Former Moncton jail demolished

The demolition of a former provincial jail in downtown Moncton, long eyed as a prime site for redevelopment, gotunderway Wednesday.

The two-storey building at 125 Assomption Blvd., near the city's riverfront, has been vacant since 2012 when the province opened a larger jail in Shediac.

Moncton's Ashford Group owns the land and is saying little about its plans at this point.

Jim Dixon, a principal with the company that owns a significant amount of downtown land in the area, said in an email Wednesday that the demolition was part of the firm's "overall strategy for the site."

He said the company authorized the contractor to carry out the demolition at a time that suited its schedule. He said the company continues to work on its plans and declined further comment.

"Great to see the 'old jail' coming down making room for #MonctonMomentum!" Moncton Mayor Dawn Arnold said on social media.

Ashford purchased the land and other nearby parcels in 2019. At the time, Dixon told CBC the company had a vision of more retail, restaurants, office space and residential units in the area.

Hints of its plans emerged last fall with the city's capital budget. It includes more than $32 million in spending over four years related to what city staff called a "transformative" development.

Staff told CBC Ashford's plans would require city spending on water and sewer lines to service the development and a new east-west street parallel to Main Street.

No further details have been made public since then.

The building, most recently known as the Moncton Detention Centre, was constructed in the 1960s and first served as a municipal police station.

The police force later moved to what's now the RCMP station on Main Street. The building on Assomption was then converted to a jail.

With the Southeast Regional Correctional Centre under construction in Shediac, there was speculation the detention centre site would be snapped up for redevelopment.

"I think a lot of people have their eyes on it," Daniel Allain told the Times & Transcript newspaper in 2009 while he was executive director of Downtown Moncton Centre-Ville Inc.

"It will be a prime spot for development," Allain said at the time, suggesting it could be the site of the future Moncton events centre. The arena was constructed instead on the site of the former Highfield Square mall.

The province listed the jail for $700,000 with the condition that the site not be turned into a parking lot.

It sold in November 2014 for $560,000, according to Service New Brunswick's website. The website and property records show Ashford purchased the building for $1.34 million in September 2019.