Single residential developer takes on two former schools

Article content

Two former schools in Saint John are receiving a new lease on life as multi-residential projects by the same developer.

City Line Holdings Ltd, headed by Erik De Jong of Fredericton, purchased both the former St. Patrick’s School on the lower west side in October and St. Vincent’s School on Cliff Street this month.

“I wouldn’t say I necessarily looked for old schools on purpose, these just happened to be available when I was looking for projects,” De Jong said.

“I’m interested in projects that make sense and that are interesting,” he added. “(The schools) made sense.”

St. Patrick’s School at 172 City Line was purchased for $745,000, according to Service New Brunswick property records, while St. Vincent’s School on Cliff Street sold for $700,000, listing agent Jason Stephen said.

Both will be turned into multi-unit residential buildings with an affordable housing element, said DeJong, who said he already has experience building apartment buildings and commercial properties.

St. Vincent’s School

De Jong said he expects his project to turn the former St. Vincent’s high school into 60 to 70 apartment units will take about two years to realize, with preliminary cost estimates at $14 million to $16 million.

The roof has to be replaced, he said, followed by asbestos remediation.

“The building has been allowed to deteriorate quite a bit, so there’s a lot of mold,” he said.

While the structure will be retained, the building will have to be gutted to remove drywall and plaster and “any sort of organic material that’s been allowed to be saturated with water and then get moldy over the years where there’s been no heat or power in there,” De Jong said.

Once complete, the building will hold a mix of housing to hit different income levels, he said, adding it will fit in with the neighbouring Steepleview mixed-income apartment project currently under construction.

“Waterloo Village is due for some projects,” he said. “It will transform the neighbourhood.”

It’s been a long road to reach this point.

Vacant since 2002, the former all-girls high school owned by the Roman Catholic Bishop of Saint John dates back to 1919. It’s been the subject of previous retrofitting projects that failed to attain lift off, including a 58-unit mixed-income apartment building that was denied vital funding from the federal rapid housing initiative in 2020.

The original school building and later gymnasium add-on were assessed collectively for $1,040,500 in 2023, according to Service New Brunswick property records.

Selling the property has been an almost 600-day roller coaster ride for Stephen of Royal Lepage Atlantic.

At four storeys, 73,000 square feet and in need of a hefty amount of remediation work upfront, it limited the buyer pool, Stephen said.

A $775,000 sale closure listed on Realtor.ca last September didn’t work out. The property went back on the market in June.

“I have never worked so hard on a deal,” Stephen said. “And what I can say about this buyer is he’s done a lot of due diligence, and he’s gone into this with his eyes wide open.”

St. Patrick’s School

The transformation of St. Patrick’s School is a sister project to St. Vincent’s, De Jong said.

He plans to convert the former elementary school, closed since 2014, into 37 apartments, as well as townhouses along the Lancaster Street side of the property – an 18-month project preliminary estimates place at $11 million.

The original school structure was built in 1924, with a 1950s addition. De Jong said interior demolition and asbestos remediation will also be required, as well as work to address lead paint.

“The previous owners did some work and we’re just going to finish that up before we start building it new,” he said.

Rents will start at around $900, with the highest price nearing the $2,000 mark, he said, “depending on the size of the unit and whether you have a harbour view or not.”

De Jong said he hopes to have construction begin in the spring, with a completion timeline of late 2025.

In order to move forward, the site will have to be rezoned.

According to previous reporting by Brunswick News, the school was sold by the diocese in 2016 for $35,000 to private buyers who planned to put offices, restaurants and a craft brewery into the building. Service New Brunswick property records show its assessment value at $37,600, though it was listed for sale without a buyer at $388,000 in 2019 and then $737,888 in June.

“It’s a great location, and it’s an interesting project,” De Jong said. “My past experience was building apartment buildings, sort of on greenfield sites, and this as a renovation is kind of fun and challenging.”

De Jong is also taking on another project in the city, a four-apartment building and townhouses project spanning 220 units on Loch Lomond Road, currently going through the city’s rezoning process.

“It’s all in Saint John too,” De Jong said. “It seems like there’s a lot of opportunity there.”

Developer’s plans welcome news to councillors

Saint John Coun. David Hickey said the fate of the two former schools was welcome news.

“St. Vincent’s in particular has really gone through quite a few false starts. It seems like now we’ve got the right serious developer willing to take on a pretty significant project, which I’m really excited for,” he said. “I think there’s a lot of potential, I think there’s a lot of opportunity for what that building holds. And, certainly, the building needs it, and the community needs it too.”

Hickey noted that Waterloo Village has borne the brunt of the mental health and housing crisis in the city.

“With the investments that developers, whether it be Steepleview or whether it be this one at St. Vincent’s, are making in this community, it’s really going to start to reshape the neighbourhood.”

Coun. Gerry Lowe said he now knows of four housing development projects happening in the Waterloo Village area.

“They’re definitely going to change the Waterloo Street village,” he said. “I mean, I’m sure they’ll make it a much better, stronger place.”

Stephen said the St. Vincent’s project would “fill a need in this community.”

“I think it’s going to really, complement the other development that Steepleview is going with on the corner,” he added. “There’s real upside for the city core to redevelop itself off of this property.”

Steepleview Project begins construction

Underground work will begin on Steepleview on Dec. 4, said Kevin McDonald, project board chairperson.

The 56-unit apartment building, half of which will be subsidized, is located beside the former high school on Cliff Street. A partnership between the federal government, the province, the city of Saint John, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint John and the Knights of Columbus, it will also house an 80-seat daycare.

A crane will be arriving at the site shortly, he said. Construction should take 18 months to complete.

“It’s been an emotional ride, let me tell you,” McDonald said.

Project costs have jumped about $10 million, now coming in at $23 million, and there have been delays in starting construction.

McDonald had also been involved in previous efforts to have St. Vincent’s turned into housing, and noted there will be more than 100 apartments added to the neighbourhood between the two projects.

“We’re all working towards the same thing,” he said.

“I’m delighted that it’s finally coming to bear,” he added. “We’ve made some promises on that street. I’ve been involved with Steepleview and the school, probably eight years now. So to get to this point and say they’re finally there working and something’s coming out of the ground, it’s a wonderful feeling.

“We’re finally fulfilling the mandate of providing a very small amount of housing that is so desperately needed.”