This picture was taken last weekend? Work being done???? Can someone tell me where? The Irvings are getting really bad via their newspapers in this province. Wait till you hear about Brent Taylor? I'm just waiting till the end of the week for this one. The Irvings are giving false reports via their newspapers. Stay tune....
Here's the story-
Irving open to train station proposals
Renovations | J.D. Irving spokesperson says company
pursuing commercial development to make train station
project viable
By MARK TAYLOR
For the Daily Gleaner
J.D. Irving Ltd. says a development in Saint John
could serve as a model for the restoration of the
York Street Railway Station in Fredericton.
Company spokesperson Mary Keith told The Daily Gleaner
that uptown Saint John's CenterBeam Place could
provide an example of how to develop the train
station.
CenterBeam Place, a former deteriorating heritage
building that encompasses the corner of King and
Prince William streets, is now a newly renovated
office complex with many amenities.
J.D. Irving Ltd. owns CenterBeam Place and the York
Street Railway Station.
"We continue to pursue a commercial development which
would make the restoration of the railway station
viable," said Keith.
"Similar to what's been done in Saint John in terms of
the restoration and the revitalization of that block
of buildings that now is called CenterBeam Place.
"There are some anchor tenants there and it's
underwriting the restoration of that building and its
rejuvenation as part of the downtown core."
She would not say whether the company has received any
expressions of interest in helping to develop the
train station.
But Keith said J.D. Irving Ltd. is serious about
seeing the railway station building restored.
"Should there be an interest in a development for this
property with the intention to move forward, we do
have an approved plan," Keith said.
In the meantime, she said the station is being taken
care of.
"Basic maintenance is being done," Keith said.
"But we continue to look for a commercial development
that would assist in what is estimated to be a
$2-million restoration."
She said the company is open to different ownership
options for the building.
"That is something that would be determined based on
the negotiations with the developer," Keith said.
Fredericton Mayor Brad Woodside said Sunday he hopes
to see a restoration of the railway station.
"It's a part of our rail heritage," Woodside said.
"I think it has been quite an eyesore for quite some
time that has really upset people as to why it would
be just sitting there and allowed to deteriorate when
train stations in other parts of the country are being
restored."
He said he welcomed news J.D. Irving Ltd. wants to see
the property brought back to life.
"I think there is going to be a lot of very happy
people including myself who travelled from
(Fredericton) Junction in the dayliner with my mother
when I was a little guy. So a lot of us have an
attachment to that York Street train station,"
Woodside said.
He added developing the train station will have a
positive impact on the surrounding neighbourhood.
"When you look at the kind of impact it has right now,
that's not a good impact," Woodside said.
"When you turn that around and have a restoration
project, it brings a lot of pride to the entire area,
including the entire city."
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
Mary Keith -In the meantime, she said the station is being taken "Basic maintenance is being done," Keith said.
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13 comments:
If Heritage Groups really want to save this and other buildings, they should start coughing up dollars and real plans to save them. It's great to say buildings should be saved and tonnes of money put into them when it's not your money and you don't need to put any of your time into it.
The Train Station is an eyesore. If it's not going to be fixed up, tear it down.
Designated or not. If something isn't done soon, Father Time will bring it down or some kid is going to get hurt crawling around in it. You are correct Chris that Heritage has offered to buy it but a) for a paltry sum and b) they don't have the money to fix it up either.
It's great to tell someone what they should do when it's not yours but Heritage Groups in N.B. need to start getting realistic and come to the table with achievable goals and plans, not ultimatums that they'll protest or sign petitions. The Charlotte St. Arts Centre is a good example of doing the work and what can be achieved but far too often Heritage simply threaten without realistic ideas. The York Street School and train station are good examples of that.
It is going to fall down quite soon if nothing is done about it and I imagine that's exactly what the irvings would like to see. If the building falls down, its heritage designation no longer applies and they can do whatever they please with the land.
I don't see how the heritage groups have been unreasonable. In the two examples you gave, Heritage has tried their best to put forward ideas that benefit both the owners of the buildings and the buildings. With the example of the train station, Heritaage has offered to purchase the building but Irving has refused to sell. I'm also sure that Heritage would help with fundraising if Irving took some initiative and showed that they wanted to do something about saving the building. Instead, they just let it sit and rot and throw some tar paper on the roof every couple years.
With the York Street School, Heritage went so far to draw up alternative designs that allowed the church to both expand and keep the school intact. The Church is now finding that it doesn't have the support of the community and couldn't raise the money to build a new building if they plan on tearing the school down. They now have no choise but to look at alternatives.
Yes, heaven forbid we blame the owners of the property. It's all the fault of those rich, selfish money grubbing impractical 'Heritage Groups' that drive around in golden cars.
A whole million dollars to restore, gee, ya think the Irvings could have figured that out when the bought the place? But a whole million dollars is just out of the question, those poor Irvings are just barely getting by as it is, we certainly don't want to put an extra strain on their wallets.
I sense a bit of sarcasm 3:49.
Seriously though, what's wrong with a little bit of middle ground. I'm no big fan of the Irvings but they are business people. Any group that's serious about saving the building needs to do more than just make demands. They need to come to the table with a feasible plan. What is it to restore it, 1.5 or 2 million? If the people of Fredericton seriously want to keep it, the collective will would be there. I suspect if most people were asked if they would like it to stay and be restored, they'd say yes. However I also suspect if they were asked, "Are you willing to do anything about it such as put in time or money," they would say no. It's easy to make demands when you have nothing at stake.
Chris. On the York Street School I remember seeing those plans on CBC TV. They looked impressive but I also recall the Heritage folks who designed it having no idea what it would cost. Like I said it's great to come forward with ideas but you also need to come up with something that is feasible for whoever owns the building. Charlotte St. School is a good example of what can be done when that happens. York School and the Train Station are not
Hey boys you missed the mark--The Irving Company's reply was, We're keeping up with basic maintenance.
In other words, This is basic maintenance to a property owned by one of this century's richest families, But,,,,Only outside their own personal property line.
Gee just take a look at the new "Blue Canue" colour scheme, Looks more like an amature paint fight from the sixties that went horribly wrong or they hired the most narrow visioned & cheapest group in the business when it came to community color blend in todays society.
The difference is that this has a private owner-and a billionaire at that. If my house was delapitated would you be talking about the city 'being practical' and coming up with the money to upgrade my house?
Of course not, in fact in most places you aren't even allowed to have your house in that condition. No doubt the Irvings bought it for a song and no doubt at the time they made all kinds of overtures about fixing it up-why else would she be talking about 'the general upkeep' they are supposedly doing. They could simply say 'we bought it so we'll do what we want and you can &^%$ off'.
What a province, only in New Brunswick would people in the poorest region of the country be talking about what they can do to raise taxpayers money to fix up a building owned by multi billionaires! I don't think the old feudal vassals could even pull that one off.
Forget taxpayer dollars. Those who want to keep it should go out and do a little fundraising and donating of their money and time and come up witha feasible plan. I don't want to let Irving off the hook either. They also have a corporate responsibility and need to pony up the lion's share but the activist groups also need to be more involved than writing a letter to the editor and complaining nothing is getting done. They did that with the Charlotte St. School and did a great job.
The York Street School of course is an entirely different matter. That's a Church which doesn't have Irving's billions. The Heritage Groups really need to step up to the plate in that case to offer some realistic solutions.
The Irvings should be made to fix it or tear it down. Don't expect another hand out from the taxpayers.
Who do you think is going to donate and contribute funds? Those are taxpayers, so it's taxpayers money. How about this...Irving bought it, they own it, to meet building codes it has to be maintained.
So for 'realistic solutions' heres a couple:
get city inspectors in there to say what needs to be done to bring it up to code
tell Irvings they've got six months to do it or else the city will take it from them...THEN the heritage groups can start fundraising so that the building can be run BY THE PEOPLE.
Some good points. Just one clarification. Until we live in the socialist utopia that some crave for ;), only what the government spends is taxpayer's money. I may be a taxpayer but the rest is my money not the government's. The less they're involved in my life, the better.
If the average person owned it they would give us a deadline to meet and then what they could do in the courts is what they would do and we would have to foot the bill and pay the fines and we would not have taxpayers dollars helping us. Tired of the wealthy expecting us to foot their bills.
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