From the TJ
SAINT JOHN - The harbourfront will be unrecognizable in 10 years if even just a few of the projects now under discussion, and presented at an open house Wednesday, are completed.
"It's all about getting discussions going and feedback on what people think about all the projects," said Kent MacIntyre, the new general manager of Saint John Waterfront Development.
He expects work will begin this year on the Coast Guard site.
"We are very close to securing the property," he said. "That should happen anywhere from 30 to 60 days at which time we sill start moving forward with the Hardman Group."
One thing that will be completed this year is a green space eco-hub on the waterfront at the foot of Princess Street, he said. Whether it will be called Princess Park or Pugsley Park is still up in the air, but tenders will soon be going out on that project.
"The eco-hub is part of that $500,000 that Frank McKenna and TD Bank donated for five ecological sites along Harbour Passage, each worth $100,000," MacIntyre said. McKenna is deputy chairman of the TD Bank Financial Group.
The interpretive signs at the new park will focus on marine mammals.
The open house included information on plans for Long Wharf, Fort La Tour, the Coast Guard site, developer John Rocca's harbourfront condos, the StoneHammer geopark which has applied to be the first in North America to be recognized by UNESCO, Reversing Falls upgrades, Partridge Island, boardwalk refurbishment and finding a new permanent location for the YMCA-YWCA.
A major multi-year plan has already been unveiled to bring Reversing Falls back as a major tourist destination. It will see development on both sides of the Reversing Falls Bridge.
"Work this year will depend on the (city's) capital budget, which will be approved sometime in February," MacIntyre said. "The city is a major stakeholder in Reversing Falls, it is their site and its all about bringing it back to a class A site for Tourism New Brunswick."
Colin Whitcomb, executive vice-president of the Hardman Group, was showing off drawings of what will go up on the Coast Guard site once the land is transferred. The drawings showed a multi-storey condominium apartment building across from the Hilton Hotel with another hotel in behind it. It also shows an extension of Harbour Passage along the water in front of the proposed condos.
A model of the condo development planned by Rocca was also a big draw. Yvonne Holmes of Rothesay can't wait to move into the condo she has purchased near Three Sisters Park at the foot of Water Street, where construction is scheduled to start in the spring.
"I am originally from Halifax and I moved here about 10 years ago and I have always loved Saint John. The people are extra friendly, the city has a small town feel to it and I love the architecture," she said.
Warren Long, program developer for the Irving Group of companies, had several drawings of plans for the Long Wharf site that the company wants to acquire from the federal government.
"We are still working through a very complex land deal and we still have to get that settled," he said.
A new concept recently unveiled calls for filling in part of Long Wharf slip to make more public space near Harbour Passage, as well as creating more development opportunities.
"It's an idea of what that could look like," he said.
Plans have also been drawn up to create a walking trail out to Partridge Island over the breakwater and put up signs to show what the community looked like at its peak as an immigration centre.
"This is something we plan to take to the public this year and talk about as a project for the next three years or so," said Bill MacMackin, vice chairman of the Waterfront Development.
It can only go ahead if the federal government agrees to sell or lease the land to the city, he said. The work envisioned in the plan would cost about $4.5 million.
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