Market Square patios still not fully complete six months after opening

It has been six months since the new all-season patios at Market Square in Saint John, N.B., opened following years of COVID-19 and construction shut downs.

After being open for just a few days to start June, the provincial fire marshal closed the patios. They reopened just over a week later.

The patios have remained open since mid-June, although the new spaces still have some work that needs to be done. This includes approval from the fire marshal for the patios to fully open, which would see restaurant owners finally get to use their new patio furniture that has been placed into storage in favour of picnic tables that were approved.

The heaters, which make the patios all-season, are also not online yet.

“I honestly haven't been told a lot,” Saint John Ale House owner and chef Jesse Vergen says in relation to what is causing the delays for getting the patios fully open.

“It just seems like there is a lot of plans changing on the fly. It didn’t seem like there was a very good plan going in, and the design aspect of it, many things were missed.”

Vergen says it has been frustrating for owners to plan any events when the status of the patios has been up in the air since opening. He says the finish line for the project seems to just keep being pushed further down the line.

“The carrot keeps getting pushed forward which is extremely frustrating,” says Vergen. “We're going into the Christmas season here now. We had request like, hey listen would your patio be open and could we do something there, but we're sort of stuck on this inability to do anything in here.”

Vergen believes if he had more control when it came to designing and working with architects on the project it would be finish properly by now.

In a statement sent to CTV Atlantic regarding when the patio heaters will be online, Municipal Engineer with the city Gerald Mattsson says; “The City experienced delays in the timeline of the new heating system installation due to issues with the configuration of the new duct system and heating coil. We are currently modifying the duct work to allow for the installation of the heating coil in order to heat the space in the coming weeks. The full installation of new HVAC and heating coil will be completed in the New Year. The cost of the parts update is approximately $5,000.”

There is still no timeline as to when all restrictions related to the patio will be lifted.

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