7 October 2008
Business Group Mum on Train Station Repair Potential
York Street station Frederiction, New
Brunswick.
Fredericton New Brunswick - Enterprise Fredericton will
meet with city council soon to share the findings of a study it commissioned from ADI Ltd. on the feasibility of repairing the York
Street train station.
"We're in the process of reviewing it now. I can't reveal details until it's been shared with the city," said Mark Wies,
chairman of the board of directors of Enterprise Fredericton.
Deputy mayor Tony Whalen, who has been filling in for Mayor Brad Woodside while he's been in Asia, is aware of the report and pending
meeting, but said no date has been set for the session.
Woodside, who was on a trip to China and Korea to drum up immigration prospects, has had Enterprise Fredericton's executive director
Doug Motty in tow as part of the overseas delegation.
Motty has spearheaded the work on the feasibility report and is the one most familiar with its contents, Whalen said.
Wies said Enterprise Fredericton was asked to take on the feasibility report by various stakeholders and organizations.
"Most of the organizations that have an interest in that location are also involved with Enterprise Fredericton," he said.
"We were a logical group to actually take this step - to do the study and bring the stakeholders together"
Enterprise Fredericton wouldn't be a permanent partner in any final redevelopment proposal for the downtown train station built in 1923.
"It's just an opportunity to get everybody together, have the feasibility study, and move forward from there," he said.
The building is owned by J.D. Irving Ltd. The company has been seeking to redevelop the train station as part of a
large-scale commercial or office development along a chunk of former railway land it owns in the downtown.
Without a major development, the company has said it doesn't make economic sense to plow $2 million into repairing the structure.
The train station's brick exterior appears intact, but its roof structure has deteriorated to the extent that it looks like it will
cave in.
Woodside issued a public call to fix up the structure or tear it down, but because of the station's heritage designation, it would take
federal government approval to remove the building.
J.D. Irving is loathe to petition Ottawa for permission to tear it down and said it remains optimistic a solution may still be
found.
|
