Retail expansion in uptown

Historica Properties announced recently that a Picaroons Brewtique, Real Food Connections and an art gallery would be moving into their newest project at the corner of Grannan Lane and Canterbury Street.

Real Food Connections moving into Saint John should help Saint Johners to choose local fresh food. 

This move could impact the City Market vendors who close pretty early on weeknights.  Right now if you want fresh food uptown (aside from a few offers at Giant Tiger and corner stores), you have to get to the market before it closes at 6 (though most vendors start closing up before that).  In Fredericton RFC is open until 7 pm on weekdays. 

Historica Canterbury–April 8, 2015

The warehouse on the corner of Canterbury Street and Grannan Lane is being renovated by Historica Developments:

JD Irving office renovations

April 12, 2014:

JDI Renovations–Union Street

High Vacancy

The CBC reports that there is a very high vacancy rate for office buildings in Saint John.  That’s not surprising when you realize there are up to 85,000 square feet available in Prince Edward Square Mall (former Wyndham space). The fact that multiple floors of City Hall are empty and for rent (now that the police are in their own building, and some court rooms have moved) hasn’t helped with vacancy rates.

According to a survey published by Tuner Drake in July 2013 Class A (highest quality buildings in the city centre) had a vacancy of 3.88%.  Class B buildings – buildings like City Hall – had 16.57% vacancy.  Class C buildings – the rest of the office market – had a vacancy rate of 39.41%  They concluded an 18.50% overall office vacancy rate.

The CBC reports that Turner Drake (a Halifax Company) is now saying that things are worse, with overall office vacancy of 20.45% and Class C vacancy of around 45%.

High vacancy could lead to a number of things. Here are a few possibilities:

• Office space could become cheaper, leading businesses to move into better space. This could provide more opportunities for small businesses to move to bigger space. 
• Office owners could give up and shutter low performing buildings.
• Office space could be converted to residential space – this could happen in the city center, and perhaps even spill out into other neighbourhoods.
• Vacant ground floor office space may be converted to retail space

What other consequences (or positive outcomes) could come from high vacancy?

Malls can adapt to changing market

The Globe and Mail posted an article about how malls can adapt to a retail landscape that is becoming more saturated with big box stores.

There were a few points that I thought had some local resonance.  One suggestion is to have a municipal office in a mall.  This brought to mind the PlanSJ office in Brunswick Square. 

Another suggestion is a major overhaul of the look and feel of a mall.  This reminded me of the interior renovations to McAllister Place that shows a major investment from the mall owner.

A third point that caught my eye way the idea of de-malling – i.e. placing store entrances to the exterior, allowing stores to operate somewhat independently of the mall.  This reminds me of the work being done at the Lancaster Mall.

It seems that owners of local malls may have listened to some of the same consultants interviewed by the Globe and Mail.

Commercial Properties continues work on former Brunswicker renovations

The historic former military ordinance building is wrapped up as renovations continue.  I don’t see any information on the property on the Commercial Properties website.

What Longwharf.ca says

The website for the former Fort Reliance/IOL HQ project now displays this message:

Fort Reliance regrets to announce we will not be proceeding with a new home office building at Long Wharf.

Over five years ago, the company recognized the need for new office space, and was considering all options in the Greater Saint John area. At the suggestion of the community, we began to look at the Long Wharf location.

During the time from this starting point to today, the economic landscape has changed and the window for this project has unfortunately closed. The project is no longer a viable long-term investment for the company and could create negative implications for the local commercial real estate market, which currently has a surplus of availability.

We share in the disappointment this decision will create for many in the community, but we are grateful to everyone who encouraged, advised and supported the project. We will stand by our commitment to return Long Wharf to its original condition. We would also like to thank and acknowledge the many suppliers and partners who worked with us to shape the project over the past few years.

I would imagine the “surplus” in the market that this refers to is the Brunswick Square Tower which is far less occupied by Bell than it was by NBTel and even Aliant.

When viable quality office space is available, building a new facility may not make financial sense.

Tannery Court meeting

A commentor on my previous post wanted to relive the good times of the Tannery Court public hearings and directed us to this video:

If you visit DangerDav01’s Youtube page, you can see more videos from that meeting.

Potential Peel Plaza P3

As I suspected, more Peel Plaza news.  The Telegraph Journal reported today that a number of options, including the addition of office, retail and/or hotel space to Peel Plaza are being considered.  Here’s the article link:

 http://telegraphjournal.canadaeast.com/city/article/757893

On a related note, apparently engineers are wondering if P3s are good for business.  Here’s a link about a study that is being conducted by an engineering association:

http://dcnonl.com/article/id34854

King Street additions

The commenters on the blog have alerted me that the former Tapps will be the new home to Pins and Needles tattoo and piercing parlour.  This will be a big location for such a use.  I’ve heard that their former location on Princess Street will be converted to an Italian restaurant. 

The former liquor store across the street is now an “inspirational gifts” and coffee house.  Apparently a few doors up, the U-zone internet and gaming cafe closed its doors in March.

It is interesting to watch this important Street in uptown Saint John evolve.

East Side School

The old East Saint John school is undergoing renovations preparing it to be used for offices by Irving Oil.

This brown field across Bayside Drive is being converted to green space:

Irving Oil land transfer in Globe and Mail

The federal government’s recent approval of the Port Authority’s sale and leasing of parts of Long Wharf to Irving Oil for the construction of the Irving Oil Headquarters was reported in the Globe and Mail:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20090411.WATERFRONT11ART2135/TPStory/National

Somerset Square

I don’t think I' have posted a photo of the completed Somerset Square in north end Saint John.  Nor do I think I’ve seen a photo of the building from this angle.  Here you go.

Mercantile Centre

I recently read that Saint John was experiencing particularly low vacancy rate and high rent levels for Class A office space. This is likely the motivating factor for the owner's of the Mercantile Centre to be renovating some empty space on the lowest level of the building. The spaces, which formerly housed small offices, a bar and a cafe are now being renovated.

Commercail Properties

It is cool to see how prominently the Saint John portfolio of Commercial Properties Ltd. is featured on their website.

Questionable ideas from council chambers

In May eleven citizens were entrusted with leading our city and fixing past missteps to make Saint John a better place. In the months that have followed some good things have come out of council: the skateboard park was finally completed and the city decided to facilitate a great waterfront project by agreeing to the Lantic Sugar site to Irving Oil so that they can build a LEED standard headquarters on Long Wharf.

Still some bad ideas are floating around council.

One west side councilor is pushing to micro-manage economic development by moving Enterprise Saint John funding away from regional economic development and business attraction and focusing it on bringing business to particular neighbourhoods. Peter McGuire thinks we should have move an economic development officer to focus on bringing business to priority neighbourhoods, instead of working on more broad based economic development. I'm not always a fan of the actions and ideas of Enterprise Saint John; I was offended by their support of closing UNB Saint John in favour of a business-centric training school. Still, I think ESJ does more good than bad. Economic Development consultant David W. Campbell blogged about this issue pointing out that regional economic development is more successful than trying to force business opportunities in specific areas that might not be right.

Meanwhile, I heard the mayor on the news defending the escalating costs of the police station development at Peel Plaza. Mayor Ivan Court suggested that the increasing costs are normal for a project like this, particularly one that has been altered to address community concerns. I concede that costs can rise. Still, I can't see how one could defend the escalating costs when the land acquisitions for the project are clearly out of control. If building costs are going up we have to make sure the public is still being bettered by the project. But if the reason costs are creeping higher is that land is being purchased at unreasonable prices, the city needs to reign the spending in.

Boilerworks

A while back on this blog I pondered what should go in the old Keystone Kelly's space in Market Square. Last night I found out the answer.

I went to a mixer hosted by Fusion (www.fusionsj.com) and PropelSJ (http://propelsj.com) in Market Square. While the restaurant is still undergoing renovations, is not yet open and has no sign up (luckily Fusion’s logo was on a portable sign, leading me into the right place) I was impressed.

Boilerworks, the name of the new restaurant/bar, has an extensive drink menu and if the appetizers being served at the function are any indication (a server told me they are) the food is going to be amazing. The executive chef was introducing himself around throughout the evening – a good sign that he’s excited about what he has to offer uptown Saint John.

While there are already several bars and restaurants in Market Square, Boilerworks could manage a good following – I can imagine this as a great place to start an evening on the town.

Brunswick Square

While Brunswick Square in uptown Saint John has had a few vacancies in its retail areas over the last year or so, the building managers seem to be stepping up their efforts to convert some of the common areas into money makers. So far over the last year:

• A new lotto centre was added that looks a lot more modern than the old scratch ticket booths has gone onto the second level;
• A Pretzel Wagon was added by the elevators on the second level by the main shopping elevators - the space was formerly occupied by a bench or two;
• A display area for Alternatives Heating has been set up in the corner where the shoe shine booth once was;
• Now there seems to be a sushi kiosk going in on the ground floor, again replacing some under used bench spaces.

These developments do at least two positive things. First, they add to the service mix offered uptown and help keep people shopping and spending time in the area. Second, it creates revenue for Brunswick Square that will hopefully allow the managers to continue maintaining and improving the retail components of the complex and attract new tenants.

What to do with Keystone Kelly's space

With the closure of the Keystone Kelly's restaurant in Market Square, the shopping/office/public gathering complex has an opportunity to add to its service mix.

While another restaurant might want to take over the space, other uses could be explored.

Keystone Kelly's was one of many restaurants in Market Square, and while the Ale House did definitely improve the former Don Cherry's space with a new food and beverage concept, the best option might be to look for other kinds of tenants.

The city, including Market Square, has a lot of gift-shop format stores. If this sort of business was to take occupancy of the space, one would hope it has a unique concept (perhaps like the Market Quay that was in Market Square or another multi-tenant craft/gift store).

If Market Square has the space available to it (i.e. it is not going to be subleased by the Keystone owners) the management might consider turning some of the restaurant into common area and rent out the rest of the space to multiple tenants. This could help overcome the challenge posed by the location of the space being somewhat removed from the rest of the complex.

Recent additions of ophthalmology offices and the Running Room have proven that Market Square can attract new and varied tenants.

Hopefully the new tenant or tenants will add to the building that is central to the city's uptown.