[Moncton] Downtown Developments

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by BaseballFan

Correct.

Interesting. I trust your knowledge on this, as you usually know what's going on. Does the city plan also include the adjacent property (209 ALBERT ST), on the NW corner of the Assomption/Albert intersection?

And, just to make sure everyone is crystal clear what land the city is purchasing - here it is, highlighted on a Google Map image:



This would appear to be where the city has chosen to build the new Codiac RCMP Headquarters Building

Maybe the property at 209 Albert will be destined to be the city's newest Tim Horton's (given it's proximity to the new police HQ).

[BaseballFan]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

Interesting. I trust your knowledge on this, as you usually know what's going on. Does the city plan also include the adjacent property (209 ALBERT ST), on the NW corner of the Assomption/Albert intersection?

Not that I am aware of, no. The piece at 209 Albert has a different owner and was listed for sale at $1,100,000 some time ago.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by tmacdougall

According to the Times & Transcript, the Higgins Block at the corner of Main and Botsford have been purchased by a new company called Fusion Properties.

No immediate plans to renovate.

Here is a link to the T&T article regarding the Higgins Block:

https://www.telegraphjournal.com/tim...urce=story-top (paywall)

The upper floors of Moncton's historic Higgins Block have been vacant for more than 30 years and the new owners are now looking for the best way to fix them up for future use.

"We are starting from scratch on the upper floors," Andreé Savoie said Monday. "It could be offices, condos or apartments. We'll look at every opportunity. We have lots of great ideas but whatever we do has to be financially feasible."

They said the restaurants, which lease space on the main floor, will remain as they decide on the best use for the upper floors. The owners plan to work with the city's heritage board to make sure any changes are done in accordance with heritage bylaws and maintain the spirit of the old building. Renovations would include new windows and doors along with plumbing, electrical, heating and ventilation systems.

The T&T article contains a lot more information for those who are interested. I wish the new owners well. The Higgins Block has a lot of potential, and I'm glad that the new owners intend to work with the Heritage Board to maintain the building's architectural integrity. The Higgin's Block sits on one of the most prominent intersections in the downtown, immediately across from City Hall Plaza and deserves a little love and respect.

[BaseballFan]

Those are two well respected property owners, and I am very confident this will be a pretty high quality project.

[theshark]

Will be nice when those boarded up windows will be history!

[Fischbob]

Hopefully the new owners of the Higgins Block start work on the upper floors sooner rather than later. The transformation of vacant and underutilized upper floors to new (often residential) uses has made a huge impact on the vibrancy of Uptown SJ over the past decade or so, and it would be great to see similar work undertaken in Downtown Moncton.

[Monctoncore]

The mayor released on her Facebook page that they have chooses the plot of land on here as the new land for the RCMP... it would have been ideal next to the courthouse, but I think this new location, may actual spur some more development in that small section of downtown. It’s not the nicest neighborhood, especially when coming across the bridge, so this may be very beneficial.

[Philbilly]

News regarding the new RCMP HQ

https://www.facebook.com/15366729665...5324360687721/

Codiac RCMP is a major step closer to a new headquarters after Moncton City Council approved the 2.4 million dollar purchase of almost five acres of land between Assomption and Vaughan Harvey Boulevards.

Superintendent Tom Critchlow says this is great news, as they have been waiting for quite a while adding this is the best location of the ones they saw.

“I think it’s still early to really come out and say what will be in there, now that we have a design team, they’re just in the final selection of who that will be, and they’ll work with our team out of Halifax on exactly what’s needed,” says Critchlow.

He says despite being a little further away from the downtown core, it won’t impact service.

“It’s within the same proximity to the court house, we wanted to have it within a certain radius of that, proximity to other communities within the region, so I don’t see it changing the way we do our business,” says Critchlow.

One of the location requirements from the RCMP was that the new HQ be within 1 to 1.5 kilometres of the Moncton Courthouse on Assomption Boulevard, opposite Riverfront Park.

“We have a special Utilities Team for the Atlantic region that help in the design of buildings, and obviously for a police building, there are specific requirements that have to be included,” adds Critchlow.

Critchlow says if all goes according to plan, they expect to be able to occupy the new building by Spring 2022.

The estimated cost of the new HQ is $40 – 50 million dollars, but that will be narrowed down as the design phase proceeds.

Moncton City Councillor, and Codiac Regional Policing Authority Chair Charles Leger says the cost of the building will be split within the tri-communities by the normal formula.

Moncton is covering 70 per cent of the costs, with Dieppe and Riverview paying for 18 and 12 per cent respectively.

[MonctonRad]

I am not really against this location for the new RCMP HQ. I always thought there were several options closer to the new courthouse, and that such a location would aid in downtown densification, but this new location would allow easy access to all areas of Moncton and Riverview, and via Assomption Blvd also Dieppe, so I understand the decision.

This is a large plot of land, allowing for some latitude in architectural design, and also abundant parking. In it's own way, an RCMP building in this location will aid in the densification along Vaughan Harvey Blvd, especially with the future build out of the Junction Urban Village. It might also spur on development of the adjacent lot at 209 Albert Street. I recall that when this lot was purchased about five years ago, there was some talk at the time of an office building here. maybe now it will happen too...........

[KnoxfordGuy]

Those empty floors should become apartments. More peoople need to be living downtown.

[alienc]

I am not sure if anyone noticed, but at the corner of Euston and Waterloo Streets (Euston runs between Assomption and Albert St.), they look to have the once mentioned on here Outdoor Beer Garden type place setup.

I've not walked by it but from Assomption it's good a wooden fence around it and what looks like a shipping container inside. Like a scaled down version of the Stillwell Beer Garden in Halifax.

I will see if I can find the original post I know there was a couple with plans to open something like that in this spot. I think it was 2017 though.

If someone can get some pictures up close would be interesting to see what it looks like, I will try to talk walk around there on the weekend.

This one:

https://forum.skyscraperpage.com/sho...postcount=2855

So looks like for 2019 this is going to open.

[MonctonRad]

Indeed. There was some chatter about this on Councillor Greg Turner's FB page the other week.

These were a couple of renders from our original post about this project back in 2017 when it was getting approval from city council.





Councillor Turner posted this photo:

It will be know as the Euston Park Social Beer Garden and will be opening in May

It may do well, being located halfway between the Avenir Centre and the Hal Betts Sports Complex.

EDIT - they have their own FB page:

https://www.facebook.com/eustonparksocial/



In addition to craft beers, they might have some interesting fare to eat as well...........


Scallion sesame pancake with drunken shrimp

[BlackYear]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

This would appear to be where the city has chosen to build the new Codiac RCMP Headquarters Building

Well that's disappointing!. Why not purchase the green portion below? Or is the bottom corner portion not for sale?

The current land is hidden away IMO, just stupid the build on without having that bottom corner lot. I would look for another location in this case.

If they were able to acquire that corner lot, imaging coming across the Gunningsville bridge and being welcomed to Moncton by a nice looking building like below.



Photo credit from Google images:

[riverviewer]

Originally Posted by Budyser

Well that's disappointing!. Why not purchase the green portion below? Or is the bottom corner portion not for sale?

That's a wetland. no PID for sale. What they bought falls outside the 30 meter buffer.

[Mattyyy]

Originally Posted by Budyser

Well that's disappointing!. Why not purchase the green portion below? Or is the bottom corner portion not for sale?

The current land is hidden away IMO, just stupid the build on without having that bottom corner lot. I would look for another location in this case.

If they were able to acquire that corner lot, imaging coming across the Gunningsville bridge and being welcomed to Moncton by a nice looking building like below.



Photo credit from Google images:

I'm not really sure that your concern is true. That piece of land is elevated from gunningsville and assumptions - it will be perfectly visible from the road. I believe the small piece of land in front could also be developed could it not? There were plans for a 6 story building there years ago.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Mattyyy

I'm not really sure that your concern is true. That piece of land is elevated from gunningsville and assumptions - it will be perfectly visible from the road. I believe the small piece of land in front could also be developed could it not? There were plans for a 6 story building there years ago.

I agree.

I imagine the RCMP building will be built on the back part of the lot, adjacent to and overlooking Vaughan Harvey, and will be elevated with relation to the roadway (Vaughan Harvey at this point is an underpass under the CNR mainline), so, even if the building is only three stories tall, it will seem more impressive than that.

As for the land in front (209 Albert), riverviewer is quite correct, it is a provincially designated wetland, but this doesn't mean that it can't be built on. What it does mean is that any potential developer will have to come up with a plan to create an equal amount of wetland elsewhere in the region to compensate.

And, yes you are correct too. I also recall plans at some point to build an office building here (or at least a request for variance to allow such) from about five years ago. If the Codiac RCMP HQ ends up getting built next door, I imagine that 209 Albert suddenly will become much more attractive to developers. It's position on the NE corner of Vaughan Harvey/Assomption at the main entrance point into downtown Moncton coming from Riverview and Albert County is hard to beat.

[Monctoncore]

The lot you are referring to on the corner is already owned by someone else, hence the reason why they didn’t purchase it. It’s also been mention above that it’s owned by another group.

[MonctonRad]

New RCMP HQ to expand downtown's borders
Op-ed piece in the T&T
https://www.telegraphjournal.com/tim...tory/100828846 (paywall)

The new HQ – which is expected to cost between $40 million and $50 million – is supposed to be open by the spring of 2022. When it does, it will no doubt be a catalyst for growth in its new neighbourhood, which at the moment is the least 'downtowny' part of downtown.

Look at it from above: sandwiched between Assomption Boulevard to the south and the Avenir Centre and Sobey's shopping centre to the north, once upon a time it was part of the industrial heart of Moncton. Now, it's mostly grim, sprawling vacant lots with a few businesses lining Albert Street.

The fact that such a key piece of city infrastructure is being moved to the neighbourhood can't help but expand the borders of what is currently seen as 'downtown'.

I agree with the author's sentiments. The south side of the CNR mainline in the west end of the downtown area has been the "wrong side of the tracks" for as long as I've lived in Moncton. The land the city is purchasing was originally owned by the CNR. Any industrial enterprises in this section of the city have long since been torn down. The few pockets of residential buildings in the area are old, shabby and occasionally dilapidated. It is a depressed area but there are signs of hope. Just look at the Euston Park Social Beer Garden set to open later this spring. With the Avenir Centre nearby, and with the new RCMP HQ (amongst other things), this area may be set for an urban renaissance. Albert Street in particular may soon be set for brighter things.........

[lirette]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

New RCMP HQ to expand downtown's borders
Op-ed piece in the T&T
https://www.telegraphjournal.com/tim...tory/100828846 (paywall)





I agree with the author's sentiments. The south side of the CNR mainline in the west end of the downtown area has been the "wrong side of the tracks" for as long as I've lived in Moncton. The land the city is purchasing was originally owned by the CNR. Any industrial enterprises in this section of the city have long since been torn down. The few pockets of residential buildings in the area are old, shabby and occasionally dilapidated. It is a depressed area but there are signs of hope. Just look at the Euston Park Social Beer Garden set to open later this spring. With the Avenir Centre nearby, and with the new RCMP HQ (amongst other things), this area may be set for an urban renaissance. Albert Street in particular may soon be set for brighter things.........

I could actually see this area becoming a hip up and coming neighbourhood. With the working class shop (and soon to be added barber shop) the Euston park Social, the Chris Rock its a decent start. These types of hip neighbourhoods have to start somewhere. If you can get rid of all those houses that are practically falling apart and replace them with a few smaller modern apartments with ground level boutiques, artisan shops & perhaps another restaurant. Perhaps even add a hipster type café with quality coffee which Moncton has space for. The only comparable thing is Duo (doesn't roast their own coffee) or Down East/Café Codiac (quality coffee and food, but the interior isn't really hip, moreso functional and a lot of older clientele). Someone like O'Creek Brewing, Niche Brewing or Grand Monk Ales could add a taproom.

Moncton is starting to add a lot of arts & culture over the last few years with things like Festival Inspire, Flash Festival, immigrants from many different cultures. Stores like My home mercantile & starving artist cafe are successes. We're closer to being a "cool city" than we've ever been before. We just have to promote it.

[MonctonRad]

170 Victoria has received final approval:

Developer Gets ‘Green Light’ For 32-Unit Building In Downtown Moncton
Jan 23, 2019
by Inda Intiar
https://huddle.today/apartment-owner...wEgq9itQxx-n3c



I find this note in the article somewhat confusing however:

But the public hearing Monday night came with notes from CN, which doesn’t object the rezoning, but has asked ML Rentals to provide a noise study subject to CN Rail’s review and acceptance. CN said if the study recommends mitigations to reduce the level of noise for future residents, CN would expect those to be required by the city as part of the project approval.

CN indicated that it will also reach out for legal counsel to see what options are there for registering a noise caveat on the properties.

So, if I'm reading this correctly, CNR is concerned that future residents of this building might complain about the noise from passing trains? Sounds like CNR is just trying to cover their ass on this one. I think you could just as easily argue that any reasonable person moving into a property like this close to a railway track should expect to hear noise form passing trains. It's a bit like a new suburban neighbourhood building up next to a pig farm and then complaining about the smell. The pig farmer was there first!!!