Fredericton council approves parking garage sale for $1.85M

Fredericton city council approved the sale of the parking garage at Brunswick and Carleton streets to Ross Ventures Ltd. Monday night for $1.85 million.

The developer will use the structure as parking for its planned commercial and retail building on the property.

Renderings of the $16-million building show a sleek, five-storey glass office building.

"It'll be the sexiest building Fredericton's seen built in a long time," said Jeff Yerxa, president and chief executive officerof Ross Ventures.

"It's very contemporary, it's very new. We've gone away from the red brick that every body likes to see in downtown.Some people may like it, some people may dislike it, but we think it's something that Fredericton can really be proud of."

Ross Ventures purchased the parking garage at about $1 million less than its assessed value of $2.9 million.

'A very good deal'

Coun.GregEricsonsaid the city took into account the maintenance that the building needs when agreeing on a price.

"When we considered the amount of money that Ross Ventures needs to put into the building in order to extend its life span and also make that project, as a whole conceivable, it was a very good deal for the city," he said.

Ross Ventures will demolish the adjacent da Vinci College building, which it also owns, to make way for the new structure.

According to the development agreement, construction has to start by 2019 and finish by 2021.