Fortis Properties Corporation announced today its submission of a development application to the City of St. John’s to redevelop the Company’s Water Street site at the corner of Prescott Street and Harbour Drive. The proposed $75 million project includes the retrofit of the existing Fortis Building and a new 15-storey office building.

“Today’s application recognizes our need to address the aging condition of our assets while providing much needed Class A office inventory in the downtown core,” stated Nora Duke, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe this development will bring new business to the downtown, increase retail activity and further revitalize the city’s downtown core through quality infrastructure and amenities.”

Key features of the new complex include 235,000 square feet of new Class A office space built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver Certification standards; 16,000 square feet of ground level retail; a total of 382 underground parking stalls accessible from Harbour Drive; a complete retrofit of the existing Fortis Building to LEED existing building standards; and a pedway connection between the Fortis Building and TD Place.

“Added features to the complex include an outdoor plaza which will provide an attractive, public square; a spacious harbour view atrium to house various amenities and services, as well as a curbside lane for public transit and drop-off traffic,” said Duke.

Click here for proposed development renderings.
www.fortisproperties.com/en/home/aboutus/news/2010/January192010.aspx

The development involves the removal of four of the Company’s existing buildings – 151 to 163 Water Street and the Neal Building on Harbour Drive.
The project is estimated to provide approximately 400,000 person hours of construction related work.

“While Fortis Properties has operations across the country, St. John’s is our home city,” stated Duke. “We would be proud to make this level of investment here.”

Fortis Properties, a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis Inc., owns and operates 2.8 million square feet of commercial real estate primarily in Atlantic Canada, 21 hotels in eight Canadian provinces and six unregulated hydroelectric plants in Ontario. Fortis Properties employs approximately 2,300 people. Visit www.fortisproperties.com for additional information about the Company.

Downtown business improvement area associations (BIA's) of Atlantic Canada, with representatives from New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, met recently in Moncton, NB, to sign a memorandum of understanding outlining the benefits of downtowns’ contribution to individual communities and to the provinces Atlantic Canada. The new organization, Downtowns Atlantic Canada (DAC), is a new alliance that will work to improve the positioning of downtown business improvement areas as unique, diverse, vibrant and economically healthy urban cores.

DAC’s mission is to be the collective voice of the downtown business improvement areas of Atlantic Canada. The association will strive to increase partnerships with provincial and municipal governments as well as with the federal government to achieve its goals of growth and investment in our urban cores. It will also bring the challenges of urban economic development to the attention to decision-makers, who are able to facilitate actions that will result in prosperous and vibrant business improvement areas.

DAC is committed to working towards prosperity for Atlantic downtowns, which is the purest form of economic development, in a self-help approach to revitalizing business improvement areas. There are a number of benefits to the development of DAC that include, but are not limited to, the following opportunities: to increase funding partnerships and policy development with all levels of government and to provide a stronger voice for downtown revitalization.

The benefits of this cooperative effort will come from the promotion of an urban strategy which will identify such challenges as brought on by an aging population, environmental impacts relating to growth, business retention, urban sprawl, residential and urban planning, economic development, tourism and heritage and culture. The partnerships will also address challenges around social issues such as housing, homelessness, urban poverty, addiction and crime.

Downtowns are the “heart and soul” of the community and are significant generators of wealth and employment.

Signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding:

Paul MacKinnon - Downtown Halifax Business Commission
Bernard Smith - Spring Garden Area Business Association
Tim Olive - Downtown Dartmouth Business Commission
Karla Nicholson - Quinpool Road Mainstreet District Association Limited
William Mills - Main Street Dartmouth and Area BID
Deborah J.H. Elliott - Downtown Truro Partnership
Daniel Allain - Downtown Moncton Centre-ville Inc.
Bruce McCormack - Downtown Fredericton Inc.
Trina MacDonald - Business Fredericton North Inc.
Peter Asimakos - Uptown Saint John Inc.
Dawn Alan - Downtown Charlottetown Inc.
Ron Casey - Downtown Summerside Inc.
Scott Cluney - St. John’s Downtown Development Commission

As of January 1, 2010 the provincial minimum wage has increased to $9.50 an hour. The next proposed scheduled increase of fifty cents on the hour in the minimum wage is set for July 2010.