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Saint John Common Council has begun the process to approve the Landmark development, slated for construction next to Tin Can Beach.
The 180-unit apartment complex overlooking the harbour requires rezoning from a Major Community Facility to High-Rise Residential.
Council passed the first of two readings of the required rezoning and permit variances Monday to allow the Landmark development to begin construction at 300 Sydney Street.
Jonathan Rasenberg of Coldwell Banker says they envision big things for the area.
“We see this project as a catalyst for development and improvement in the Tin Can Beach area,” he said. “We think there’s a lot more opportunity there.”
Even though plans are being put in place, Rasenberg says they are still two years away from getting shovels in the ground, and likely five years from construction being wrapped.
“We might do it in a little bit less, but it would be crazy for us to spend this much money on the design, on the land, everything, and then not give us enough runway to build the building,” he said at Monday evening’s council meeting.
Rasenberg said as the pandemic has continued, he is hearing more and more chatter about moving to New Brunswick.
“I’m from Ontario, I’ve been out here 12 years now,” he said. “Everyone I know in Ontario is talking about New Brunswick, and I have never seen that before.”
He said the province’s real estate earnings jumped nearly 3.5 times in March 2021 over the year before.
“That is being significantly driven by people coming from out of province,” Rasenberg said. “If we don’t build places for people to live they won’t come.”
Community concerns
Monday’s meeting featured a public hearing giving community members an opportunity to speak for or against the project.
Bill Nugent, a Sydney Street building owner in the adjacent property, took the opportunity to voice some concerns about the development affecting his tenants.
He asked for council to include conditions that construction vehicles access the site through Charlotte and Vulcan streets, rather than directly down Sydney Street.
“(The) five-year construction timeframe is really unacceptable – two years would be a stretch,” Nugent said. “If there were two years of construction, that would be two years of dirt, two years of noise and traffic disruption and construction equipment interfering with the quiet enjoyment of our property and our tenants.
“And then there’s two years of parking issues, because there are always parking issues during construction.”
Nugent says he would have liked to make his comments at the Planning Advisory Committee meeting on the Landmark development, but he wasn’t notified in time to attend the April 13 meeting.
