Two vacant buildings at 126 Main Street will soon face the wrath of a wrecking ball.
Common Council voting to demolish the buildings, which are described as hazardous and dilapidated.
They’re among roughly 60 properties — mainly in the old north end and Waterloo Village — that were bought by Fredericton company PMV Canada in 2016.
The idea was to fix up or tear down the buildings, but Mayor Don Darling says he’s seen little action.
“I do believe that they did a bit of renovation up on Peters Street here in the uptown,” says Darling, “but I’ve seen no evidence in the largest area of holdings for them in the old north end.”
The property at 126 Main Street includes a three-storey apartment building with six units (which suffered fire damage in 2012) and a two-storey accessory building behind it.
Darling says he’s disappointed, adding city staff has had no luck trying to meet with the company.
“I think people got very excited that there was going to be a lot of investment happening, and I’ve seen very little, if no investment,” he says. “I just think it’s wrong and I’m going to be following up with staff to see what we can do to figure out how we move forward.”
According to city staff, the company obtained a demolition permit for the buildings in January, but never went ahead with the work.
Coun. Gerry Lowe says it’s clear the company isn’t going to fix up the lower north end properties, and they should consider selling them individually to people who want to.
The city will pay about $20,000 to $25,000 to tear down the buildings and will send the bill to the property owner.
(Photos from city staff report)
