New Saint John City Market exterior unveiled following millions in renos

After being under construction for years, the new front of the Saint John City Market on Charlotte Street has been unveiled.

Upgrades on the tower above the entrance have been underway since 2016 and had an estimated price tag of $6.09 million.

The city's previousmayor, Mel Norton, called the renovations on the 142-year-old building in the uptown core"council's number one priority" in 2016 a sentiment the current mayor seemingly agrees with.

"I've met tourists here in the market through the summers, maybe they're here on cruise ships. They tell me they've travelled the world and believe this is one of the highlights of their travels," Mayor Don Darling said Tuesday.

"Soon a number of fronts we need to keep investing in the building and keep this building in the best shape possible."

What's been done

Along with a new roof, the building's exterior now boasts copper and lead trims, gutters and downspouts.

It also sports new custom-made windows, decorative ironworkand a refurbished brick exterior.

Dave Kirkpatrick, the market's director, saidthe building has been restored beyond the point of simply replacing what was there.

"A lot of the metal that now appears there hadn't been there since the '40s," he said. "The metal was taken down at that point to support the war effort."

Kirkpatrick said the building had iron railings on top of its tower, which were melted down for weapons and ammunition.

Everything visible completed

Everything visible to the typical passerby has been completed, Darling said. However, work inside the tower still has to be finished.

"The head tower of the market, or the area on top of Charlotte Street most people would know, suffered, unfortunately, some water damage a number of years back," the mayor said.

"The head tower has been gutted back to its original timbers."

Once it's complete, he said city departments will move into that space.

More energy efficient

On top of receiving much needed structural reinforcements, the building will also supposedly save the city money, at least in some small way.

"When you take a window out of a building that's 140 years old and replace that with a brand new one built to today's standards and building codes, the windows are going to be more energy efficient," Darling said. "They're going to help us keep the drafts out."

The cost hasbeen split equally among the municipal, provincial and federal governments. Darling said costs for the multi-year-long project were kept under control.

"We are receiving a report at council next week," Darling said, "but I have heard no news about that we're over budget. I think we're on time and the renovations are going very, very well so far."