COMMUNITY: Repurpose downtown St. Stephen NB or tear it all down?

ORIGINALLY POSTED ON MARCH 1, 2016

UPDATE October 2020. The following article was written many years ago. I recently moved back to my hometown and I am currently renting retail space on King Street. I redid the assessment described below and wonder … has anything really changed for the better in the last 4 years? You decide.

Yesterday I toured my hometown to look for vacant spaces. I have always been interested in exploring potential development opportunities and was curious about what might exist in St. Stephen today. I have written about the decline of St. Stephen several times. But this time I wanted to take a look through the eyes of a developer who might be thinking about moving or setting up a business there.

With the possible further demolition of the “Town Hall” heritage building and other locations that are also on the “chopping” block”, plus the empty spaces left by fires and previous demolition and the multitude of empty store fronts, the downtown area of St. Stephen does not present an attractive front. While the parks and flowers are nice, they are no replacement for the businesses that once existed there and which were part of the active internal economy and a dynamic town. Unfortunately, the new multi-million dollar “civic center” may not provide the boost that some…