St. John's on the cusp of a boom: councillor

A city councillor said Monday that St. John's is set to bring in a lot of money from dozens of new building developments.

Coun. Frank Galgay said 51 projects have been approved for construction in the St. John's area.

"There is over a half-a-billion dollars worth of development, and climbing, in the city of St. John's," said Galgay. "One of the most significant explosions of development in the history of this city."

Galgay says construction should start soon on some of the projects.

For its meeting this week, St. John's city councillors were given a briefing note that highlighted five developments that have received council's approval in principle, and where construction has not yet started.

Those developments include:

• A hotel with between 120 and 140 rooms, to be built by Langton Greene Development on Duckworth Street. Council has since been presented with a new proposal on the site - which includes the former CBC Radio building - for a much larger condominium-hotel complex and parking garage, which would effectively cover Bell Street.
• A 80-suite hotel to be built on Water Street at Buchanan Street, to be developed by Steele Hotels Ltd.
• A 140-suite hotel to be built on Water Street at the southeast corner of its intersection with Prescott Street, to be built by Southwest Properties Ltd.
• A 284-unit seniors' and condominium/apartment development planned for Topsail Road, near Holbrook Avenue. The Newfoundland Real Estate Investment Corp.'s proposed complex involves two six-storey buildings and two four-storey buildings.
• A 140-suite condominium to be built by Nolan Hall Real Estate on the east side of Temperance Street.

The list presented to council does not include other developments at various stages of approval, including a plan to build a tower on the site of the old Woolworth's department store on Water Street and new complex planned for the long-vacant Newfoundland Telephone building on Duckworth Street.