Redevelopment plan for former Saint John high school is 'multi-generational'

Some 15 years after St. Vincent's High School was shuttered in Saint John, the doors were thrown open Wednesday to show the public how the building could be transformed into 58 apartments and a daycare for the Waterloo Village area.

"All we're trying to do is provide new, clean, affordable housing for those who are a little less fortunate," said Kevin McDonald, chair of the board of St. Vincent's Apartments Inc.

The non-profit has been working on the plan for the priority neighbourhood Waterloo Village since 2013.

Inside St. Vincent's High School 15 years after it was shuttered

7 years ago

Duration 1:31

A redevelopment plan for St. Vincent's High School in Saint John would include 58 apartments and a daycare for the priority neighbourhood of Waterloo VillageAlumniof the former Cliff Street school were encouraged to step into a classroom, where tape on the floor showed how two bedrooms would fit inside the space, along with a kitchen and a bathroom.

• Conversion of St. Vincent's school delayed by funding issues
• Former St. Vincent's High School site slated for redevelopment

Even the toilet and bathtub were outlined on the floor.

"These will be the biggest affordable apartments in the province," said McDonald.

That's because the design works around many existing brick walls that used to divide one class from another.

The largest units will come close to 1,200 square feet.

Daycare demand

It's hoped that the first phase of the project will include a daycare with 15 staff and 60 spaces for infants and pre-school children.

"The demand is high because this demographic has never been touched before," said early childhood educator Heather Hamilton.

The daycare would stay open for extended hours from6 a.m. until 9 p.m.to accommodate shift workers, including nursing staff at the nearby St. Joseph's Hospital.

Hamilton says it also aims to serve uptown families with no access to a car.

"They can walk," she said.

Community Centre

In addition to the daycare and apartments, there's also room in the original gymnasium to build new community space.

"When the CYO [Catholic Youth Organization] burned down on Cliff Street [in 2000], the area lost a facility that was well used," said Carey Ryan, principal when St. Vincent's graduated its final class of girls in 2002.

Ryan says many alumniwho want to see the building savedsupport the idea of a multi-generational project that will serve young families, singles, and seniors.

Now the board is hoping it will be easier for those former students to make donations.

In July, the board received charity status from the Canada Revenue Agency, which will allow it to provide tax receipts.

The board says it has secured $9 million toward the project's $12 million cost and hopes to raise another $3 million before the work begins.

Under the project's original timeline, the opening was slated for the spring of 2017, but it ran into funding problems.

St. Vincent's High School first opened in 1919 as a boys school, then turned into a Catholic girls school in 1954.