Demolition Starts On Former City Motel

It has been an eyesore in east Saint John for many years, but the former Fundy Line Motel is coming down.

Fencing is up and excavators have begun demolishing the buildings on the Rothesay Avenue site.

The work is welcome news to Coun. Donna Reardon, whose ward includes the former motel.

“It’s taken a long time and people are tired of it, so it’s great news to see it’s coming down,” said Reardon.

Reardon said residents had become frustrated from seeing the dilapidated buildings for so long.

She said she does not blame them because vacant buildings become a huge liability for neighbourhoods.

“It can become infested with rodents, especially a hotel which would have had, at one point in time, food and a lot of things in it,” said Reardon. “Also, any vacant building can have nefarious activity happening in it.”

But one question still remains: what will happen to the property once the buildings are gone?

Reardon said she has not heard what the plans are, but she does not expect it will remain empty.

“It’s a nice piece of real estate, I can’t imagine it’s worthless, but we’ll see what happens there,” she said. “I would think it would be an interesting piece of real estate.”

Our newsroom has left multiple messages for developer Troy Northrup, who owns the property, but our calls have gone unreturned.