge and wind buffer for areas nearby in the South End, including the new school and associated Rainbow Park.

A rough plan for this already exists in some planning documents, but the drive to do it hasn't been there in recent years.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by sailor734

Was it adamuptownsj who was considering a loft development on Waterloo down opposite the Service Canada entrance? I'm assuming the deteriorating conditions in the area have put that on hold? (at least until or if things improve?)

It was, and yes-- the conditions make market rents, even lower-market, unfeasible. And that's not even addressing the security issues. We are cynically awaiting Common Council's celebrations of their traffic light zones being successfully implemented... which happens to coincide with the annual cold-weather drop in Waterloo's extracurricular activities.

Fortunately, the hills will again be alive with the sound of screaming junkies when the municipal election kicks off.

The plan is still on the docket, but between Carney's new not yet up and running housing org, CMHC's mission being muddled, and ratcheting efficiency/accessibility/affordability requirements, it's a real challenge to nail down a date.

Originally Posted by cdnguys

Just off of Queen Sq, next to the new school, new build with a garage, quiet one way street, living life uptown with the restaurants and entertainment - you could build a 100 of those and they’d be snapped up.

The school is what I was waiting for. Building with adjoining walls poses quite a few challenges, especially around foundations and fire code, but this first build is a test lab. Can we build single-family homes, on <24' lots, around uptown that are...

a) profitable
b) replicable without looking cloned
c) adequately-sized (this one is about 1,700 sf, for example)

There's a serious lack of new single-family construction in the south end. I can count 5 over the last decade, not counting renos/restoration. And there's a huge market!

Originally Posted by bingun

Awesome. The lot next door, which caught fire a year or two ago and has now been cleared, is another with great potential.

Phil Massie owns the whole corner. No idea what he would sell it for, but it wouldn't be cheap. Outside my capabilities. Victor Train owns a truly gigantic amount of land in the area too. He might have plans for it, now that the school is underway, but I don't personally know him.

My stuff is blue, Massie red, Train yellow, and the school purple, if you want help visualizing it. My Queen Sq lot will be 4 townhouses, more or less using the previous owner's plans. https://imgur.com/a/tZjX8Lf

[irisheyes]

Originally Posted by sailor734

I've always thought the Uptown was somewhat lacking in green spaces to cater to urban dwellers. Something a little less structured than King or Queen Sq...... suitable for dog walking, frisbee/throwing a football around or just laying on a blanket and reading a book. Too bad something couldn't be done with the tip of the peninsula. Sort of a mini Point Pleasant Park or Stanley Park.

Our Public Gardens/Lily Lake/Rockwood Park are great but they are really quite separated from everyday life uptown.

Would love to see the Lantic site as well as the surface parking lot between lantic and the cruise terminal become a Parrtown Point green space.

[adamuptownsj]

Originally Posted by irisheyes

Would love to see the Lantic site as well as the surface parking lot between lantic and the cruise terminal become a Parrtown Point green space.

Lantic site sure, but that would be horrendous misuse of port lands which would command huge value on the open market. Either find a marine-related use for the Lower Cove terminal or extend the street grid into it. Something like this maybe? https://imgur.com/a/kvMOvCl