In Churchill Square, a neighbourhood hub finally gets its mojo back

The Friday before last, we and some friends gathered for a much-needed get-together to bring a happy end to a hectic week. Noodles were the order of the night.

We placed our order, and two of us drove over to pick up the meal. It wasn't ready, though.

No complaints, though. The kitchen may have been slammed, but my friend and I were delighted to see the reason why.

The restaurant is Noodle Nami, which has been running for just a few weeks in the bottom floor of Terrace on the Square, the retail and office complex in Churchill Square that has had a few dark corners lately.

The very spot it's in had been vacant for a while; it used to be a Pasta Plus restaurant. Next door, you used to see the Living Rooms store, until its owner decided to downscale and move elsewhere.

Beyond the floor, and the building, there have been lots of other problems in Churchill Square. A massive storm early in 2017 caused flooding and the subsequent evacuation of apartments and businesses on a whole side of the square, with commercial tenants only just now moving back following months of remediation and refurbishment.

Some of the businesses never came back at all. However, there are some new entrants and, more important, a new buzz about the Square. Rocket Bakery, for instance, is setting up a satellite operation to serve coffee and some food to pedestrians who stroll the Square.

New life for an old supermarket

The big news, though, is what's happening to the square's most dormant part of all.

That would be the old Dominion supermarket, which closed in early 2012 after ending its life under the discount SaveEasy brand.

For reasons best known to Loblaw, the parent company, the old supermarket space sat as a chunk of urban blight, prettified by old posters that covered the windows and disguised the emptiness inside.

It was hard to disguise the emptiness on the outside. I wrote in a column years ago that it felt like tumbleweeds were blowing along that side of the square, in an area that for decades had been a lively neighbourhood hub. [Disclosure time: I grew up not far away, and have more than just nostalgic connections to the area to this day, even if I no longer live a few blocks away.]

• St. John's, old supermarkets and economic black holes

Loblaw had some peculiar feelings about the space. It was content to pay tax on a vacant space, and would not allow the spot to be divvied up into smaller stores that could sell anything you could get at one of its supermarkets including the big Memorial Stadium site it converted, and which it hoped customers would drive to. Not sure how that strategy worked, but one thing it did was suck the life out of the square.

Loblaw also closed supermarkets on Newfoundland Drive and on Ropewalk Lane. The former place is now a Coleman's. The latter space is part of a rejuvenated retail scene in that neighbourhood.

What has eyebrows raised about the square is a proposal now before city council, which is being asked to consider a six-storey complex on the old Dominion site.

Supply meets demand for apartments

The complex, if approved, will consist of retail on the ground floor, and loads of apartments above 78 of them, consisting of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units.

• 6-storey apartment-retail complex proposed for Churchill Square

It's an interesting move, providing something to pump more residential energy back into Churchill Square, which was envisioned in its early years to provide homes as well as places to shop and do commerce.

It also addresses something I've long found peculiar: a lack of decent apartments in the heart of the city. For decades (from the '80s through the 2000s), St. John's seemed to be practically allergic to apartment buildings. Developers became interested in shiny condos in flashier settings, and new apartments came largely in the form of basement units in homes often appearing in neighbouring municipalities.

It's especially strange given that Memorial University which has staked its future on recruiting both across the country and internationally, too is close to a small number of apartment buildings. Memorial's campus is practically kitty-corner to Churchill Square; I imagine that plenty of students would be interested in living a five-minute walk away. It would be the most significant addition to the student housing stock since two much-needed on-campus buildingsstarted accepting students in 2013.

• A look inside MUN's new residence in St. John's

The main concerns we've heard so far have to do with parking, and that is understandable. However, as St. John's tries to move to a better mix of density, walkability and public transit, it needs to take seriously projects that tick those very boxes.

The noodles, by the way, were tasty. Also appealing: seeing a more vigorous economic pulse in a neighbourhood hub that looks like it is getting its mojo back.

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