Vancouver family buys old Woolworth's building in Saint John

Two Vancouver real estate developers have purchased one of uptown Saint John's best-knownvacant buildings.

The former Woolworth's department store at 91 King St. has sold to Roo Chang and Siobhan Riley, the mother-daughter team behindIntegrity Real Estate Investments.

Founded in Vancouver in 2011, the company has primarily focused on single-family, multi-family and smaller mixed-use developments.

Shopping, residential units

Chang and Riley recently moved from the West Coast to Saint John with the intention of entering into the real estate business.

"My mom and I have invested in this project," said Riley. "We are in Saint John because we see a lot of potential in Saint John."

Plans for 91 King St.include commercial tenants on the street level, residential units on the upper floors, and parking in the basement, Riley said.

"We do plan on putting a good few million into the building," Riley said. "We like to move quickly. We would like to have a tenant in by the end of the year."

'Complicated' process

The building at the top of King Street was owned by lawyer Rod Gillis, who had proposed leasing it to the City of Saint John when it was looking for a new home for city hall.

Integrity Real Estate Investmentshas received significant assistance from Develop Saint John, a new organization that consolidates the real estate work of Saint John Industrial Parks, the Saint John Development Corporation and the City's own real estate department.

CEO Steve Carson said the group first met with Chang and Riley last year.

The sale was "very complicated to pull together," he said, because ofrestrictive covenants on the property that cast into doubt what itcould be used for.

"Every project comes with complex issues," he said. "But there are a lot of exciting things going on right now in this neighbourhood: the renovations to the City Market, the Irving Oil home office going up. I have to say, from a community perspective, this is highly anticipated with a high impact."

"This is a high-profile site. To see it being reinvented, and reinvested in, is really going to help the whole King Square and uptown vibrancy."

Leaks, mould and other challenges

For more than 30years, the building on King's Square housed Saint John's Woolworth's department store.

In 1994, when the retail chain ceased its Canadian operations, 91 Kingwas converted to Bargain! Shop, a close-out store division of Woolworth Canada. The building has been vacant since that, too, closed in 2010.

The building has appeared increasingly neglected in recent years.

A "substantial" leak in the roof has allowed water to seep through the building, causing mould, moisture damage and chipped, bubbling paint, said Morgan Lanigan ofExpArchitects Inc.

Integrity has been working with the architects as it enters the design phase for the building.

But after surveying the property, he said, it appears that most of the damage is cosmetic.

Architect Melissa Wakefield said the first step will be taking down the red and brown aluminum siding that has coveredmost of the building for decades.

Underneath the metal cladding, Wakefield said, crews expect to uncover the shell of the building that went up in the early 1960s, along with Art Deco brick detailing and other design elements.

"We're hoping the masonry detail is intact and we can get it back to what it looked like when it opened as Woolworth's," Wakefield said.

The original terrazzo flooring, composed of chips of broken stone in concrete, will also be preserved and built upon.

"The building was built at a time when a lot of care and pride went into choosing materials, so a lot of that can be rehabilitated.

"What Irving has done across King Square, gives us a look at the possibilities. It's exciting."

With 44,050 square feet of space and with solid concrete and steel construction, the building has incredible potential., according to Exp practice manager Morgan Lanigan.

"If you were to go in there right now, it looks pretty horrid, but surprisingly, behind what you see is a fairly solid structure that can be rehabilitated."

Biggest project yet

The King Street property is the latest in a series of major real estate acquisitions Integrityhas made in Saint John.

The company has also purchased several single-family homes on the west side, Riley said.

A year ago, the company purchased 70-76 King St., renovating the facade and adding rental apartments in the upper floors that will be ready for occupancy this summer.

Today, in addition to 91 King, the company also announced it has purchased 22 King St., a four-storey former bank at the corner of King and Canterbury streets built in 1906.

But 91 King, Riley said, is the biggest project the company has taken on yet, and it'sready for the challenge.

"There's nothing we can't tackle," she said.