Fredericton Council Advances 32-Unit Residential Development
FREDERICTON – A 32-unit residential project on Forest Hill Road is closer to construction.
Rezoning to permit the two and three-bedroom apartment building passed first and second reading at Fredericton City Council on Monday night. Those mid-to-high-end units are expected to rent for about $1,400 to $1,800 a month.
Fredericton Rentals Gorham Real Estate owns two duplexes and two single-family homes on the project site. It hopes to relocate those tenants to some of its 48 other properties in the city once the houses are torn down.
The development will be near a controversial micro-apartment complex on Waterloo Row.
Managing Partner Amy Gorham said the location is walking distance to downtown and the universities. Her company has owned the land for 12 years and eyed the development as a long term goal.
“Apartments are very popular right now due to the low vacancy, so anything you can contribute to that inventory, of course, is a great thing,” she said.
Fredericton is experiencing a tight rental market as the city experiences strong population growth fueled by an emerging tech and startup scene. The vacancy rate in 2019 was 1.4 percent, down from 2.1 percent in 2018.
Gorham said immigration to New Brunswick has contributed to the strong rental market.
“People tend to be building less, condos have decreased in popularity, which has increased popularity of apartments,” she said.
Councilor Bruce Grandy, chair of the development committee, said the city could double the record-breaking amount of multi-unit projects last year and the vacancy rate would still be low.
“We’ve got such a low vacancy rate that we need to keep building these types of developments in order to get that vacancy rate up,” he said.
Grandy said there’s a “tipping point” where the number of new developments will allow for housing to become more affordable.
“All we can do is keep making the process easier trying to get as many developments through city council as we can and get the vacancy rates to start to go up,” he said.
If the development passes third reading at council, construction will begin this spring. The project is expected to take about a year to complete.