City sees $115 Million in 2011 Development Activity

Fredericton (January 17) – The City of Fredericton has announced that the total value of construction in the city for 2011 was 115.6-million. Residential construction recorded its second highest total since 2009.

Construction of new homes and businesses, as well as new industrial and commercial buildings, have helped push the total value over $100-million for the sixth straight year. Despite the worldwide fiscal problems that plagued everyone in 2011, Fredericton did very well.

According to the City’s Annual Building Construction Activity Report, commercial development came in at $19.6 million with major projects including: a commercial office building on Bishop Drive, a commercial building with eight residential units on St. Mary’s Street, an Orthodontist/Dentist building on Prospect Street, the new Public Safety office building on Bishop Drive and the Electrical Association of NB office building on Durelle Street.

Major commercial projects anticipated for 2012 include continued development of the Corbett Centre, commercial development at Two Nations Crossing, West Hills commercial development, a downtown hotel and more commercial development on Bishop Drive.

Government & Institutional construction was worth $ 29.9-million in 2011 and included the start of the new Fredericton North School on Wyngate Drive, upgrades to the City Hall exterior, upgrades and improvements to Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional Hospital and the University of New Brunswick, renovations at the NBCC offices on Smyth Street and interior renovations to Soldier’s Barracks, a new outdoor skate park on Johnson Avenue, the new Capital Region Community Tennis Centre and Shannex’s 45-unit lifestyle apartment building with medical offices.

Residential construction was valued at $60.8-million in 2011, the second strongest residential activity on record and just below the $61.4-million record set in 2009. While the number of single detached homes built in 2011 dropped slightly, multiple unit starts, including apartments, townhouses and duplexes had a record year with a total of 366 new units constructed – up from 329 units in 2010.

Major residential projects in 2011 included: the 101 unit apartment building on Boyne Court, a 40 unit apartment building and an eight unit townhouse on Valcour Drive, a 32 unit apartment building on Queen Street, a 30 unit apartment building on Dunn’s Crossing Road, an 18 unit townhouse on Murray Avenue, two 12 unit apartment buildings on Sunny Brea Drive, and a 10 unit townhouse on Huntingdon Circle.

The City has enjoyed several years of record development since 2006. It is expected that development will remain strong in 2012 with overall development activity anticipated to be in the range of $100 million.