Site of historic Risteen building a pile of rubble almost 5 years on
Developer says he's had to change plans several times, but hopes to start work on an apartment building on the site as early as this year
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On the corner of Queen and Smythe Street, the remains of the historic Risteen building is nothing more than a hole in the ground, but the developer who tore it down in 2019 says the site could see action soon.
Gabriel Elzayat, owner of Bella Properties Inc., said he’s in the midst of updating the design of an apartment building he plans to build on the site and hopes to begin construction this year.
“We’re trying to design now. We’re getting some prices together as well, and that’s … not as good in these kinds of environments as it used to be,” Elzayat said last week, citing the high costs of items he’s already priced such as concrete and excavation needs.
The Risteen building stood for nearly 200 years before it was demolished, with disapproval from local heritage advocates.
The city had initially paused the plans to consider giving heritage status to the building – built in the 1820s and considered the first stone-cut building erected in Fredericton – but ultimately gave approval to its destruction instead.
Since then, Elzayat said he has been working to develop the property but had been hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic among other delays.
Originally planned as a seven-storey building with 70 apartments, the project grew to 10-12 stories with 136 units. Today, Elzayat said he’s designing an eight-story building with between 90-100 units.
The most recent changes came after the results of a soil test last year, that Elzayat said showed the site couldn’t handle the bigger building.
“If we wanted to put a larger building, we had to go into the street, shut the street down and disrupt the whole Queen Street there on that corner of Queen and Smythe Street,” he said.
So for the past year and a half, he said he’s been redesigning and going back and forth with engineers.
“At some point, the building’s going to have to get built, but like I said, the timing might be a little off for this year. We don’t know yet until we have the plan complete and prices in order,” he said.
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