Dramatic change to Centennial Building facade rejected by Fredericton committee
CBC
A proposal to completely transform the face of a prominent downtown Fredericton building was rejected Wednesday night by the planning advisory committee.
Centennial Heritage Properties director Geoff Colter, who owns the empty Centennial Building, had sought city approval for a design change that critics said would ruin the building's historic character.
But the planning committee, made up of councillors and citizens, went with a city staff recommendation to reject the proposal. It will go to council later for an official decision.
About 30 people filled council chambers, with more joining virtually, for the discussion of the Centennial Building, which a local architect called the most important building built in the last century in New Brunswick.
Tony Dakiv, a senior city planner, told the committee that Coulter's latest design proposal differed from the one approved in 2022 that respected the building's character.
The initial proposal "achieved a balance" between heritage character and an adaptive reuse strategy, Dakiv said, and its planned inset balconies did not disrupt the building's vertical grid-patterned facade.
The new design replaced that facade with a cladding system that included metal panels and featured balconies projecting outward.
Coulter told the committee the initial design proved to be "way over any economical budget that existed," and the biggest factor driving up the cost was the plan for inset balconies.
"We said, well, what if this was a more conventional-type cladding like you would see on an apartment building that's not in the city centre and it's not the Centennial Building?"
The Centennial Building on King Street, kitty-corner to the back of the New Brunswick Legislative Building, was constructed in 1967 as part of a nationwide infrastructure campaign to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Confederation.
For decades, it housed offices for about 1,000 provincial employees and the premier. It was vacated in 2012 for renovations before being sold in 2018 by the newly elected premier Blaine Higgs.
It was sold to Coulter in 2019 for $4 million, but the province did not apply any heritage protection or designation before selling. Since the sale, the building has been fenced off like a construction site but with little apparent activity going on.
John Leroux, an architect and historian, asked committee members to reject the latest design proposal and not let "what once was our greatest achievement be reduced to suburban balconies."
Leroux said that he went to school with Coulter and has worked with him before, but that he got the design wrong.
Several school boards in the Greater Toronto area have closed their schools on Thursday after a winter storm blanketed the city with snow overnight.
Schools and facilities are closed as people in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County dig out from a winter storm.
Schools in Prince County have been cancelled for Thursday as a winter storm system is expected to bring significant snowfall to the region in the afternoon and evening.
Shoppers and businesses in some small northern communities have mixed feelings about the "buy Canadian" movement started in response to the potential trade war between Canada and the U.S.
President Donald Trump claims he's targeting Canada with punishing tariffs on all our goods because he's concerned about the country's supposedly lax approach to fentanyl and migrants.
The call to Angela Rasmussen came out of the blue and posed a troubling question. Had she heard the rumour that key data sets would be removed from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website the next day?
As residents of two downtown Toronto neighbourhoods say city efforts have failed to reduce a spate of coyote attacks on pet dogs, a local councillor is hosting a public meeting Thursday to hear their concerns and come up with a long-term safety plan.
In the otherwise quiet halls of Oakridge Presbyterian Church in west London, Ont., on a weekday afternoon, a rhythmic thud echoes through the building.
In a corroding American democracy, there's one guardrail still standing. The court system. President Donald Trump is testing it, he's pushing it, but so far has not kicked it aside.
Speaking with reporters in Washington, D.C. following meetings on trade Wednesday, Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey said Canada hopefully won't make concessions to the United States amid threats of economic tariffs.
Canadian flags are flying off the shelves of two Dartmouth flag stores ahead of the weekend.
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says meetings this week in Washington, D.C., have shown her there's widespread opposition to potential U.S. tariffs, and it's coming from both sides of the political spectrum.
Montreal-area school boards have already begun announcing closures on the eve of one of the biggest winter storms of the season.