[Moncton] Northwest/Magnetic Hill Developments

[MonctonRad]

Another mini tower crane has been assembled and is now up for this new apartment project off of Ivy Road (in behind the trailer park next to the NBLC on Mountain Road).







Nothing special I know, but it is news nonetheless.......

[MonctonRad]

https://www.facebook.com/pursimpleat...location=group

According to their FB page, they plan on starting to renovate their location (old Big League Burger unit in Plaza 1909 on Mountain Road) with an opening expected in March 2018.

[Monctoncore]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Another mini tower crane has been assembled and is now up for this new apartment project off of Ivy Road (in behind the trailer park next to the NBLC on Mountain Road).







Nothing special I know, but it is news nonetheless.......

My question is when does the city put a limit on the length of these things... we have height restrictions from time to time... so why not length... it’s getting ridiculous. They could easily cut each of those in half and build two eight floor buildings for the same price they are paying for all that land, pavement and wood etc...

I get that it’s cheaper but there has to be a limit... a project like this is what stymies Downtown growth because it has so many units. I am sure I’m just acting crazy.. but it kills me when I see these ugly km long monstrosity’s being built. Just imagine there is 64 units per building, 128 units total. That could be 256 people living downtown, but instead they will be almost out of the city.

[MonctonRad]

I hear you brother. I'm not totally against suburban apartment buildings, but they should be clustered closer to major arteries and increasing height should seriously be promoted by the city. I'm getting tired of four storey ghetto-in-the-making suburban wood construction apartment buildings. We need more bricks and steel, and we need buildings at least 8-10 stories tall.

I also agree that increased density in the core over the periphery is also desirable.

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Another mini tower crane has been assembled and is now up for this new apartment project off of Ivy Road (in behind the trailer park next to the NBLC on Mountain Road).







Nothing special I know, but it is news nonetheless.......

The worst parts I see is

1. These projects are what has stifeled potential downtown projects.
2. This project looks to only take up have of that masive lot. So are they planning to add more (as you MonctonRad have put it) Ghetto in the making buildings in the future?

[MonctonBoy]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

I hear you brother. I'm not totally against suburban apartment buildings, but they should be clustered closer to major arteries and increasing height should seriously be promoted by the city. I'm getting tired of four storey ghetto-in-the-making suburban wood construction apartment buildings. We need more bricks and steel, and we need buildings at least 8-10 stories tall.

I also agree that increased density in the core over the periphery is also desirable.

There's a reason for all of these 4 storey buildings...
Because of the provincial double taxation of non-owner occupied residential properties, developers can't afford to build more than 4 storeys which is the limit for wooden structures. So by keeping the buildings on 4 floors and making them longer it maximises the return on investment, which also explain why these are away from the downtown core because they need to find bigger parcels of cheap land...

[MonctonRad]

Welcome to the forums.

If this is the case, I presume this is an "unintended consequence" of said legislation. This is always the problem with economic and tax policies formulated by government. They may plan the policy with one problem in mind, without considering the overall ramifications........

[MonctonRad]

A couple of north end notes:

1) - New awnings have been installed all the way around at the Lounsbury's Centre. It looks much, much better now.



2) - Renovations are well under way at the old Sushi Jet location across the street on Mountain Road. A building permit in the window indicates that the renovations are for a brand new restaurant - the Maple Leaf Seafood Restaurant.



Given the name of the restaurant, I wonder if it is affiliated in any way with the Maple Leaf Chinese Buffet further on down Mountain Road........

[MonctonRad]

From Councillor Greg Turner's FB page:

[MonctonRad]

The Vogue Optical building on the SW corner of Mountain/Hildegarde is under renovation. I noticed for the first time the other day that there is a new foundation in, and that they are roughly doubling the size of this building. Is this for a new optometrist office, or is there something else moving in here as well???

[DTBourque]

To the discussion about four-storey wooden apartment buildings in the suburbs -

I'm also excited about the potential for increased downtown development and all the things that come with it like walkable neighbourhoods and an impressive skyline.

At the sime time, I wonder if population growth and development throughout the metro region generally aren't pre-requisites/co-requisites for that increased downtown development. Demand, in the form of a critical mass of people wanting to live downtown and higher downtown property values, will encourage downtown development.

Too much supply of suburban apartments will lower that downtown demand, but there is also a different market there. People who can't afford to live downtown, some people with children, and some people who don't work downtown in the first place aren't going to want to live downtown.

The city has tools at its disposal to shape how it develops, and it uses them, but it's not clear to me that trying too hard to encourage/force downtown development at the expense of suburban development wouldn't also have unintended consequences, including fewer housing options for the people described in the previous paragraph and possibly less downtown development.

All of this to say that we have examples of five-plus-storey, steel structures being built downtown right now - Horizon Place (ten storeys) and FiveFive Queen (eight storeys).

This article on a five-story apartment building going up on Dieppe Boulevard specifically references how it's made of steel and how we are seeing more steel structures (and how these are luxury apartments): https://www.acadienouvelle.com/actua...luxe-a-dieppe/

[MonctonRad]

Apparently there will be a presentation at the city council meeting on Monday regarding the repurposing plan for the old coliseum/agrena once the new events centre opens up.

It will be interesting to get an update on this........

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

The Vogue Optical building on the SW corner of Mountain/Hildegarde is under renovation. I noticed for the first time the other day that there is a new foundation in, and that they are roughly doubling the size of this building. Is this for a new optometrist office, or is there something else moving in here as well???

The walls for the addition onto this building are being installed today.

[MonctonRad]

Apparently the city and the YMCA have come to an operating agreement over the proposed new north end community centre. I don't have any specifics, and don't know when the construction date will be. Hopefully there will be more information forthcoming.......

[Scarface]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Apparently the city and the YMCA have come to an operating agreement over the proposed new north end community centre. I don't have any specifics, and don't know when the construction date will be. Hopefully there will be more information forthcoming.......

Hope so. It's looking like the city is trying to avoid this project at all cost with the lack of information.

The reason I've lost faith in the city on projects as such look at the Park at Westbrook Circle. It's been fully reno'd thanks to Saturn Canada for the funds since the city claimed it was not in the budget, and during the last realeast of there list of parks going to be fixed up Westbrook was on the list despite it not needing any work it seems the city is trying to pocket money rather then use the money for well overdue projects.

[tmacdougall]

Hustle is reporting that 3 locations have been chosen for the new CanabisNB Retail stores.

Choice Properties – 165 Main St. (Superstore complex)
Mapleton Holdings Inc. – 40 Wyse St. (near Costco)
Perfection Realty – 780 Dieppe Blvd.

[MonctonRad]

Ciity of Moncton press release re: the proposed north end community centre

City Council moves a step closer to develop a future community centre for Moncton’s North End
December 18, 2017

MONCTON – An agreement has been reached between the City of Moncton and the Greater Moncton YMCA on a partnership to develop a community centre in the city’s North End.

“A partnership with the YMCA is an important leap forward in seeing a community centre happen for the residents of the rapidly growing North End of Moncton,” says Mayor Dawn Arnold. “As an experienced and credible organization with a 147 year history in our community the Y’s engagement speaks to a shared recognition of the need for community amenities in that part of our city.”

After several months of discussions and negotiations at the administrative level of both organizations, the agreement was ratified by Moncton City Council at its regular public session this evening. It was previously approved by the YMCA’s board of directors.

“This agreement, along with both the City’s funding and the YMCA’s philanthropic commitments take us a step closer to making the centre a reality,” says Zane Korytko, CEO of the Greater Moncton YMCA, “However a community centre for the North End will require participation by both provincial and federal governments.”

The planned location is on City of Moncton-owned property located on Twin Oaks Drive where it intersects with the Northwest Trail. Twin Oaks is planned to connect through to Horsman Road and Ryan Street (at the roundabout), making the site very accessible on foot, by bicycle and by car.

The 20-year agreement establishes the operating model and funding arrangement for the future community centre in the North End. It includes the following information:

The Centre will be owned and operated by the YMCA, with parameters outlining the land transfer, land use and development.
A Facility Advisory Committee will have representatives from both parties.
All of the details related to the program and financial reporting requirements.
Outlines the facility design and construction processes as well as program requirements and operational standards.
A lump sum capital contribution of $6M from the City ($4M for the facility and $2M for associated infrastructure) and a $3M capital campaign from the YMCA. The project is subject to funding from other levels of government.
The City assumes risk for construction cost overruns (but cost of mutually-agreed upon scope or design changes are shared equally).
The project will have an 18% operating subsidy from the City of Moncton with any operational deficits being shared equally between both parties.
There will be an annual lifecycle contribution of $25,000 made equally by both parties.
Representatives will move to the next steps in the process which include: the building design phase and formalizing the funding requests.

[MonctonRad]

USVA Nordic Spa currently under construction on Front Mountain Road, near the Magnetic Hill Winery.


from Mayor Dawn Arnold's FB page

[Scarface]

a New townhouse development is soon to break ground off Amiens Drive ext.
The project by Tridev Corporation is suposed to match (on a smaller scale)
Le Village en haut du ruisseau in Dieppe. The Dieppe project has been fully sold out, and I do hope that there Moncton Townhouse development manages to see the same success.

[MonctonRad]

Signage has now been installed for the Maple Leaf Seafood Restaurant on Mountain Road. Since there is Chinese lettering on the sign, I think it's a fair bet that this is affiliated in some way with the Maple Leaf Buffet Restaurant further down Mountain Road.