The project that would see an old high school in the Waterloo Village that’s been vacant since the early 2000s into apartments and more has hit a snag with a shortfall of $3-million.
But Kevin McDonald who chairs the $12.5-million St. Vincent’s project says he’s optimistic, they’re not giving up and it’s a fight they take on every day because they believe in it. The project includes 58 apartments with half of those being subsidized housing. It would also include a large community room and an early education centre.
When it comes to where they’re going to get the money, he says they’re chasing every avenue and that they’re negotiating and talking with some people and they have high hopes there.
“We’re under threat because a lot of these grants are time sensitive, and we’ve been beating our head against the wall to try to make this thing happen and we’re under threat,” McDonald tells us. “Maybe they’ll disappear and it will.”
He tells us money for the project has come from such places as the City and the department of Social Development. He says if they were to just walk away now simply tearing down the building would cost a million dollars. He says they’re trying to address poverty.
“If people could just get beyond the dollars and cents, and look at the intrinsic value that will come from that, and what benefit it will give to the Waterloo Village, to the Cathedral block, to the centre core of the city of Saint John,” he says.
St. Vincent’s high school on Cliff Street was built in the late 19th century and was used as a school for almost 100 years.
