Saint John Port offers prime waterfront property for development

The Port of Saint John is highlighting development opportunities on its land, including a prime site on the city's downtown waterfront.

Pugsley Wharf is a two-acre property that partly fronts a pier now used to berth the pilot boat and other working port vessels.

An online pitch by commercial services manager, John Runcie promotesthe waterfront development potential.

"Whether your idea is a multi-storey container building to house your business, your services, or these tasty beverages that can be served on the finger pier; our land can serve as the staging point for your big ideas," writes Runcie.

The site is now being used as a parking lot.

There are restrictions. Potential developers would not own the land. The port can negotiate leases as long as 60 years, and as long as 99 years with approval from the federal minister of transport.

The wharf has a rich history. Among other events, New Brunswick's 26th Battalion set out from Pugsley in 1915 en route to the battlefields of Europe.

For years, Denise Dow has been looking out overPugsley Wharf from 1 Princess St.,a commercial residential building she owns directly across the street.

She said any development proposal should include portside green space.

"Water has an allure," said Dow. "It provides a kind of Zen experience for people.

"It has to be the whole package. You can't just put a whole bunch of bricks and mortar there and expect people to come and spend time on the waterfront. There has to be a combination of green space, park benches, fountains, you know, some beautiful things that make people want to go there."

The site is immediately adjacent to the six-acre former Canadian Coast Guard site now under option by a business group hoping to turn it into a commercial and retail development known as Fundy Quay.

That project would be linked into Market Square and other uptown sites through the pedway system.

It is not the first time private development potential for the Pugsley site has been discussed. It is earmarked for such in the port's 2011 land use plan.

In 2016 officials at Moosehead Breweries surprised many by announcing the company would build a 10,000-square-foot small-batch brewery at Pugsley Wharf.

The plan was later abandoned when the company opted instead to locate the operationat its main Brewery on the west side.

A 2008 plan to build a $30 million headquarters building for Irving Oil at nearby Long Wharf was also scrapped.

That building was eventuallyput on the city's King's Square.

Port Saint John is also seeking development opportunities for a 10-acre vacant waterfront site on the city'slower west side, along with tenants to take over as much as 120,000 square feet in Shed D, near the container terminal.