The Wellington Construction site taken in March 2021. Image: Cherise Letson/Huddle Today
Construction has officially begun on the mixed-income apartment complex that will replace the demolished “Jelly Bean” buildings at the corner of Wellington Row and Union Street in uptown Saint John.
Excavation work officially began on Monday for The Wellington, a six-storey building with 48 units, which will around 50/50 subsidized and market-rate units. The ground floor will also have two commercial spaces, one ideal for a food-service business and an office.
“The main floor is hopefully going to have a restaurant, but we haven’t confirmed that yet, but it’s ideally suited for a restaurant and office space as well,” said Narinder Singh, general manager of Saint John Non Profit Housing.
“We haven’t actually started looking, but we hired a consultant and we’ve just started the process [of looking] now.
The complex, designed by Saint John-based firm Acre Architects, will set a new environmental and design standard for buildings being constructed in Saint John’s uptown core. It will comply with the Passive House Standards, which has rigorous environmental standards for energy efficiency.
“It will be one of the most energy-efficient developments of this size in eastern Canada when it’s constructed,” said Singh. “Not only in terms of energy consumption but also greenhouse gas emissions, so it’s very innovative in that respect.”
All the units will also meet all the units will meet universal design standards, so as tenants grow older, they can stay in their homes longer.
“It’s designed so people of all ages can live in the building, meaning if you’re somebody, for example, in your 3os or 40s you could possibly live in that building right until you’re in your 80s or 90s,” said Singh. “The unit is designed to change around you as your needs change as well. It’s a very progressive building from that respect as well.”
Construction is expected to take about 18 months to complete. With Covid-19 causing a big delay in the construction schedule, Singh says it feels good to see shovels in the ground.
“It’s been a long time coming but it’s a very complex project as well and then it got more complex with the Covid-19 pandemic and the escalation of prices and everything that’s related to the pandemic,” he said. “That threw a monkey wrench in our plans, but we’re glad we were able to work through it and we were able to start construction.”
Cherise Letson is the associate editor of Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
