Developer buys Saint John's long-empty St. Vincent's school building for apartments
Plan is to turn former girls' school into residential units, says real estate agent
Service New Brunswick records show Fredericton-based City Line Holdings Ltd. — the same company that bought a former west side school last month — purchased the property on Friday for $700,000.
Jason Stephen, the seller's real estate agent, wouldn't confirm the name of the buyer but said the plan is to turn the former school into residential units.
Stephen said the designs aren't final — nor the number of units — but he said there are "going to be some spacious units in there." He said the idea is to turn the gymnasium into multi-level units.
St. Vincent's High School first opened in 1919 as a boys' school before becoming a Catholic girls' school in 1954. It continued to operate as an all-girls' school until it closed in 2002. The building has been vacant ever since.
A decade ago, a non-profit group tried to transform the old school into apartments and a daycare.
In 2017, they even invited alumni of the Cliff Street school to tour the building. Tape on the floor of a classroom helped illustrate how a two-bedroom apartment would be laid out — even the toilet and bathtub were outlined on the floor.
Fifty-eight apartments were planned, along with a daycare that could accommodate 60 infants and pre-school children.
Stephen said he got involved in the project about 600 days ago.
After so many false starts for the property over the last two decades, Stephen called it one of the proudest-but-challenging sales in his career.
Real
estate agent Jason Stephen declined to name the buyer but said the plan
is to convert the building into residential units, including
multi-level apartments. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
"It's very exciting for this street," he said, standing outside the building on Monday afternoon. "I think it's going to redevelop and renew some energy back into the street."
Although it has some "issues" given its age, Stephen said the building is structurally sound and has a lot of potential and "character."
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"You look at the marble staircases — even though the inside's not in great shape, they held out over time."
City Coun. David Hickey, who lives in Waterloo Village where the former school is located, is pleased with the sale and what it potentially means for the area.
"It's transformative for the community," Hickey said.
"This news shows that there's some new vision taking shape in Waterloo Village. It shows that people are believing and seeing the potential that this community has."
St. Vincent's High School opened in 1919 and closed in 2002. It has been vacant ever since. (Roger Cosman/CBC)
Hickey said he spoke with the developer on Monday afternoon and confirmed the plan is to develop the property into residential units.
He said the plan is to build roughly 50 units.
St. Patrick's School sat empty on the west side of Saint John for almost a decade before City Line Holdings bought it on Oct. 5 for $745,000.
Hickey said it's good news for the city that two long-vacant schools, in "pretty dense neighbourhoods in our community," are finally being developed.
In
2017, a non-profit group planned to develop the former school into 58
apartment units and a daycare, but that plan fell through. (Comeau MacKenzie Architecture)
He said there's "a lot of community hope tied up in these projects — as well as development potential. So we really want to see a successful outcome here."
Together with an unrelated development slated to start going up in the next few weeks on the Cliff Street property adjacent to St. Vincent's, Hickey is hopeful for community revitalization.
"Things are looking up in Waterloo Village," where they have been "on the front lines" of the housing and mental health crises, he said.
"We've seen what 200-plus people living on the street looks like because we're the neighborhood that I think is seeing the most of it."
Residential development, he said, "says to me and my neighbours that there is potential for this community."
CBC tried contacting the president of City Line Holdings, but he has not responded to a request for an interview.
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