Two former Saint John schools to be turned into more than 100 apartments

After remaining tight-lipped for months about plans for two former Saint John school buildings, a Fredericton-based developer is now revealing details. 

Erik de Jong, president of City Line Holdings, said the schools represent about a third of the roughly 340 new housing units planned for Saint John in the coming years. 

City Line bought the former St. Patrick's School, on the city's west side, and the former St. Vincent's High School, on Cliff Street in the shadow of St. Joseph's Hospital, last fall.

De Jong said the plan is to continue renovations to St. Patrick's School and transform the site into 34 apartments and seven townhouses, and the hope is to have the units ready early next year.

Because of the deteriorated state of the St. Vincent's building, de Jong said that development will take significantly longer. And although the design work has yet to be done, he estimated between 70 and 80 units. 

St. Vincent's High School first opened in 1919 as a boys' school before becoming a Catholic girls' school in 1954. It continued to operate as an all-girls school until it closed in 2002. The building has been vacant ever since. 

De Jong said the two schools caught his attention when they were listed for sale within about a week of each other. 

He said St. Vincent's was in "very rough shape, and after my first walk-through of that building with my respirator on, I left with a profound sense of sadness that the building had been allowed to deteriorate like it did." 

He said he thought about it for a couple of weeks and then went for a second visit — and then a third. 

Eventually, he thought "you know, I can make a project here. This could be something that's interesting and different than just new construction in a green field site."

De Jong said the roof has been leaking for years, creating mould and ruining a lot of the interior, including the electrical system. 

"In St. Vincent's, it's all going to come out because it was wet for so long," he said. 

"So, the first thing with St. Vincent's is we have to dry it out and then remediate ... there's a lot of asbestos and some lead paint that needs to come out, let alone all the mould and contaminated building materials."

He said all of the electrical wiring has to be removed and replaced, and because the classrooms are going to be turned into units, plumbing will have to be installed in each one.