The Centennial Building. Image: Google Maps
The provincial government announced Wednesday that the Centennial Building in downtown Fredericton will be sold to a private developer that plans to invest nearly $50-million on a hotel, restaurant and residential development.
Located on King Street, the building started undergoing $78 million redevelopment last year, until the then newly-elected provincial government led by Premier Blaine Higgs cancelled the project in November 2018. The government did a call out for private developers to take over the building in the spring.
Centennial Heritage Properties Inc plans to invest more than $48 million to complete the development. The project is expected to create more than 450 jobs. The government says selling the building to a private developer will save New Brunswick taxpayers about $60 million in further capital expenditures.
“This is a much better deal for taxpayers,” said Higgs in a media release. “The previous proposal to create additional office space for government was simply not needed. I am pleased to announce that the province will sell the property for $4 million. This property will help attract further development in the downtown area.”
Centennial Heritage Properties is planning a two-phased approach for the building which will include 22,300 sq. metres (240,000 sq. ft.) of residential space and 2,790 sq. metres (43,000 sq. ft.) for hotel and restaurant space.
They plan preserve and maintain many of the historically significant elements of the interior and exterior features of the building, including original artwork which will be on loan from the New Brunswick Art Bank.
Once completed, the government estimates that the property will generate about $600,000 a year in property taxes for the City of Fredericton and roughly $360,000 a year for the provincial government.
The province is also expected to receive one-time tax revenue of between $4 million and $5 million during construction of the two phases.
A version of this story was published in Huddle, an online business news publication based in Saint John. Huddle is an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
