Special meeting called for Lafford zoning requests; controversial building could be finished as early as fall 2024
Lafford Properties will not have to wait until August to find out if Tantramar council will give final approval on zoning changes that would make way for the company’s proposed development at 131 Main Street in Sackville.
Mayor Andrew Black has scheduled a special meeting for Wednesday, July 19 at 12pm to consider the third and final reading of the bylaw changes that will rezone a portion of 131 Main Street to higher density R3, and then change the R3 zone to allow for buildings up to 65 feet in height. The first and second reading of the changes were approved on Tuesday, July 11, 2023.
Under normal circumstances, three readings of a bylaw amendment are spaced over two regular council meetings at least a month apart, but in this case a special meeting will happen just eight days after the first and second readings.
Black says John Lafford requested the special meeting through the Clerk’s office on Wednesday afternoon. Council’s procedural bylaw says special meetings are called by the mayor, without any detail on what cause or reason the mayor might require.
If and/or when the amendments pass, Lafford says he will be ready to start construction on the property as soon as possible. The developer will still need to get building permits and approvals through Plan 360.
Lafford estimates the construction phase could take 14-16 months to complete. That means a project starting this month could be complete by fall 2024.… Continue
Big real estate deals will bring no immediate changes for tenants, say building owners
A number of apartment buildings in Sackville changed hands last week with multi-million dollar deals, and the new owners say no major changes are coming for tenants.
Sunset Investments purchased six buildings from Sackville landlord Charles Estabrooks for a total price of $13.3 million dollars. The purchase included four buildings on Main Street across from the Drew Nursing Home, as well as 55 Salem and 11 Lorne Street.
There’s a total of 82 rental units in all six buildings, according to investment marketing material produced by Sunset Investments before the deal was finalized.
Some residents have been concerned about the sale because of what happened to tenants in a neighbouring building at 15 King Street, which was purchased by Sunset this summer. In that case, tenants in all 16 units were evicted for the purposes of renovations, which included converting two-bedroom units to three-bedroom units by removing the living room. Months after the purchase and evictions, the units were up for rent, with converted three-bedroom units fetching $1600 per month, more than twice what some had been paying for two-bedroom units before the sale.
Sunset says it does not have a similar plan for the six Estabrooks buildings. In an emailed statement to CHMA, Sunset Investments says it, “aims to maintain the operation of these buildings as is.” The company says it has no plans to renovate the buildings, but for general maintenance and the addition of solar panels and low flow water fixtures.… Continue
Lafford plans to ‘meet or eliminate’ housing need within two years
The rental housing market just keeps getting tighter in Sackville, and a local developer says it will be a year or two before his company is able to build new units to alleviate that.
John Lafford’s company is busy with a large project in downtown Moncton, but says that his next priority is a project in Sackville, at one of three properties he owns: a large parcel at the end of Wright St, the newly acquired historic building at 131 Main, or a newly vacant lot at 56 Main, beside the old fire hall and current Kookie Kutter.
On Thursday, an apartment building at 56 Main Street was torn down, with the previous tenants having been evicted earlier in the spring.
CHMA caught up with the site’s owner, John Lafford, to find out what the future holds for his properties.
Listen to that interview here:
Lafford says he has no immediate plans for the property at 56 Main.
“That building has been kind of in distress for a lot of years,” he says, adding that the timing worked out for the demolition to happen this week. “It’s going to be a great site for a mixed use apartment building, but just I don’t know when. We have nothing designed yet.”
The mixed use zoning of that portion of Main Street means the new building will include street level retail as well as residential apartments, says Lafford.
Another property recently acquired by Lafford is not zoned for residential development, even though the previous owner applied to have that changed.… Continue