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St. John's Developments

84K views 189 replies 40 participants last post by  agfbarra 
#1 · (Edited)
Edit: Please feel free to contribute photos or material, or discuss any aspects of St. John's urban development here.

Some Quick Facts:
St. John's CMA (census metropolitan area) population 2006 census - 181,113, up from 172,918 (2001)
CMA area: 804 sq km
Population Density per sq km: 225.1
St.John's City area - 446 sq km
City population density: 225.6

2006 Census Populations -
Largest Municipalities in the CMA

St. John's City - 100,646
Mount Pearl City - 24,671
Conception Bay South - 21,966
Paradise - 12,584
Portugal Cove-St. Philip's - 6,575
Torbay - 6,281

St. John's CMA Urban Area population: 151,322
Urban Land Area: 182.62
Population Density: 828.6 per sq km.
(^ Updated Mar 2007)

St.John's newest hi-rise addition is nearing completion. This may not look significant, but is the only high-rise project to be built since Cabot Place II, about 1993. It is the 12 storey extension to the Delta Hotel. (That's a tarp covering the top). This, supposedly will make it the largest convention hotel in Atlantic Canada.


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#124 · (Edited)
^Great pics.

They did a nice job on the King George Building, and your pic shows that it was built in 1911. Imagine if the old Hotel Nfld was still there and could have been converted and preserved too. The old building with the tower (St Patrick's Hall?) has the most expensive condos in the city, I believe, and is divided into only three units. The Yellow Belly building is a good example of the older architecture on Water Street.
 
#127 · (Edited)
Wind destroys new $7-million indoor soccer facility in St. John's

Here's a bit of news.

The sports facility structure, still in the construction phase, pictured in the post above (by Jasonzed) was the unfortunate victim of a windstorm:

Owners hopeful downed soccer facility will rise again

The Telegram

In the light of day, Jim Buckingham and John Breen were still hopeful today that their dream of an indoor soccer facility will rise again.
Winds of more than 100 kilometres an hour Wednesday night brought down the steel trusses of the structure, which was under construction in Pleasantville in St. John’s.
Several construction vehicles were left in the wreckage of steel as Buckingham and Breen surveyed the site.
Investigations will have to take place to find out what happened.
But Buckingham was blaming the mayhem today on the weather and bad timing. He said by Friday the last trusses would have been in place and the roof skeleton strong. . . .
“Because the structure was not completed, I figure the bracing was not in place yet,” Buckingham said.
“This is just my personal opinion. I’m not a civil engineer by any stretch.”
None of the steel is salvageable, Buckingham figured.
Link to complete article:
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=211262&sc=79

"The foundation has been destroyed. All our columns, all our trusses, everything — all destroyed — and we were so close," Buckingham told CBC News
"We were four frames away from having the full structure up, and this would not have happened with the four frames."

The facility was insured.

The winds came with a storm that lashed much of Newfoundland on Wednesday, but continued peaking well after snow and rain subsided.

Environment Canada clocked winds at a station just outside St. John's at 148 km/h on Wednesday night.

Construction on the $7-million indoor soccer facility started last year and was expected to finish later this year.
Link to CBC article:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/01/15/wind-soccer.html

Link to pictures from the Telegram:
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?main=gallery&cid=2104
 
#129 ·
Atlantic Place - redevelopment of a downtown office building.





Memorial Arena was converted into a Dominion. There was a lot resistance to this when it was first proposed. I wonder what the locals think about it now that it is done. A sign of things to come for Maple Leafs Gardens and what was already done (AMC, restuarants, etc) to the old Montreal Forum.







 
#130 · (Edited)
^Thanks for the pictures.

There was opposition to the stadium development; most people would have preferred that it remain a recreation facility, but I'm glad to see it preserved with a new use as opposed to tearing it down. Atlantic Place looks much better on the bottom floors than before, but it's still a bit like lipstick on a pig so to speak. The absence of any improvements to the top of the building is now more noticable.
 
#131 ·
^Thanks for the pictures.

There was opposition to the stadium development; most people would have preferred that it remain a recreation facility, but I'm glad to see it preserved with a new use as opposed to tearing it down. Atlantic Place looks better on the bottom floors than before, but it's still lipstick on a pig so to speak.
Agreed on both fronts.
 
#132 · (Edited)
Here's some new developments for St. John's.

Tiffany Village
A complex of five buildings plus lowrise, including four 10 storey seniors apartments/condos/assisted living. The larger 9 storey building on the right is under construction, and should be completed this year. The Village as proposed has approximately 450 units.



"The height of the buildings is ten storeys with one basement/parking level. Height above grade will vary because of the sloping ground. At each of the buildings main entrance, the height will be 30.3m, including the parapet. A mechanical penthouse in the middle of the building will be 2.4m in height."

Source, with much more detail about the village:
http://www.stjohns.ca/pdfs/Tiffany_Village_LUAR_Stage_2-_January_13_2009.pdf

Hotel 123 Water Street (Southwest Properties)
Here are some of the provided renderings of the 140 room hotel proposal at 123 Water St (on the waterfront), from the LUAR and city site:





Sources: http://www.stjohns.ca/csj/PubDetails?id=779

PDF file with much more detailed info and illustrations :
http://www.stjohns.ca/pdfs/LUAR_HOTEL_PROPOSAL_123_WATER_STREET.pdf

Public Views Study:
http://www.stjohns.ca/pdfs/Public_Views_123WaterStreet.pdf

The harbour side height will be 27.3 meters to roof, and 17.8 m on the Water Street facade, The building materials and design are chosen within context of the city, and the building height will have no impact on the actual skyline.

The site is within the heritage area (all of downtown), and is actually only zoned for four stories (15 m), so this has to pass through the approval process with lots of opposition. The original proposal was for a 11 storey building.

Edit: This proposal is still being reworked with a possible lowering of height, after being rejected as too tall for the heritage streetscape.

Johnson Insurance Headquarters
Edit: This project now Cancelled, June 2009
8 storey Office Building (proposed) - New Gower Street & Hamilton Avenue, 140,000 sq ft, with 600 parking spaces. This will be the first large private downtown office building in more than 20 years. Height of pinnacle 33 - 35 m (estimate)

Image: Johnson Insurance
http://www.johnson.ca/
 
#133 · (Edited)
Here's some new development updates for St. John's, sorry no skyscrapers. :)

CBC Capitol Theatre Building Redevelopment
A proposal for the former CBC Radio building on Duckworth Street, built around 1933, to be redeveloped into a complex holding 23 (or 31) condominiums plus office and commercial space. Additional stories would be added (1 or 2) with a building height of 15 meters from Henry Street, and with grade change, about 24 meters from Duckworth. The existing building height is equivalent to six stories or about 19 m including the theatre roof. This is the second proposal for this building, the first being as an arts facility. The design, as shown, would enhance the Art Deco style of the existing building.

rendering from city website: http://www.stjohns.ca/images/cityser...ng/CBCBldg.jpg
Story: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundlan...socialcomments

Hotel, 123 Water Street (Prescott & Water St.)
This proposal has been revised and this is the third version. "Under the proposed new design, the hotel remains as a 140 unit full-service hotel on six (6) floors above Water Street and parking on two levels below the Water Street level. The height of the hotel building along Water Street is proposed to be reduced from 18.3 metres from the top of the parapet to 17.9 metres from the top of the parapet. The height of the hotel building from Harbour Drive is reduced from 27.3 metres to 22.3 metres by the removal of the pool and spa from the roof level and relocating these amenities to the parking level. The total floor area of the hotel is reduced from approximately 10,885 square metres to approximately 10,370 square metres, a reduction of approximately 515 square metres." Building area in sq ft ~111,621 sq ft. As part of the revision there has been a reduction in parking of about 15 parking spaces for a total of 88.

http://www.stjohns.ca/csj/NewsDetails?id=832

Fort William Station Condominium
8 - 10 Water Street - 5 stories including parking. This development will consist of six residential condominium buildings to be located on the former Standard Manufacturing site on Water Street East opposite the waterfront. Each building will have eight units for a total of 48 and there will be one level of indoor parking, and an outside parking lot for 34 cars. Approved, and in early construction phase


Harbour Court, Temperance Street - Condo/Hotel
A 123-room "condominium hotel" is planned for the former Power's Salvage property off Temperance Street. The proposal meets height and other requirements of the heritage area, generally 15 m, with additional height allowed on sloping sites. Building area is 7,318 sq meters or 78,770 sq ft., and the building proposal is 6+ stories at maximum height (approx. 19 meters), with a total of 8 levels on sloping ground.
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/cbc/09032...y_hotel_coombs

Source, Land Use Assesment: http://www.stjohns.ca/cityservices/p...20Mar 09.pdf
Sightline renderings: http://www.stjohns.ca/csj/NewsDetails?id=815
http://www.stjohns.ca/cityservices/p...27, 2009.pdf
 
#134 ·
St. John’s condo construction, reno boom linked to oil fields

From the Daily Commercial News...

Beautiful location....

http://www.dcnonl.com/article/id35250

St. John’s condo construction, reno boom linked to oil fields

PAT BRENNAN

correspondent

ST. JOHN’S, NFLD

Construction along North America’s oldest commercial street tells the story of the new Newfoundland.

On one side of Water Street supply ships come and go 24/7 hauling materials to drill rigs chasing oil 300 kilometres out in the Atlantic.

On the other side of the street, construction crews are building million dollar condominium suites into the hillside rising from the water’s edge.

Ships have been coming and going from this natural harbour for more than 500 years, but million dollar condos are a new phenomena on The Rock.

They’re connected.

Property values and residential development have been booming in St. John’s since geologists learned there’s more than 2 billion barrels of oil accessible off the Newfoundland coast.

While housing prices plummeted over the past year on the rest of the continent, in St. John’s they’re running more than 23 per cent higher in the first half of this year over the same period last year.

Prices range up to $1.3 million at The Narrows, a four-storey condominium building under construction on Water Street.

The condo derives its name from its location overlooking The Narrows, the gap in the Atlantic’s rocky shore that opens onto St. John’s Harbour.

It sits next to The Battery, one of the most photographed neighbourhoods in Canada, where colourful, small homes somehow cling to the steep rocky slopes of Signal Hill, where Marconi received the first trans-Atlantic radio signal.

There are several other new condo projects in downtown St. John’s attracting similar prices, with lots of off-shore buyers.

BAE-Newplan Group Ltd., a division of SNC-Lavalin, is the general contractor building The Narrows. Elwood Reid and Albert Williams, two principals at BAE-Newplan, created a private numbered company to own and develop the condo project.

Gerry Cook, an architect on the BAE-Newplan staff, designed the Narrows and used a red brick façade to maintain the traditional look found along St. John’s waterfront.

One of New York City’s most famous architectural firms, Delano & Aldrich, also used a red brick finish when designing King George V Residences of Distinction on Water St., a couple blocks west of The Narrows.

Delano & Aldrich never charged for their work. That was in 1911.

They were persuaded by renowned medical missionary Sir Wilfred T. Grenfell to donate their talents to design a hospice “for the welfare of seamen” on behalf of England’s Royal National Mission to Deep Sea Fishermen.

For much of the last century the four-storey hospice has been home to foreign fishermen, particularly Portuguese, staying temporarily in St. John’s. It was a residence for U.S. military officers during the Second World War.

But it had been sitting as a desolate, vacant eyesore on St. John’s harbour for a decade when renovator Guido Del Rizzo and his partners Leo Power and Rex Anthony purchased the building.

They pumped $10 million into refurbishments and created 12 condo suites which are fetching prices between $900,000 and $1.2 million. Michael Ryder, a winger with the Boston Bruins bought a suite at King George V and so did Adam Pardy, a defenseman with the Calgary Flames. Both players grew up on The Rock.

“We were able to save much of the beautiful wood trim and the stairway banisters during renovations,” said Power. “There’s a magnificent fireplace in the foyer with a large Douglas Fir mantel piece that Guido restored. We put on a new roof and filled in the swimming pool in the basement for underground parking.

“We refurbished the red bricks and the King George V is again one of the classiest buildings on the east coast,” said Power.

In May St. John’s city council gave unanimous approval for a 123-unit hotel/condo project by Nolan Hall Real Estate on Temperance St. on the edge of the historic Battery neighbourhood. The project will consist mostly of 445-square-foot with five-star finishes and selling at $560/sq. ft. Most of the units in the first phase sold to investors in Ireland, England and Newfoundland ex-patriots working in oil fields in Qatar.

There are a lot of business executives spending time in St. John’s on a temporary basis and they’re looking for high-end rental accommodations.
 
#136 · (Edited)
Downtown there are two high end or near high end condo projects going ahead in the Water Street East area, both are 4 stories plus parking levels. The area's zoning doesn't allow more density. There are no actual high-rise projects beyond 10 stories, proposed or otherwise, because zoning doesn't permit it.

There are also some seniors developments under construction (one 9 storey), and others proposed including four 10 storey buildings at Tiffany Lane and two 6 storey buildings for Topsail Road. The 6 storey Kennys Pond seniors building is completed.

St. John's ranks 4th for building permits value per capita in Canada after Kelowna, Calgary and Barrie. Most of the development is suburban single family; largely concentrated in St. Johns' Southlands and Paradise. Mount Pearl is planning a new subdivision containing several hundred mostly SFH on the Kenmount Hill slope. The thing that is mostly absent is affordable condos for younger people, except for some limited 4 storey low rise or townhouse developments. If you want to move to St. John's and live in an affordable larger scale condo complex conveniently located downtown you are pretty much out of luck.

A new proposal for a 5 storey office building at 345 Water Street was turned down by council (exceeds 15 meter height maximum and does not meet heritage design criteria), but there is an indication of some possible zoning review and changes soon. There is a municipal election at the end of September.

Also, several other hotel projects and condo conversion developments for downtown have been proposed (see posts above), some for over a year but there has been no further activity as of this time.
 
#139 · (Edited)
Rumours of a 15 Storey Office Tower Proposal

Although no application has been filed at the city yet, there is word that Fortis, probably the largest company headquartered in Newfoundland-Labrador, is planning a new 15 storey development on the downtown waterfront. If built, this would be the tallest office tower in the province, and the first large commercial office development in over 22 years. However, St. John's City Council has a reputation for turning down any development taller than 4 storeys in the heritage area, and usually developers have to ask for more in order to get less. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.

Planned St. John's highrise irks retailer

Last Updated: Friday, November 27, 2009 | 8:39 AM NT

Comments61Recommend23CBC News

A planned highrise development for downtown St. John's is drawing complaints, even though an application has yet to be filed at city hall. A retailer in the area said Fortis Properties is planning a 15-storey office tower for the harbourfront. . . .

Fortis has confirmed to CBC News that it is planning a development on the harbourfront, but the company said it won't release details until it formally files an application with city hall.
Source article here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/11/27/nl-forits-tower-271109.html
 
#140 ·
Rumours of a 15 Storey Office Tower Proposal

Although no application has been filed at the city yet, there is word that Fortis, probably the largest company headquartered in Newfoundland-Labrador, is planning a new 15 storey development on the downtown waterfront. If built, this would be the tallest office tower in the province, and the first large commercial office development in over 22 years. However, St. John's City Council has a reputation for turning down any development taller than 4 storeys in the heritage area, and usually developers have to ask for more in order to get less. It will be interesting to see how this turns out.



Source article here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2009/11/27/nl-forits-tower-271109.html
The chances of that ever being approved are somewhere around the chances of me winning the lottery. Probably even lower.

It's quite unfortunate, but it's came to be expected in St. John's.
 
#142 · (Edited)
Update on the 15 storey Fortis Properties office Proposal

It's still not a formal proposal, but the most information on it is for a $75 million development of about 400,000 sq ft near the center of downtown, and might involve the demolition of the existing 12 storey Fortis Building.

CBC radio has had some pretty active discussions and interviews on this.

MP3 Audio from CBC, with a brief description:

"Today on Radio Noon Crosstalk, we're asking how should we develop our downtowns? In part because of word that Fortis is proposing to build a 15-story office tower on Water Street in downtown St. John's. The exisiting Fortis Building would be torn down. Several older buildings owned by Fortis would come down as well. For some thoughts on this, Ramona reached Keith Coombs. He's a former St. John's City Councillor."
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlradionoon_20091201_23847.mp3

"How should our downtowns be developed?
Ramona's guest is longtime heritage activist Shane O'Dea." [mp3 file: runs 46:50]
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlradionoon_20091201_23850.mp3

"A proposal by Fortis to build a huge office tower St. John's has the deputy mayor worried about the future of the downtown. The proposed new building would be on Water Street, and would involve tearing down several older buildings. We reached Shannie Duff a short while ago."
http://podcast.cbc.ca/mp3/nlradionoon_20091127_23683.mp3

Source - Radio Noon Archive Page:
http://www.cbc.ca/podcasting/pastpodcasts.html?53#ref53
 
#143 · (Edited)
Fortis Properties proposed development

The development comprises of a retrofitted existing 12 storey building, the addition of a new 15 storey tower, and includes retail, parking, and class A office space which is in short supply.

Fortis Properties Corporation announced ... its submission of a development application to the City of St. John’s to redevelop the Company’s Water Street site at the corner of Prescott Street and Harbour Drive. The proposed $75 million project includes the retrofit of the existing Fortis Building and a new 15-storey office building. The complex will include 235,000 square feet of new Class A office space built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification standards; 16,000 square feet of ground level retail; a total of 382 underground parking stalls accessible from Harbour Drive; a complete retrofit of the existing Fortis Building to LEED existing building standards; and a pedway connection between the Fortis Building and TD Place.

New Building:
Class A, LEED Silver Certified
15-storeys
235,000 square feet
16,000 square feet of retail
http://www.fortisproperties.com/en/home/aboutus/news/2010/January192010.aspx

Renderings of the proposed development, released by Fortis -




Official Source:
http://www.fortisproperties.com/en/home/aboutus/news/2010/January192010.aspx


This proposal is controversial, and facing considerable opposition because it is located on the harbourfront at the center of downtown, which is also the heritage area, and where the allowed building height is normally 15 meters. I estimate this development would be somewhere around 60+ meters.

The development proposal has generated a series of media articles, a facebook group, and thousands of comments, both for and against.
 
#146 ·
351 Water Street - Woolworth's site

Another new development is proposed at 351 Water Street:
11 stories,including 4 parking levels, retail and class A office space. The development will front on Water Street and Harbour Drive. Announced Feb 4th, 2010; this is an office/retail/parking development on the old Woolworth's Dept. Store site.



A new proposal for the former Woolworths property in downtown St. John's could bring radical changes to the west end of Water Street.

The 11-storey proposal still has a bunch of procedural hoops to jump through, but from the mood of a planning meeting that took place Thursday, East Port Properties Ltd.'s structure looks headed for approval.

And once that's done, other developers chomping at the bit for site redevelopment between Steers Cove and Waldegrave Street can expect similar treatment.

Even heritage stalwart and Deputy Mayor Shannie Duff is gearing up to exempt the block from the city's heritage zone.

The Woolworths redevelopment also comes with a major first - a public-private partnership to put more parking in the downtown.
http://www.thetelegram.com/index.cfm?sid=324525&sc=79

The new building would have retail space along Water Street, four floors of parking on top of that, and six stories of office space.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/newfoundland-labrador/story/2010/02/05/nl-woolworth-building-205.html
 
#148 · (Edited)
Welcome to the forum.

It is by the PHB group.

Enclosing the parking might be expensive, but is certainly possible, and could take many forms. I think the design will change, and maybe will look better when finalized.

Also, here are two links to other current discussion sites about St. John's downtown develoment:

The Fortis Redevelopment: St. John's Citizens for Cooperative Development
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=275230981018

Happy City - Smart Growth in Downtown St. John's
http://happycity.ca/
 
#149 ·
I was in your fair metropolis in August and I loved it, absolutly loved it.
The people were so friendly, had so much history and are determined to keep it. Living in Vancouver they would see all those small shops and have wet dreams about tearing them down and building another 30 storey glass condo tower.
The place just breathed life and vitality. The arts were alive but not for tourists but for the city's citizans. It was much more "hippyish" than I thought it would be.
Also, one thing I found refreshing was that there didn't seem to be a lot of economic or social stratification. Yes every city has it's rich and poor but it just seemed like there was more of a mingling amongst everyone. Vancouver is the exact opposite.........your income and social standing mean everything. Vancouver has the largest gap between the rich and the poor in the country and also has Canada's highest and lowest income postal codes.
Yes, I fell in love with your fair city, province, and people. I was only to be there for 8 days but stayed 18.................I just didn't want to leave.
One thing that I noticed thou that struck me as quite odd..............nowhere even close to downtown was there a movie theatre, not even and artsy-fartsy one. I can't think of any decent size city in the country where that is the case, why is that?
 
#151 · (Edited)
One thing that I noticed thou that struck me as quite odd..............nowhere even close to downtown was there a movie theatre, not even and artsy-fartsy one. I can't think of any decent size city in the country where that is the case, why is that?
There were two movie theatres until the 1970's, (Paramount on Harvey Rd., and Capitol on Henry St.) the Paramount suffered a roof-snowload collapse, and the other just closed, and sits unused. There are still some live theatre venues though which sometimes show arts films. By the 1970's all the theatre business had migrated to the malls. In the first part of the 20th century there were several downtown theatres, strangely none had much of a presence on the main (Water) street, something to do with church influence I think.

Also - you made some very nice and observant comments, glad you got the right feel for the place.

Edit: Here's an article on the subject of the early movie theatres in St. John's:
http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/2/2/7/pages182271/p182271-1.php

major metropolises responded to the technology of cinema by inventing new bureaucratic technologies to match, while other, more parochial places simply attempted to incorporate the modernity of the picture show on local terms. On the farthest eastern edge of North America, the city of St. John’s, Newfoundland, at that time capital of its own country (not yet part of Canada), was one of these exceptional places where there was a parochial flavour to regulating the early picture show. The content of films and popular music was not particular to St. John’s, but other factors were relatively distinctive, especially for an urban site: St. John’s was a rare city with a majority Roman Catholic population; the halls leased for shows were pre-existing buildings run by civic and religious associations; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese acted largely outside of secular governance. All of these factors might prompt a comparison with rural areas, especially in Quebec, but St. John’s wasn’t rural – the parochial factor is only reinforced.
http://www.allacademic.com//meta/p_mla_apa_research_citation/1/8/2/2/7/pages182271/p182271-1.php
 
#153 · (Edited)
Just a note, to say that this thread (and all the others) isn't very active, and that the Fortis Development has been killed by NIMBY's, as we all expected.

Interested parties; go here:
http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=145930&page=64

No further info on George Street, but I'm pretty sure that something will happen there eventually because it doesn't involve anything over 15 meters.
 
#154 ·
‘The place is booming’

More than 50 major developments could take place in St. John’s this year
Many areas of old St. John’s will soon sport a new look.

The oil-fuelled development boom of the past decade will continue this year, and major developments — well over half a billion dollars worth — are underway or under consideration in the city.

The department of planning’s list of potential major developments for 2011 includes 51 projects that spread from downtown to uptown.

The undertakings range from a Canadian Forces Base to a 10-lot subdivision.

“(The projects) are all over the city,” says Coun. Frank Galgay, chairman of the city’s planning and housing committee.

“The place is booming.”

The biggest boom is resonating in Pleasantville, where the two largest developments are underway.

The Canadian Forces Base is valued at $150 million, while the province’s new long-term care facility has a $100-million price tag.

The home and the base will change the Pleasantville landscape, as will the 975 residential spaces being redeveloped there by the Canada Lands Company.

Significant projects are also underway in the downtown, with the biggest being the office tower/parking garage at the old Woolworth Building on Water Street. Approved in principle, its construction value is $40 million.

Other biggies approved in principle for the oldest area of the city are an $18-million hotel at Prescott and Water plus a $15-million hotel/condo for Temperance Street.

There also a number of downtown projects in the works, including an office building at the old Arcade site on Water Street and parking garage/condo development at the old CBC Building and Bell Street.

The Arcade development is valued at $16 million and the proponent is expected to submit a new plan, Galgay says.

The CBC/Bell Street parking garage is worth $11. 5 million on its own. No figure has been attached to the 90 condos.

That project will face a land-use review and public meeting before council votes on it.

If all the Downtown projects get the thumbs up, Galgay expects, “the inner core of the city will take on a life and vibrancy that hasn’t been there for 40 or 50 years.”

The councillor, whose ward includes the downtown, notes that the new and proposed projects will ease parking migraines by providing a possible 460-odd public spaces.

In the east end, the projects on the planning department’s list include a $10 million condo development at Tiffany Lane, a number of large retail stores, and some subdivisions.

Up Freshwater and Kenmount Roads, an $8-million seniors’ condominium is in the works, as are a new box store off Kelsey Drive, other commercial developments and a handful of subdivisions.

In the centre city, a $4-million mixed development is underway on Blackmarsh Road that includes a seniors’ home.

Proceeding or proposed in the west end are the $5-million redevelopment of the Littledale Complex and a number of subdivisions. Included are two where lots are expected to run $200,000 each and a 200-home project off Ruby Line and Heavy Tree Road.

There are also new subdivisions slated for Kilbride and Goulds.

Galgay says the current council has seen the most development proposals in the city’s history. He’s expecting more.
“If the economy continues as it is we can anticipate further development.”

The projects, he said, will generate revenue for the city through taxes and building permits (the permit for the Canadian Forces Bases was a record $750,000).

Galgay says the challenge is accommodating the progress and maintaining the city’s distinct character. He hopes that responsibility will be easier when the review of the St. John’s municipal plan is completed.

According to the councillor, the downside of development is that people such as senior citizens, low-income earners and the homeless could be adversely affected*.
St. John’s might start sporting a new look but living there might be beyond their reach.

“They can’t afford (housing) and they can’t do it on their own,” he says.

Saying the city has done a lot of work in this area, Galgay says all levels of government must have a level of social conscience to help the less fortunate.

* Someone always need to through a comment in like this. As soon as the ball gets roling thats crap on it. Boys and girls, Your Nimby.
 
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