I know there's been some discussion about the
new Museum location in the main SJ thread, but I thought I'd put my comments here since it's now confirmed they'll be using part of the Coast Guard Site.
It's not clear from the announcement exactly what part of the site will be sold off, but I'm hoping they use the northern portion (along what was once South Market Wharf). This would buffer the rest of the site from the noise of the Boardwalk to lessen the impact of local nightlife on any residential development.
2 acres is a big chunk of land - of course it's going to be a large facility, but I hope that they come forward with a decidedly urban built form for the Museum. We should be prepared to push back against surface parking lots or large landscaped areas with little purpose in the site plan.
Finally, here's hoping that they bring in a good architect for this project and aspire to do an iconic design - I've mentioned before that this is our one opportunity to get a civic landmark approaching the impact of Halifax's Central Library, so hopefully we do it right.
I'm looking forward to hearing more details and participating in the consultation process.
There are also some questions about the intricacies of the site that have yet to be answered re: this announcement.
- What are the terms of sale (especially price)?
- How does the sale impact the need to repair the seawall and remediate environmental contamination on the site? Will there be cost-sharing between the City and the Province to do this?
- How does this impact the timing of public access around the perimeter of the site (i.e. Harbour Passage Extension)?
- I wonder if we'll get to see more info about the wider site's development (e.g. internal street network, development parcels) when plans for the Museum are released? We have yet to hear much from Develop Saint John, who are now in charge of marketing the site.
As usual, we can only speculate until more information is released to the public.