A Vacant Saint John Building Cries For Help On Twitter
SAINT JOHN – Well, this is one way to try to find an owner.
One of the Saint John’s most visible vacant buildings has taken to Twitter to air its grievances about being empty and alone.
Ninety-one King Street, also known to locals as the “old Bargain Shop” has been vacant for years. This is mainly because the building is in need of extensive repairs.
Most Saint Johners want to see the building used, but probably nobody wants to see it occupied more than the building itself:
Do I have a rough exterior? Sometimes I feel like I push people away, I really don’t intend to, I just have resting brick face.
— 91 King (@91kingSJ) May 1, 2016
Weekends are the loneliest for me, there are less people. Imagine if I was something great and open on weekends to draw people to #uptownsj!
— 91 King (@91kingSJ) May 6, 2016
All the empty buildings (All the empty buildings)
If you like them you should find a use for them #uptownSJ #Beyonce #allthesingleladies— 91 King (@91kingSJ) May 4, 2016
I wish Jim Bezanson would care about me as much as he cares about an empty parking lot. #uptownsj #heritageSJ #EmptyBuildings #growsj #fixsj
— 91 King (@91kingSJ) May 5, 2016
Stephanie Turner of Partners Global, the agent handling 91 King, told Huddle she discovered the Twitter account last week and has no idea who’s behind it. Though the account is comedic in nature, she said it could get people talking about building.
“I suppose it can’t hurt. The tweets are pretty light hearted and don’t have a strong business spin to them,” Turner says. “Last time I looked the account had about 50 followers but I didn’t notice if followers included Mountain Equipment Co-Op, Forever 21 or Sephora.”
Turner said there have been a few inquiries about the building recently since the new Irving Oil HQ was announced. However, whoever takes it on will have their work cut out for them.
“It’s a huge project…either rebuild or tear down and build new,” she said. “Either way, it takes an experienced developer with deep pockets and a willingness to take risk.”
It should be noted that it’s not the first time an inanimate object as taken to social media in Saint John. Last year the broken escalators in Saint John’s City Market joined Facebook to try to draw attention to its plight.
Maybe it worked. Those escalators are now in the process of being fixed.