Newfoundland & Labrador Projects

[Trevor3]

As far as I know the Deer Lake hotel is still stalled. The last time I was out that way it didn't seem like there was any activity on the site. Now, I could be completely wrong too, I'm only going by the view from the highway, but its definitly not completed.

And yes, Stephenville is very under photograped. But I can provide a link to some pics I took on Saturday actually. I picked up a new camera and decided to have a little fun with it, nearly got ran over by a tractor-trailer as well because I was on an overpass with no sidewalk, clearly a dumb decision on my part.

http://img88.imageshack.us/g/1000699o.jpg/

They were all in the evening and mostly on the old Base on the east side of town. Some abandoned parts of the industrial park, the manor and college, one of our newish hospital (opened in 04) behind the newish stadium (opened in 99 for the Canada Games). Hopefully if I get the chance I'll put up some of the new subdivisions and nicer parts of town later this week. Some of those pics made me feel like I'm in a Newfoundland version of Detroit.

Forgive the blurryness, it was cold and I was shivering during a few of them.

There are supposed to be a hotel or 2 going up in Grand Falls in the next couple of years, anyone have info on those?

[Architype]

Thanks, nice to see some of these. I was in Stephenville about 3 years ago, but it was dark and I couldn't take any pics.

What are the two 6 (or 7?) storey buildings, I know they were part of the base, but do they have names, and what are they used for now?

Hope you don't mind me posting this one here -


(Photo by trevor3)


Here's another one from Panoramio which I didn't find until now.


Panoramio

[Trevor3]

Actually, both of those pictures were taken by me (I think).

The two buildings are 6 storeys each, plus a basement level is above ground in places. The fire department calls them 6 officially, but the cubes on the roof add an extra 2 storeys, so at their highest point they're about 9 storeys up.

The one with the mostly black windows, on left in the first photo, is the College of the North Atlantic. They have a dozen or so locations around town but this is the headquarters for the provicial community college system and the biggest local employer. It houses classes and offices on floors 1-4 and residence dorm rooms on 5 & 6. The other building, on right in the first photo, is the Stephenville Manor. It has 6 levels of apartments and has a large convenience store and health club on the first floor.

They were barracks on the base and nicknamed the "Harmon Hiltons". Today they just go by The College and The Manor, although occasionaly the "Twin Towers" to some tourists because of our US history and role in 9/11.

Edit: I didn't take the second photo but I did take one suspiciously similar.

[Trevor3]

Finally got around to posting those subdivision pictures I was talking about.

http://img840.imageshack.us/slidesho...=1000792wx.jpg

Picture 1 - Capri Court - 16 duplexes, 32 units
Pictures 2-9 - Bayside Development - 28 lots, close to schools and downtown
Pictures 10-11 - Oceanview Estates, Kippens - not sure how big, but Phase 2 contains a strip mall/office space, so its fair size I would assume.
Pictures 12-13 - Forsey Subdivision, Kippens - Fairly small at around 12 lots I think
Pictures 14-24 - Orchard Lane, Kippens - Phase one is mostly built up, Phase 2 is in the groundwork stage but several lots are ready to go.
Pictures 25-34 - Former hospital location - Not being developed yet, still in the environmental remediation stage but should be good to go soon
Pictures 35-45 - Maryland Estates - great views, small lots though. Probably about 15 lots remaining.
Pictures 46-50 - Benoit Subdivision - Currently in Phase 2, groundwork underway for Phase 3, should have about 30 lots when done.
Pictures 51-56 - Ridgeview Estates - In "Moonshine Valley" area of town, quite nice actually.

There is also a new Bayside Development in Kippens, its surveyed and road work has just begun. It has some great waterfront lots.
Stephenville's Area 13 development is expected to be expanded next year, either southeast toward the Hanson Highway, or northeast toward Queen Street. Should create 40-50 new lots.
There is also a 129 lot mini-home development underway off of Queen Street.

Industrial/Economic Development:
Peat Resources is working on an expansion to see them supply the Corner Brook Paper Mill and various other industrial operations with Peat Moss pellets as an alternative energy source. They are also exploring european and domestic market opportunities.
Northern Harvest Sea Farms is constructing a Salmon Smolt Hatchery near the port here. Its currently employing 50 people in the construction phase, 12-15 once opened and more as it expands. The company has said the facility will be the largest of its kind in North America.

[Architype]

Thanks for posting your photo link for Stephenville. Some of those look fairly upscale, and with nice locations and views.

[Trevor3]

Thought I would pass along a little news from the west coast...

Looks like the Deer Lake hotel project is resuming in a couple of weeks after being put on hold a nice while back. According to an article in the Western Star on Tuesday, town council re-approved the project's building permit and work is expected to begin on August 8. There is no online link to it, it was a minor article buried on page 5 or something, but news nonetheless!

It will be a Holiday Inn Express with approximately 90 rooms, wish I could give some more detail but I don't even have the paper on hand.

[Architype]

Thanks for the update, btw there is a picture of the hotel posted on the previous page.

[PoscStudent]

Seeing we don't have a page for it and we've mentioned others areas before, I read the other day that Labrador City's population is expected be around 10,000 again. In 2006 they had over 7,000.

[Architype]

I had no idea, but had read things about housing shortages etc. there.

So this increase should show up in this year's census then.

According to wikipedia, the combined 2006 population (including Wabush) would have been about 8,979.

With that kind of increase it would probably be around 12,000 for the "metro".

Wikipedia also says that in the 1970's the area had a population of about 22,000.


Here's a bit from an article -

Keeping pace
Published on July 18, 2011
Svjetlana (Lana) Vrbanic


Labrador City is growing rapidly and keeping pace with development is a rising challenge for the municipality.

The growth comes in the wake of several announcements by the big mining companies in the area. The Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) is going through an expansion that is expected to see up to 900 new permanent positions. . . .

Jeff Boland, Labrador City town manager, says that there might be upwards of 10,000 people in the town, which is an increase from 7,800 people calculated a couple of years ago.

He says that before the market crashed in 1982, the population in Labrador City was much the same, and the town handled it pretty well. Therefore, Boland adds, he doesn’t see why it can’t this time around.

Also of note, he said, there were five apartment buildings at that time on Maple and Lakeside, which aren’t there anymore.

Recently, however, there has been a growing interest from developers in the area.

Boland said 100 houses are slated for Hudson, another 40 for Malakoff, and an additional 15 for Quartzite.

. . .

Building up might be the best option, she said, because the town doesn’t have much land to spare.

“You look around our community and you think we have lots of land to develop — we do not,” said Oldford. “We’re very land poor. What little land we do have we’re trying to evaluate to see what is the best use of it.”

There are additional problems for developers, she said, such as building on virgin terrain, which requires a lot of rock blasting and infill. This is expensive and time consuming, she adds.

The complete article is quite interesting:
http://www.theaurora.ca/News/2011-07...Keeping-pace/1

[Architype]

See inside (& outside) the new Corner Brook City Hall, and what looks like a beautiful addition to the city.
Nice to see the crown has also been added on the outside.

This link contains the images:

http://cornerbrooker.com/2011/07/a-p...new-city-hall/

More here, pre-completion -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomcoch...ityhall/page2/

[Architype]

Library move should begin in late September; Tetford hoping modern, inviting facility will draw influx of new patrons

Published on August 24, 2011
Diane Crocker
CORNER BROOK

It’s centrally located downtown and highly visible, but the new Corner Brook Public Library is not open yet.

Shawn Tetford, executive director of the Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries, said it will be late September or early October before the space in the new city hall on West Street is ready to welcome patrons. . . .

The new library will take up two floors in the city hall building.

Continue reading:
http://www.thewesternstar.com/News/2...-new-patrons/1



Source & Photo: Diane Crocker, The Western Star

[Architype]

Hotel construction resumes after two-year delay (Deer Lake)

Construction on the Holiday Inn Express resumed this week for the first time in two years, with a goal of mid-April 2012 as a completion date. ...

Pacrim Hospitality Services of Halifax announced the 85-100 room hotel adjacent to the Trans Canada Highway was to have been completed in 2009.

Continue reading: http://www.thewesternstar.com/Busine...woyear-delay/1

[Trevor3]

Haven't seen anything posted from the west coast in a while, so I figured I would give a small update. This will also serve as a list for me to take a few pictures next week to share with everyone...

Corner Brook:
Memorial University of Newfoundland - Grenfell Campus
Arts and Sciences Building Academic Extension and Observatory is just about completed, very nice looking building, now if they only demolished the dump connected to it.

New residence building is just underway, 4 stories up when completed and situated on a neat little hillside behind the current campus.

New Western Memorial Regional Hospital - sitework is well underway and its a impressive looking site so far. They have basically backfilled a valley by knocking over the top of the hill and putting up some retaining walls along the hill that was left behind. Anyone who has ever been to Corner Brook understands why this was done. (Its a bowl)

Corner Brook Plaza is getting a facelift, looks classy too. They seem to have installed lighting on the outside of the building (I have only seen it from a distance) but it looks great in the evening. Regardless, its the first upgrade to the exterior since it was opened, aside from the occasional coat of paint.

Stephenville:
Plans/Permits have been issued for the exterior renovation (windows/siding etc...) of the Stephenville Manor. Chances are the brick will come down and metal siding will go up, as in keeping with our local style of doing as little as possible, for as little as possible.

Proposed Apartment complex on Missouri Drive behind the town hall. No idea what that would look like, but its an awful spot. Maybe it gets spruced up somehow.

Also we have a slew of seniors apartments under construction, or finished, and they look like chicken coops, complete with white vinyl siding and not so much as a window shutter in sight.

In the demolition department, the former Stephenville Gardens is being taken down to open up land for development by the town and airport. Its a prime location for a parking lot extension or hangar development if a company was interested. Sadly, it will likely just sit as an empty lot. A lot of people disappointed to see it go. Anytime a town loses an old landmark it brings out sentimental stories, and this is no different. In its time, the Gardens was the largest rink in Newfoundland and sat more people than Memorial Stadium in St. John's.

I suppose the new Marine Atlantic Ferries are equivalent to new development in Port-aux-Basques. Shame what happened to the old ships though.

[Architype]

^ Sorry, this thread has been slow, but thanks for the updates above.

Here are some renderings of the proposed Corner Brook hospital, at the following link:

http://www.jharchitect.ca/cbhospital1.htm

From the renderings it looks like the highest section will be 6 stories, the curve makes it an interesting design.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Architype

^ Sorry, this thread has been slow, but thanks for the updates above.

Here are some renderings of the proposed Corner Brook hospital, at the following link:

http://www.jharchitect.ca/cbhospital1.htm

From the renderings it looks like the highest section will be 6 stories, the curve makes it an interesting design.

Thanks for posting this rendering. I've been looking around to find one and hadn't been able to come up with anything relating to what it would look like when complete. It's definitely an interesting design, almost looks like an airport terminal to me.

If I can ever find my usb cable I'll upload some photos of the site (which seems to be shutdown for the winter).

[Trevor3]

I have some images of the work at Grenfell Campus - Memorial University to pass along. All photos by me.

Site of new Grenfell Residence, with Long Term Care Centre in the background


Image of the new residence displayed at the Student Housing Office


My attempt at viewing the site at same angle as the rendering, little off but close enough to get the idea.


Inside view of new Arts/Science building extension, where the old building meets new


Outside view of the same. The above picture was taken looking right to left on the bottom floor of the glass corridor/entrance way.


Some outside views of the extension:
Looking northeast:

Looking southeast:

Looking southwest:


There are a few more t go along with these at: http://s138.photobucket.com/albums/q...eJet/Grenfell/

[statbass]

Thanks for the pics Trevor3. I read a few days ago that the Holiday Inn Express in Deer Lake is progressing and they're staring to accept reservations.... that's great to hear!

[Architype]

The curved facade makes the building look very nice, it also appears to have an observatory(?) on top.

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by Architype

The curved facade makes the building look very nice, it also appears to have an observatory(?) on top.

Yes, it's actually the largest observatory in Atlantic Canada.

Also, I find it somewhat odd that the university would invest in that sort of facility, considering Grenfell's main roles are serving as a "junior college" sort of institution for Memorial in St. John's and fulfilling the roles of a liberal arts school.

[statbass]

Originally Posted by Trevor3

Yes, it's actually the largest observatory in Atlantic Canada.

Also, I find it somewhat odd that the university would invest in that sort of facility, considering Grenfell's main roles are serving as a "junior college" sort of institution for Memorial in St. John's and fulfilling the roles of a liberal arts school.

Hmm... could it be a part of a long term plan to eventually establish a space or atmospheric science research program at Grenfell? God knows it's pointless to do that over here on the east coast with all the fog we get!