Video: Demolition Begins Of Building On Coast Guard Site
SAINT JOHN – The city began demolishing the final building at the old Coast Guard site on the waterfront on Friday.
Phase 1, which began this morning, involved crews tearing down the helicopter hangar at the back end of the building. Temporary fencing has been installed with signage to safely direct parking customers, pedestrians and motorists in the area. The city is advising pedestrians to use the sidewalk on the eastern side of Water Street.
In phase 2, the administration building will be demolished. Beginning June 4, Water Street will be closed to thru traffic in both directions, between King Street and Princess Street, and remain closed until June 7. The on-street parking spaces on Water Street will not be available after 6 p.m. on June 3.
The city expects the demolition process for the administration building to take up to seven days to complete. Crews will be on site daily between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. The work will cause considerable dust so businesses and residents in the area are advised to keep their doors and windows closed during the demolition. Crews will use water hoses to reduce the impact of dust in the air.
The cleanup process is expected to take up to five weeks to complete, followed by a grading of the site. The total project is scheduled to be completed by July 22, a couple of weeks before the Area 506 festival, which will be held on the site New Brunswick Day weekend, August 2-4.
The demolition of the building is the latest in a series of steps to prepare the site for new development.
In April, Develop Saint John put out a call for proposals for new development. The deadline for submissions was May 7th and proposals are currently being reviewed.
RELATED: $11.9-Million Investment On Waterfront Will Help Prepare Coast Guard Site For Development
On Wednesday, the federal government announced it would contribute $11.9-million to help refurbish the sea wall, and take other measures on the city’s waterfront to mitigate the effects of climate change. But the work will also help prepare the Coast Guard site for a mixed-use development on a prime piece of land in the uptown core.
“That site has had a serious of false starts [over the years],” said Saint John Mayor Don Darlin in an interview Friday. “We want to do this right.
“We’re trying to remove as many unknowns as possible and potential barriers to developing this site. When you can bring certainty to developers in terms of market demand and site conditions, that’s going dramatically improve our likelihood of a successful outcome.”
Darling said the building had to come down because it was too expensive to fix up and not suitable to a modern, mixed-use development on that site.
“There’s no power or water and infrastructures to this building, so our staff estimates were $3.5 to $4-million, at least, worth of work to get it back up and running,” he said “And then you have a 1960s office building sitting on one of the most prime pieces of land in all of Atlantic Canada.”