East End Project Will Transform Downtown Fredericton

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The City of Fredericton will begin construction this year on a major development project that will transform the East End of the City's downtown core. The $77-million project, next to The Playhouse theatre, will include construction of a $24.2 million conference centre, a $41 million office complex as well as a parking facility.

The Government of Canada and the Province of New Brunswick each contributed $4 million to the cost of construction of the Conference Centre portion of the project. The Province has also agreed to lease 13,500 square metres (150,000 square feet) of space in the complex. The office space lease agreement with the Province of New Brunswick is estimated to be worth about $4.5 - $5 million per year.

The conference centre will serve as an economic engine for Fredericton for years to come, welcoming meetings, conferences, cultural activities, as well as local community events.


Project Facts at a Glance

-In November 2004, plans were unveiled for a conference centre complex and parking structure in downtown Fredericton. The project is expected to generate new business for city and attract interest in a new office building and hotel.
-In May 2005, the Province of New Brunswick sold land to the municipality to accommodate the project.
-In January 2006, a consortium of companies headed by the ADI Group was hired to work with the City of Fredericton on the project's master planning and design concepts.
-More detailed design work, funding discussions and land assembly continued throughout the last half of 2006 and into 2007.
-In August 2007, City Council approved a design and construction agreement with the ADI Group for the project. Council also authorized work to begin on the conceptual design phase of the conference centre and related underground parking.
-In December 2007 the Province of New Brunswick announced it would lease approximately 13,500 square metres (150,000 square feet) of space in the new office building.
-In February 2008, the Government of Canada and the Province of New Brunswick announced they were each contributing $4 million toward the cost of construction of the conference centre portion of the project.
-The entire design and construction phase is expected to take 24 - 30 months to complete.

City of Fredericton To Build New Fire Station / Training Facility (under construction)

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The City of Fredericton released the design January 3, 2007 of the fire station and Centre of Excellence in Public Safety Training to be constructed on Two Nations Crossing.
Work will begin this year on the first phase of the project - a state of the art, three-storey training facility - where a new generation of firefighters will learn the skills required in this demanding profession.

The Centre of Excellence will be complete and ready to use by summer.

Site-preparation for the main fire station building will continue in 2007 with construction expected to be complete in 2008.

One of Atlantic Canada's foremost architectural firms, Sperry & Partners, of Halifax, designed the new station.

The new station will feature an 11,090 square-foot apparatus bay. Locker rooms, day rooms and a dorm will take up 5,160 square feet with offices, training rooms and a public entrance adding another 5,040 square feet to the project.


Waterloo Row Water Treatment Plant(under construction)

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The construction of a new water treatment plant at 300 Waterloo Row represents the largest single water and sewer construction project undertaken by the City in many years. The new plant is a key component of the City's long-range strategy to keep pace with demand for high-quality drinking water as the City grows. It will draw its water from three new wells recently completed in the Queens Square area.

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The proposed plant will use oxidation and pressure filtration technology with pH adjustment, similar to the existing William L. Barret Water Treatment Plant adjacent to the Victoria Health Centre on Smythe Street. The water will leave the Queens Square wells at high pressure and travel through a pipe system to the new plant for treatment, then travel under Waterloo Row to Morrell park, where it will enter an existing large water supply line for delivery to the citizens of Fredericton.

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Frederick Square II(proposed)

-Located at 99 Westmorland street
-8 floors

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Southview Condominiums(under construction)

-Located on Union street
-5 floors
-Construction started fall 2007

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City Receives Green Light for Southside Sports Complex

Fredericton, NB - The City of Fredericton has received environmental approval to proceed with preliminary site clearing for the new south side sports and leisure complex near the intersection of Kimble Drive and the Vanier Highway.

Work crews will begin immediately clearing trees and brush and installing more than a mile of fencing to protect identified wetland areas during the work on a 45-acre parcel of land the City acquired from the University of New Brunswick.

"We are excited to finally begin the preliminary land-clearing work, which will enable us to get on-site and conduct the necessary geotechnical investigations and topographical surveys," said Mayor Brad Woodside. "Once this work is completed we can finalize a suitable site for the complex and begin the process of designing of the building."

City Council awarded the land-clearing tender to Charmac Construction last year, subject to the City receiving a Wetlands and Watercourse Alteration permit from the provincial department of the Environment and Canadian Environmental Assessment Act approval from the federal government.

Both approvals come with a series of conditions, including the establishment of a buffer zone between the sports complex and all watercourses. An identified wetland area bisects the site and will be fenced off to protect it throughout the construction process.

"We announced over three years ago that we would build two new sports complexes to replace our aging arenas," said Councillor Bruce Grandy, Chair of the City's Community Services Committee. "Willie O'Ree Place is a beautiful and important part of Fredericton North now and this new complex is going to be just as beautiful and important to Fredericton South."

The new facility will be called the Danny Grant Centre in honour of Fredericton hockey legend Danny Grant, when it opens late in 2010. It will feature one NHL-size ice surface and also a larger Olympic-size ice surface. The area surrounding the site will also feature a soccer field, a baseball diamond, a dog-walking park and other amenities.

The federal and provincial governments are each contributing $1 million to construction of the $20.6-million complex under the Canada-New Brunswick Municipal Rural Infrastructure Fund. The remaining project costs will be funded by the City of Fredericton.

good projects . for a while I thought the east was dead :)

Nope the east is still alive:)
We should start seeing some interesting projects in the next month or so.
The new convention centre, office tower, parking garage, should start in may or july.
The new southside complex should start pretty soon also.

Contractors Have until August 7 to Express Interest in East End Project

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Fredericton (July 23, 2008) - Contractors interested in bidding on components of the City's East End Development project have until August 7, 2008 to submit an expression of interest to ADI Limited, the company hired by the City of Fredericton to manage construction of the conference centre, office building and parking structure complex.

"Our pre-qualification process requires contractors to indicate the type of work in which they are interested, their capacity to perform the work, details of their safety programs and previous work experience," said Greg Cook, the City's Director of Special Capital Projects. "Those firms deemed to have adequate expertise and acceptable experience will be put on our pre-qualified list and invited to participate in the tendering process that is expected to follow shortly."

Tender packages will be issued in the coming weeks for different components of the construction process including:

• Sheet Piling

• Superstructure - Steel and concrete

• Building envelope - Pre-cast cladding, roofing, and curtain wall

• Pre-cast Parking Structure

• Mechanical systems - Heating, cooling, sprinkler, plumbing, building controls

• Electrical systems - Power, distribution, communication, data, security, lighting

• Interior Construction - Partitions, drywall, doors, hardware, ceilings, specialties

• Finishes - Painting, flooring, casework

• Landscaping and site work

• Generator, kitchen equipment, elevators, escalators, boilers

Contractors wishing to get on the pre-qualified list should submit a completed Contractors Qualification Statement (Form CCDC 11-1996 - available on the www.ccdc.org website) to ADI International, 1133 Regent Street, Suite 300, Fredericton, N.B. E3B 3Z2, no later than August 7, 2008.

The East End Development project will feature a 6,500m² Conference Centre, a 17,000m² Office Building,

and a 450-car parking structure. The Conference Centre and Office Building are being designed and constructed to LEED Silver Certification, a high-level of energy efficiency. Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2008 and be complete by fall 2010.

From fredericton.ca

Convention centre project needs more money
Published Wednesday July 30th, 2008

Downtown | City will need to borrow another $2.5 million
A1 By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com

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The City of Fredericton will have to borrow close to $2.5 million more than it estimated four years ago to build its multimillion-dollar convention centre development in the downtown's east end.

The city has been pegging the construction cost at $63 million for the 6,500-square-metre conference centre, 17,000-square-metre office building and a 450-stall parking garage.

That figure doesn't include the $8 million in non-repayable government money - $4 million federal and $4 million provincial - it will receive.

The figure also doesn't include the $3 million the city has borrowed for land acquisition and $1 million for site preparation and design.

That puts the total estimated cost for the downtown redevelopment project at $77.5 million.

City councillors this week approved a motion to go to the Municipal Capital Borrowing Board, the group that keeps local government borrowing and debt ratios in check, to borrow $65.5 million to fund the development.

"We're a little off some of our original estimates on the conference centre parking garage because of inflation. We made the announcement four years ago," said Coun. Mike O'Brien, the chairman of the city's finance and administration committee.

The city's major capital projects, including the Danny Grant Centre still to be built, are financed under what O'Brien dubs pay-as-we-grow.

The city is forecasting enough expansion in its tax base - the value of all taxable property in Fredericton - that it will be able to pay its 20 years of debt financing from having more property to tax.

"That will pay our financing costs and we're right on track for this," said O'Brien.

City councillors said the new projects won't impact the city's core services or its ability to pay for them.

The city was virtually debt-free before embarking on its capital construction spending spree because of a pay-as-you-go program of paying for capital construction.

But that program only generates about $10 million per year in capital construction dollars. That money is earmarked for road repairs, sidewalk extensions and other typical year-over-year capital improvements.

O'Brien said a large chunk of the city's downtown development project is construction of a provincial government office building.

That $42-million building represents 64 per cent of the city's total borrowing.

But O'Brien said the office building is planned as a not-for-profit development.

"The city will recoup all of the capital construction costs, debt-servicing costs and any other costs associated with this agreement through lease payments. There will be full-cost recovery to the city," O'Brien said.

Mayor Brad Woodside said perimeter fencing will be erected soon to cordon off the site for the office complex's foundation. A sign illustrating the design of the complex will soon be posted.

A two-storey building on Queen Street and Camperdown Lane, dubbed the DiGiacinto property, has been purchased by the city and will be torn down to make way for the convention centre development.

The conference centre and office building will be designed to LEED silver certification, which requires the building to meet certain energy efficiency targets.

Construction is scheduled to begin in September and be complete by fall 2010.

I was just in Fredericton. They seem to be restoring the Legislature building as well.
The Copper roof hasn't been cleaned since it was built it looks like, but the third I saw done was spectacular!