Saint John's "Famous Faces" enroute to their new home (Image: Mark Leger).
The construction of the new Telegraph building means the paintings of Saint John’s “Famous Folks” – formerly located on the side of the Thandi building on Canterbury Street – needed to find a new home.
And that will be on the back of another building owned by Ken and Holly Singh – the Union Station building at 154 Union Street. They’ll be joined by other new residents as the owners have completed renovations and are ready to greet residential and commercial tenants.
Holly and Ken purchased the Union Street building in 2018. The building now has three condos, two of which have already been rented, and ground-floor commercial space.
“Someone was supposed to move in on the top floor a month and a half ago and they were coming from Regina,” said Holly. “I hope they are coming for the first of May, but things have been put on hold [because of the COVID-19 virus].”
The individual condo units are more than 2,000 square feet, with two bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths, and an open kitchen and living room concept. Holly also said she is in discussions with somebody to rent the commercial space.
Union Station (Image: Elizabeth MacLeod)
The paintings were removed on Tuesday and will be installed on the building in the parking lot on Charlotte Street. Safe worksite practices and COVID-19 requirements were followed during the move and Development Saint John covered the cost to move these pieces of public art to their new location.
The paintings, created by Grand Manan artist Sarah Griffin, recognize eight famous and accomplished Saint John figures: poet Alden Nowlan, pilot Daphne H. Patterson, visual artist Fred Ross, film producer Louis B. Mayer, actor Walter Pidgeon, actor Donald Sutherland, musician Stompin’ Tom Connors, and visual artist Miller Brittain.
“We love Saint John. When we buy a building or when we buy a restaurant, we want to do the best that we can do and we want to give back to the community,” said Holly.
“I always feel that in life you give and you get back tenfold. You can’t expect people to support you in a community if you’re not going to support them. We’ve always been key players in the community and that’s the way we like to run our business.”
The space next to Thandi’s on Canterbury Street will become the new Telegraph building, a six-story mixed commercial and residential development. Holly is eager to welcome her new neighbours.
“It’s nice when people name new buildings, when they do the research and know what was there before,” said Holly, whose father worked in the newspaper business for 58 years. “I wish them the best; it’s more people living uptown and it’ll be good for everybody.”
This story was originally published on Huddle.Today – an Acadia Broadcasting Limited content partner.
