2009

21 November 2009 Restoration of Historic Train Station Underway An artist's conception of what the new NB Liquor store will look like, incorporating the historic Fredericton train station.     Frederiction New Brunswick - Work has begun to restore Fredericton's historic railway station for its new tenant, NB Liquor Corporation.   NB Liquor and J.D. Irving Ltd. announced plans in September that will see the dilapidated station turned into a boutique wine store and teaching area.   A new liquor store will also be built adjoining the old Canadian Pacific Railway station.   A local contractor is removing the station's rotten roof piece by piece and plans to replace it with a permanent roof within the next few months.   The interior will be rebuilt using as much original material as possible, said project manager Dana Boyd, of The Urban Farmer.   "The plan for the existing train station is to create a training centre that will be filled with a lot of the memorabilia from the old train station era. And then that will open up and attach onto the new 10,000-square-foot liquor store," said NB Liquor spokeswoman Nora Lacey.   "So it'll be a pass-through with all the memorabilia and a training centre for customers, for licensees, for staff to come in, and do tastings and food pairings with wine, and spirits and beer, really sort of like an education centre."   The liquor corporation signed a 20-year lease with the building's owner, J.D. Irving Ltd.   The lease allowed J.D. Irving Ltd. to go ahead with the multimillion-dollar renovation of the 1923 station, a national historic site.   J.D. Irving Ltd. acquired the site when the company bought the rail lines east of Montreal in 1995.   Since then, the station has been deteriorating, even though Parks Canada's Historic Sites and Monuments Board designated it as a heritage site in 1991.   The refurbished 318-square-metre train station and the adjoining 929-square-metre building, which will house the store's products, a cold room, and checkout counters, are scheduled to open next fall.

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