Former Moncton office building to be transformed into senior housing

Dale Hicks can't believe everything that was left behind.

"It's like they walked out on a Friday afternoon and locked the doors. There's all kinds of workstations in the building on two floors. There's dishes in the cupboard. There's shredding machines, it's just a typical office," said Hicks.

Hicks is the board president for Rising Tide Community Initiatives – a not-for-profit organization based in Moncton, N.B., that has been creating housing for the city's most vulnerable people since 2020.

Rising Tide recently purchased the former Wawanesa Insurance building at 1010 St. George Blvd. with the plan to renovate it in order to create housing units for seniors.

It had been vacant for a few years.

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Hicks said at the end of 2024 there were a little over 600 seniors on the NB Housing waiting list for a one-bedroom apartment in the city.

"And we're hopefully going to build 30 to 36 in this building and take some people off that list," said Hicks.

Dale Hicks, board president for Rising Tide Community Initiatives, walks around a former office building in Moncton, N.B., that the non-profit recently purchased with a plan to make senior housing units in. (CTV Atlantic/Derek Haggett)

The 30,000 square-foot three-storey building was purchased for $3.3 million and another $4.5 million or so will be needed for renovations, Hicks said.

All three levels of government are funding the roughly $8 million project.

"What we're going to do is we're going to put 15 units of housing on each floor, the top two floors," said Hicks. "The basement floor is configured a little bit different than the other two."

A group independent from Rising Tide is hoping to make the bottom floor a community centre for seniors.

Hicks is waiting to see what will happen but needs to see a proposal before the end of March.

“There are several non-profits in the city looking for community space to run programs," said Hicks. "If nothing materializes on this front, then we would add a further six housing units to the ground level."

Project 1010

Many seniors in Moncton have been without a space for programs since the nearby Moncton Lions Community Centre was repurposed by the city and the province into a shelter and resource hub for the unhoused.

That ended 50 years of service at the St. George Street location.

Sandra Wallace is a member of Project 1010 – an ad hoc committee of 10 interested seniors belonging to various groups that are very concerned about not having a dedicated centre for seniors.

They've been searching to find a new space and when they heard about the sale of the Wawanesa building, they thought it would be perfect.

"We thought that this would be a great place for all the seniors to be gathered together," said Wallace.

Sandra Wallace, a member of Project 1010, is pictured. (CTV Atlantic/Derek Haggett)

Wallace said the 10,000-square-foot first floor could include physical fitness rooms, a card playing area, a library and computer room and simply a place for people to meet and talk over coffee for people 60 and over.

"Believe it or not, there's about 22,000 of us in the great old City of Moncton," said Wallace. "The goal is to try and get a place where we can have our activities together and socialize together."

But there's a financial challenge - Project 1010 is asking the city to fund the first-floor project.

"Hopefully they will agree to pay for it," said Wallace. "We're asking for $1.1 million for the one floor and then we have to do renovations."

The group is hoping to receive money from the city for renovations as well and their plan has been submitted for consideration.

Wallace said the next step is a public consultation with the city to find out what seniors want and need, then city staff will gather the data and take it to council.

"It's particularly obvious after COVID. We found out that there's so many seniors in their homes that have become lonely, and they just want to be with other seniors," said Wallace. "We know the city is fair and because of that we are very hopeful and optimistic that they will agree that this is a wonderful idea."

The former Wawanesa building is close to other areas and services for seniors and Centennial Park is basically across the street.

Inside, work has already begun to dismantle some of the office equipment and Hicks is hopeful renovations will begin in February.

The plan is to have the units ready for occupancy before the end of the year.

"We'd like to hope that we can have a Christmas tree in the lobby for Christmas next year with people moving in," said Hicks, "But we'll see."

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