Image from brochure Ethos Ridge developers handed out to Millidgeville residents. For illustrative purposes only. Image: Submitted.
A new development being proposed in Millidgeville aims to bring retirement living to a new level in Saint John.
The Ethos Ridge project will be a unique multi-story, approximately 120-unit luxury residential retirement community on Sandy Point Road.
The project is being led by developers Scott Walton and Ian McLeod and came about through a discussion Walton had with his friend who owned the 19-acre property on Sandy Point Road.
“They had ideas about subdividing or putting a small number of houses on the property. It didn’t really jive with me,” says Walton, who’s worked previously in the tech startup scene in Fredericton.
“But as I got thinking I was going back to some of my experiences about visiting family members in some of the retirement living and senior care homes. I always had mixed experiences with it and saw a lot of fighting within the family and arguments over people having to move into them.”
Throughout one’s life, moving is generally viewed as an exciting event. Whether it’s your first apartment or your first home. But when it comes to retirees and seniors moving into new accommodations, the feeling often changes from excitement to anxiety.
Walton says he saw an opportunity to create a different kind of experience.
“If you did a world-class design and you really focus on the aesthetic and the experiences that you can create there, then combine that with an interesting property like that and do a really good job, people would be excited to move there,” he says. “It wouldn’t have to be an argument between the parent and their kids.”
In turn, it would also be a place where friends and family would enjoy visiting.
“It would be exciting for the people that were going to visit them too. It’s not enjoyable if people aren’t excited to come to see you because of your living circumstances,” says Walton.
All Ethos Ridge units will be fully-accessible with balconies, in-suite laundry and kitchens. It will also feature other amenities including a pool, wellness centre, bistro, community garden, maker-space, dog park, waterfront access, walking trails and outdoor play spaces.
“We’re just trying to think of different ways to engage people and make them more active in those years as well,” says Walton. “I think being on that type of site, it’s going to encourage them to be more active.”
Partners on the project include Walton, McLeod, Olivier Letard and Aimée Foreman. They will be working with G architects (Toronto), Acre Architects (Saint John), Blackwell Structural Engineering (Halifax), Brackish Landscape Design (Halifax), Englobe Engineering (Dartmouth), and HomeCare by Design (Saint John) to design the complex
Walton and McLeod recently did a pre-consultation with residents of the Pelton Road/ Sandy Point Road/Westmount Drive area of Millidgeville. The purpose was to give neighbours advance notice of the upcoming development
Walton says they knocked on around 50 doors and were able to address a lot of initial questions and concerns. He says the project was well-received overall.
“There were a lot of great conversations, a lot of people filled us in the history of the area which is cool. Overall, people were quite interested in the project,” he says.
“There were questions about traffic and the visibility of the building. We spent some extra time with anyone who had concerns and followed up a few times afterward as well.”
The zoning phase of the project is expected to begin this month, with pre-sales for units starting in the summer of next year.
If everything goes according to plan, construction will start next fall and take about 14 to 18 months to complete.
Cherise Letson is the associate editor of Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
