Saint John Port Cranes 5 & 6

 

Ihtoli-maqahamok New waterfront steps - Market Slip

 

Nearly high tide at the new steps leading into Market Slip at the newly opened Gathering Place (Ihtoli-maqahamok).

Steepleview Apartments

 

 

It's encouraging to see work going on at the Steepleview Apartments site on the corner of Waterloo Street and Cliff Street. 

Interesting Assessments

The 2024 property tax assessments are out for most properties in NB. Here are some interesting assessments around Saint John:

-- Via Calabria apartments that sold for $22.5 million in 2022 are assessed for less than $15.8 million, or 70% of the purchase price. Do the assessors think the investors paid almost $7 million too much?

-- The former St. Patrick's school sold for $745,000 in October 2023. The assessment is only $40,200, or 5.4% of the purchase price. Put another way, the sale price is 18.5 times the assessment

-- The Fundy Quay development area is assessed for a total of $3,792,500 up just 7.2% from 2023. Apparently the assessors think all the work that was done in the last year is worth only $254,500.

-- The hole at the top of King Street's assessment went up from $309,100 in 2023 to $323,800 in 2024. 4.8% growth for a hole in the ground. 

-- The new apartment building on Technology Drive is already assessed at $14.3 million - that's going to be a big assessment and tax bill by the time the building is done. 

-- The main oil refinery property creeped up $1.8 million or 1.7%.

-- McAllister place is up 4.6% from 2023 to 2024.

Harbour Passage Extension - Tin Can Beach

 

The Harbour Passage cranberry trail now leads to Tin Can Beach in the south end. 

K-Park Common Beach

It's wild to see the sort of private upgrades the people of Kennebecasis Park have built on a publicly owner common beach in Rothesay. 

I wonder how they would react if the people of Rothesay decided to enjoy their public beach.

Imagery from Property Assessment Online (https://paol-efel.snb.ca/paol.html?lang=en&pan=01230836)

Rockwood Park Road/Trail Upgrades

 

Upgrades to the road and sidewalk/trail near the entrance of the park near Lily lake are taking shape.

Under-assessment makes holding development land cheap

Vacant land holders are getting a huge tax break because of under-assessments. The holding cost of vacant land seems to be pretty cheap in Saint John because of these under-assessments. A few examples:

A large piece of development land on Woodward Avenue in Millidgeville is assessed for $108,500. The recent purchaser disagreed that the property was worth so little, and paid $950,000 in 2023. This assessment is 11.4% of the purchase price. The property tax cost of owning this land is $2,901 per year. If the property were assessed for the purchase price, the tax bill would be over $25,000 per year.

A developer bought some land on Forbes Drive for $198,000 in 2021. The assessment is $13,000 - just 6.6% of the purchase price. The property tax cost of owning the property is $348 per year. If the property were assessed for the purchase price, the tax bill would be over $5,000 per year.

A piece of land on Mountain View Road in east Saint John sold in 2022 for $1.8 million. It is assessed for $26,400. That assessment is 1.5% of the recorded sale price. The property tax cost of holding this $1.8 million piece of land is $706 per year. If the property were assessed for the purchase price, the tax bill would be over $48,000 per year.

This is not unique to Saint John. There is a case in Rothesay, where development land is assessed at less than 3% of its 2021 sale price. 

With the cost of holding development land so low, it is cheap for owners to do nothing. If these properties were assessed for amounts equal to their recorded purchase prices, the property tax cost of sitting on the land would be $1,000s to $10,000s greater. This might lead to the owners deciding they need to develop the land sooner, or sell the land to developers who would build on the land and unleash the revenue potential from the land. 

MIllidgeville Apartment Development

Technology Drive

 

Crescent

Millidge Avenue

Port Cranes

 

It looks like one of the new Port cranes is closer to being operational. 

Arrival of Container Cranes

 The arrival of two container cranes to the Port of Saint John reinforces the recent talk that Saint John's industrial harbour is growing and thriving. 

More details on port modernization from the Port: https://modernize.sjport.com/ 

The Wellington - October 1, 2022

 

The black metal siding is starting to encase The Wellington's upper levels. 

The Wellington - September 21, 2022

 

The Wellington

 This is an impressive building so far:

 

 

 Here's an interesting video about the project from:Atlantic Wood WORKS! :

Area 506 Container Village