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  #81  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2012, 7:23 PM
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Further thoughts on the four different presentations for the downtown Moncton Events Centre:

Exp. Architects Inc.


Overview of events centre from Main/Highfield intersection


Looking towards mixed use part of the development on current parking lot.


Looking down Highfield St extension. There would be limited vehicular access, and the very end of the street would be occupied by a semi permanent stage for outdoor concerts and events.

This is easily the most modest of the four proposals, and therefore the most affordable and as such likely would be the closest to what will actually be built. I like the design of the arena, but I don't think putting condo units in the arena building itself, facing Main St is very practical. I also am not sure about closing off the end of the Highfield St extension and turning it into a hemmed off plaza. It would instead be better to open up the development some more, so that it is more inclusive of the railway lands in some way. It's also important to form a linkage to the lands south of the rail line. This would help to spur on development in the south end of the downtown

Architects Four


Overview of events centre as seen from Main/Highfield intersection. The arena itself is at the back end of the property with mixed retail/commercial in an attached building facing Main St. This proposal has a strong street presence.


Looking north from the CN tracks. Arena in the foreground. There is an attached convention facility (on the left), along the southwest corner of the arena building. The architects envisage extending both Weldon and Highfield, creating a street that would encircle the arena building.


Looking east from the Weldon/Main intersection. You can appreciate the strong street presence of the building on Main St. Also, in the distance you can see a large parking facility (and some apartments) on the other side of the CN tracks. I'm not sure how the parking structure is connected to the events centre, but a pedway would suffice. Again, you can see mixed use on the current Highfield square parking lot.

This is a very comprehensive proposal that leaves little else to be desired. It has it all. I really appreciate the street presence and, the inclusion of a convention centre and lots of commercial development should help with revenue streams to help finance the project. The commercial component of the building is so large that you might in fact even be able to lure the Bay into coming back! Putting a street completely around the events centre helps to integrate it into the rest of downtown and would help to stimulate development behind the Terminal Plaza buildings. The parking on the south end of the CN tracks is a very strong feature of this proposal. I like this a lot.....

Nadeau, Soucy, Ellis





This is easily the weakest of the four proposals as far as I am concerned. My biggest complaint is that I found it all rather confusing and it took me some time to get my bearings with this proposal. The arena does not stand out from the other buildings and I don't like all the curves and offset levels in the buildings. I'm not sure what the function of that big pedway is. I imagine that the architectural complexity of this development would mean that it would be prohibitively expensive. This proposal is a non starter IMHO.

Architecture 2000


Overview showing the arena on the Highfield Square site, mixed use on the current parking lot, a public park to the south of the Terminal Plaza complex, the innovative transit hub on the south side of the CN line and interestingly, a redeveloped Aquillini block as well. I wonder if Raven Spanier has been talking to anybody in Vancouver!


Looking south on Highfield. You can appreciate that Highfield will be extended across the CN tracks to provide access to the integrated transit hub. This would also help to integrate the south end of downtown to the rest of the core and help promote further development. The redeveloped Aquillini block is in the foreground.


Looking west up Main St. It would certainly be hard to miss the arena! This proposal also has a strong street presence on Main.


Looking east up Main St. The facade of the arena is certainly eyecatching and iconic.

This is by far the most ambitious of all of the proposals, especially when you consider the integrated transit facility. This probably puts it out of reach for budgetary reasons, but you never know. Federal money won't be available for the arena but could be available for public transit projects. A strong commercial component (including the Aquillini block) would also bring in more monies. This proposal would do the most to transform the downtown, but in the end might be less practical than the Architects Four proposal. Still, if money were no object, this proposal would be my choice....
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Last edited by MonctonRad; Apr 15, 2012 at 3:46 AM.
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  #82  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2012, 7:45 PM
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1) Architects Four
2) Exp. Architects Inc.
3) Architecture 2000
4) Nadeau, Soucy, Ellis

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  #83  
Old Posted Apr 14, 2012, 11:18 PM
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Im surprised that nobody has noticed or mentioned that Crown Plaza is gone and replaced in the 4th proposal with a different structure? Doesn't seem to make a lot of sense at this point in the cities development.
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  #84  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 1:20 AM
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Oh, I noticed, I just didn't bring it up.

The Aquillini block isn't really part of the city's plan, so I think Raven Spanier is just using a bit of licence here to show the potential magnitude of the development.

The fact that the Aquillini's have purchased an entire city block across from the proposed site of the events centre however should not be ignored. There are even rumours that the Aquillini's might actually propose to build the events centre themselves. If so, it would be natural to assume that they would try to integrate their land holdings into the overall project.

What would this mean for the Crowne Plaza hotel? That's hard to say. The hotel is not overly attractive and is in mid life, but it has been recently renovated and is in fairly good shape. I don't think they will take it down but I imagine there will be concerted efforts to incorporate the hotel into whatever else the Aquillini's might have in mind for their block. I would think this might include reworking the facade of the hotel so that it complements what is built next door.....
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  #85  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 2:19 AM
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Here are the before and after photos of 201 Queen street downtown Moncton.

I am absolutely in awe of the renovations performed on this heritage home each time I drive by this house. The commitment to stay true to heritage and conservation is nothing but astonishing. Whomever is responsible for this project should be congratulated for their amazing hard work, money spent, efforts and incredible vision.

Before photo from 2010 Google Maps.


After photo April 14th 2012, from Budyser.
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  #86  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 2:58 AM
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What's that sign up front. Is this supposed to be a commercial property, maybe a boutic hotel?
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  #87  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 1:38 PM
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Originally Posted by NBNYer View Post


What's that sign up front. Is this supposed to be a commercial property, maybe a boutic hotel?
They're "studios". The same owners have also done the same to houses on Elmwood and Broadway.

Their website: http://www.mystudiomoncton.com/

Horrible website, but amazing work on Queen.
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  #88  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 1:46 PM
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Originally Posted by MonctonRad View Post

Looking south on Highfield. You can appreciate that Highfield will be extended across the CN tracks to provide access to the integrated transit hub. This would also help to integrate the south end of downtown to the rest of the core and help promote further development. The redeveloped Aquillini block is in the foreground.
What is the light blue line on Highfield street? Almost looks like a monorail in the image.
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  #89  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 2:01 PM
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Originally Posted by David_99 View Post
What is the light blue line on Highfield street? Almost looks like a monorail in the image.
Yes it is.

The integrated transit hub would be for VIA, Codiac Transpo, Acadian Lines and for an elevated LRT system with east/west and north/south lines extending through the downtown. Raven Spanier alluded to it in his presentation suggesting that it could extend 800-1000m from the hub and allow for people to get back and forth from the events centre to distant parking sites.

A neat idea, but outlandishly expensive. It will never happen. The transit hub is an excellent idea, but it's scale will have to be downsized to make this proposal practical.
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  #90  
Old Posted Apr 15, 2012, 4:33 PM
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This proposal is emotional for many. Even people in Nova Scotia are thrilled (and envious) about this Monctonian progress! I think it’s marvellous that so many people care about the revitalisation of downtown Moncton; however, I think it’s even better that so many people are becoming aware of this city’s sprawling problem.

I urge everyone reading this to advocate for the downtown Moncton events centre to anyone whom disagrees with its investment, not just because the ‘Moncton Centre’ obviously benefits the downtown, but because this development will have tremendous attributes for the suburbs. The tax revenue generated in a more prosperous downtown will help pay for suburban infrastructure maintenance. The tax revenue generated will help pay for increased public transit of which will make suburbanite lifestyles more affordable. Continuing along this point of suburban affordability, with the city bringing in more dollars with its new density, it is more likely to manage freezes to any increases in utility fees that must be paid by everyone, since using the downtown is using city infrastructure that already exists.

If only the Greater Moncton Area were to draw a tight boundary around the city’s established developments and completely, or at least mostly, halt sprawl. Halting sprawl would magnify the economic impact of this downtown events centre and insure that it does not become a squandered investment. There will likely be some spin-offs resulting from the increased value of the area surrounding the ‘Moncton Centre’; however with sprawl halted, this kind of versatile events centre going forward means Moncton city council would have a wave of private developers SCRATCHING at their feet begging them to approve their residential and commercial proposals for a much broader portion of the downtown, which would spread development interest up and down the Petitcodiac. Halting sprawl doesn’t only mean you would see a much quicker return on the investment of the Moncton Centre – but this investment can turn into a strong, long-lasting profit-driven enterprise of the entire downtown of which will grow even during times of recession.

*sigh* To dream.
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  #91  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 11:43 AM
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From today's Times..

Quote:
After 10 years, Moncton city councillor Brian Hicks has gone from broken record to deal broker in just a few short weeks.

And with a new deal between the City of Moncton and Generation Place Inc., the city will pay $455,000 to get out of two expensive commitments that previous councils had agreed to in 2002 and 2005.

Resolving the issue clears the way for Generation Place, a partnership of Moncton’s Ashford Properties and Toronto’s Verdiroc, to get started on what’s believed to be a major new development.

City council left it Monday night to Ashford’s Patrick Gillespie to reveal any details of the project, and it was too late to get comment from Gillespie after what was a marathon six-and-a-half-hour council meeting. However, information that has been reported previously in the Times & Transcript suggests a major residential and commercial development.

Though figures weren’t made public Monday, it’s likely the city will recoup more than the $455,000 in just one year of property taxes on what is built there now that the development can proceed.
Apparently I'm not allowed to put the whole article in here, is that correct? So to continue reading, I'm assume you need to buy a paper.. But I just pasted the important stuff


By the sounds of it a project is already in the works and will move ahead much quicker than what I thought it would. Has anybody heard any rumors?
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  #92  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 1:02 PM
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Thank you mctnguy for posting your video on April 13. I wasn’t able to attend the presentations at City Hall and when I look at all the hard work that was done “by local firms” I’m just blown away!

My favourite ones are from Architect Four and Architecture 2000:

Architect Four

I like that they utilize two street intersections (Main/Highfield and Main/Weldon) for accessibility to the Event Center. The East corner and main entrance to the Center are grand and I love the underground passage that connects to the parking structure on the other side of the tracks.

Architecture 2000

I love this development concept. I like that the overall orientation of the new Event Center and the Multi-Modal Transit Hub are parallel to the tracks. I also noticed that there’s a token of the old railroad station with the glass dome structure at the “Transit Hub”! Some people complain about the colour stripes around the roof top of the Event Center; I’m pretty sure that they represent the wave-stripes of the Moncton logo (red, green and blue).
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  #93  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 1:03 PM
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Do not buy a paper.


Moncton ends controversial parking deal
Toronto company plans new development

Moncton will pay $455,000 to end a controversial parking deal which will allow a new development to be built on a prime piece of downtown real estate.

Coun. Brian Hicks raised concerns in February that a 10-year deal to give 385 free parking spaces to a Toronto developer could turn into a 50-year arrangement.

Last week, Hicks negotiated a solution that will have the city pay $455,000 to the developer, who will now build in the area. Hicks won't say what the developer will build but he feels it's going to be an exciting project.

“I, and council, know of Plan A and Plan B, both [are] extremely exciting. The fact is something finally is going to be built on these lands, which were acquired in 1998 by the city,” Hicks said.

“The fact is once buildings go up, the parking spaces used for Roger's will disappear and parking infrastructure will be needed.”

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-br...-deal-834.html
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  #94  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 1:09 PM
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One more note: If my figures are correct ($2.186 of property tax per $100 in assessed value), then recouping $450,000 per year leads to a development worth ~$20.5MM. Does that sound right?
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  #95  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 2:37 PM
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And if you want to read the T&T article on this big news story, here it is:

Rogers parking issue resolved
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Times & Transcript
By: Brent Mazerolle

City of Moncton, developer come to terms; city buys out Beaver land obligations

After 10 years, Moncton city councillor Brian Hicks has gone from broken record to deal broker in just a few short weeks.

And with a new deal between the City of Moncton and Generation Place Inc., the city will pay $455,000 to get out of two expensive commitments that previous councils had agreed to in 2002 and 2005.

Resolving the issue clears the way for Generation Place, a partnership of Moncton's Ashford Properties and Toronto's Verdiroc, to get started on what's believed to be a major new development.

Read more:
http://22864.vws.magma.ca/index.php?&article_id=8790

So, if I'm correct, Ashford and Verdiroc were stymied from developing this site because of the ill advised parking deal with Rogers, which might have lasted as long as 50 years. But now, thanks to the efforts of Coun. Hicks, the land is now free of encumbrances and the development will be able to proceed.



When last heard, the plan was for a major mixed use development including an apartment building and a hotel. When you look at this and the ambitious plans for the Highfield Square site, and the potential for the Aquillini block, downtown will be in for quite a bit of change in the next 4-5 years or so.



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  #96  
Old Posted Apr 17, 2012, 4:26 PM
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Originally Posted by MonctonRad View Post
When last heard, the plan was for a major mixed use development including an apartment building and a hotel. When you look at this and the ambitious plans for the Highfield Square site, and the potential for the Aquillini block, downtown will be in for quite a bit of change in the next 4-5 years or so.
Do we have an aerial view of what land is available for use and what Rogers keeps? I remember a while back I was able to cut and paste every car in the lot to fit behind the Rogers building from The Farmer's Market to the (knocked down) Creek building.

That land on Robinson is almost unused anyway (I'm looking at you, IOOB Pub).
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Old Posted Apr 18, 2012, 2:27 PM
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Do we have an aerial view of what land is available for use and what Rogers keeps? I remember a while back I was able to cut and paste every car in the lot to fit behind the Rogers building from The Farmer's Market to the (knocked down) Creek building.

That land on Robinson is almost unused anyway (I'm looking at you, IOOB Pub).
This is the latest proposal that Ash-Verd have made for this property. Underground parking below the entire site, and commercial on the first floors with condos/ apartments above.

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  #98  
Old Posted Apr 18, 2012, 3:09 PM
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This is the latest proposal that Ash-Verd have made for this property. Underground parking below the entire site, and commercial on the first floors with condos/ apartments above.

Can someone show us on a map, exactly where that would be?

JL
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  #99  
Old Posted Apr 18, 2012, 3:17 PM
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Can someone show us on a map, exactly where that would be?

JL
I would assume just to the right of that would be the Courthouse.
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  #100  
Old Posted Apr 18, 2012, 3:32 PM
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This is the latest proposal that Ash-Verd have made for this property. Underground parking below the entire site, and commercial on the first floors with condos/ apartments above.

Thanks for the (tiny) conceptual drawing Eastcoaster, and welcome to the forum!

This would be located directly to the south of the Rogers building, and across the street from the new courthouse.

Also, I have it on good authority from another informed source that the developers intend to move quickly on this project, within the next 12-24 months.
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