Official Sydney and Area Projects Thread

[CJSA]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I'm a bit hesitant to click on a link not knowing where it is going to take me. What is this about???

Sorry about that! Image did not load but the link works!

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by CJSA

Sorry about that! Image did not load but the link works!

Thanks.

[Smevo]

Looks like the image was taken down, which is too bad, I was hoping to see up-close progress.

A friend of mine posted a story on his instagram last week from the shore in Westmount where you could just make out the steel frame, but that's the closest thing to an update I've seen recently.

[CJSA]

Originally Posted by Smevo

Looks like the image was taken down, which is too bad, I was hoping to see up-close progress.

A friend of mine posted a story on his instagram last week from the shore in Westmount where you could just make out the steel frame, but that's the closest thing to an update I've seen recently.

Good Day Smevo;
I uploaded another image. Hopefully it will stay up!
Regards;
Andrew

[Smevo]

Thanks for that. It's coming along nicely!

[Smevo]

Port City Grocery Opening August 6th in Downtown Sydney


Nice to see something like this coming to Sydney. Hopefully it gets the support it needs.

[Smevo]

https://www.instagram.com/buildingtomorrowcb/

This account will be highlighting major developments in the area. They have a couple of videos of the NSCC build so far.

[CJSA]

Originally Posted by Smevo

https://www.instagram.com/buildingtomorrowcb/

This account will be highlighting major developments in the area. They have a couple of videos of the NSCC build so far.

Good Day Smevo;
Awesome link!!

[Smevo]

Sydney luxury apartment complex designed to meet wants of Cape Breton tenants, developer says


I don't know if I'd go so far as the article does, saying the "skyline is continuing to evolve." Sure at 4 storeys this can be seen from the opposite shore, but not from many other vantage points than that I wouldn't think.

That said, it is 64 units of luxury apartments (at a luxury pricetag), which may not be exactly what the island needs, but is a good signal that there is improving economic health in the area for enough people to afford these rents.

[CJSA]

There are 2 more of these units being constructed adjacent to this unit once this one is completed along Kings road. Nice addition!

[Smevo]

New NSCC Marconi campus taking further shape in CBRM


The framing is starting to really take shape. It should be quite far along and visible from the Westmount side when I'm supposed to be home next summer. I've noticed it being visible in the background of some friends' pictures from the Dobson Yacht club.

[Smevo]

Nice photo update from goCapeBreton.com

NSCC Waterfront Campus Photo Update Sept.16, 2021


Building Tomorrow CB has also posted updates on it's Instagram account.

NSCC Update (from a tour they did)

Cape Breton Regional Hospital Expansion (Earthwork mostly)

[Smevo]

NSCC Sydney.


Great photo from East Coast Metal Fabrication today. From their LinkedIn.

[Smevo]

CBRM ends 2021 in the black with $3.9M surplus


Some good news for the CBRM. A nice unexpected windfall from the people moving into the area again, with higher real estate sales. The building permits boom doesn't hurt either. I'm interested to see the January population estimates and the census results in February.

Estimated population changes since 2016 (Derived from StatCan link):
2016-2017: -721
2017-2018: -85
2018-2019: +1461
2019-2020: -303

2020 was negatively affected by the pandemic preventing international migration (one of our bright spots in population growth recently). Reports for 2021 thusfar are that the population is increasing again, both due to the international migration and people moving back during COVID. As of the 2020 numbers, the area is +352 since 2016. Not huge, but a definite improvement over previous periods between censuses. I'm also curious to see how the pandemic has affected census response rates across the board. I know my submission was slightly late due to increased workload.

[Smevo]

Sydney developer Martin Chernin severs ties with CBRM for future development



Absolutely unbelievable! So he's removed the publicly funded portion of the development (the library), due to the expired agreement, wants to develop his own land and pay the municipality market price for their land, and they won't even hear him out? This is the biggest developer in the area, and if you're treating this developer like this, the other large developers are going to be watching. His developments are notoriously slow to get moving, but that's not necessarily his or his company's fault. If this is any precedent, it's going to be a very rough few years for development in the CBRM.

Now look, I'm not saying his development would necessarily be great, and there is obviously a process to be followed, but it sounds like they're not even letting him try to follow that process on this land. I guess that gravel parking lot is too beautiful to be developed in much of council's eyes.


New Horizon Achievement Centre in Sydney nearing completion


This is a great development, not only for developing in Harbourside and the new cafe, but because the Horizon Achievement Centre provides meaningful training and employment opportunities (in house and placement/advocacy) to people with intellectual disabilities, and they desperately needed the extra space and better equipment they now have in this building.

It looks like one or two of the more interesting architectural elements were removed from the design during the build, but I'll take it considering the funding crunch and the need for this building.



And finally, another NSCC photo update.

NSCC Waterfront Campus Photo Update - Oct.11, 2021


The link mentions that more foundation has been poured where the fire station was, which now allows all buildings in the original rendering to be built. There's a lot of work involved in this one, so it will be one to watch for a while.

[Smevo]

Developer vows to do business anywhere but CBRM after proposal rejected

The CBC story on Chernin vs CBRM makes it sound like he was looking for exclusive rights to develop this land after the agreement expired. I'm not sure where I really stand if that's the case, although I have watched some council meetings with regard to the library development prior to it's expiry, and some councilors seemed determined to delay the project to get Chernin's involvement out of it.

[CJSA]

This is a unbelievable situation! Mr Chernin owns the land smack in the middle of the municipal land. He was the ONLY developer that came forward when the last call for proposals went out to develop this land. Why would council expect that anyone else would be interested when there is a large parcel of land there that they don't own!!
It was a multi million dollar development that they just said NO to ! Mayor and council look bad on this one!

[Smevo]

Yes, their unwillingness to hear him means his portion, which he'd have an easier time building on, also won't be developed. I doubt he'll be in a hurry to part with the land he owns, so that will throw a wrench in any other developer's plans as well.

[Smevo]

Waterfront development proposal veto was 'nothing personal' against Sydney developer: CBRM councillors


All three are that responded are claiming they wanted to open up a competitive process for proposals. Here's a radical idea, why not listen to what Chernin's proposal actually is, and IF he's looking for another exclusivity contract, and you don't want that, then vote no at that time! They made an assumption, and vetoed based on that before even hearing what they were voting against, at least according to the previous article (if I have time, I'll see if the council session is on their YouTube channel to see for myself what happened). You're not business friendly if you wont even take the time to hear a proposal. [/rant]

[a little more rant] Of the three that responded, one of these councilors for sure, and maybe more, basically said in a previous debate about the library that they were hoping for the deal to expire so they could open up RFP's to other developers. They were visibly annoyed that there was an extension given to the original agreement, when there was confusion about whether they even applied for provincial funding in the first place, before they ultimately voted against even getting a cost estimate on the new library design parameters (which changed slightly with new accessibility rules) because building material costs were too volatile (one excuse) and they didn't want to pay for the study to get a price to go to the province/feds with because they didn't know how much money (if any) the province/feds would kick into the project...so why start the process at all. There have been some bad councils in the past, but this is probably one of the worst times possible to have this one. [/rant...for real this time]

[brucester4]

Originally Posted by Smevo

Yes, their unwillingness to hear him means his portion, which he'd have an easier time building on, also won't be developed. I doubt he'll be in a hurry to part with the land he owns, so that will throw a wrench in any other developer's plans as well.

Chernin has been promising to build something there since at least 2018, I just don't feel he is serious about the project. Something more than a parking lot and beer garden should be there by now.