Brunswick Square (building complex)
shopping mall in New Brunswick, Canada
Brunswick Square is a mixed-use complex located in uptown Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada. Built by Robert McAlpine in 1976, it is owned by Slate Office REIT. It consists of a 3-storey shopping mall as well as a 19-storey Class A office tower, which is the tallest building in Saint John. The complex contains a 700 capacity parking garage.
Brunswick Square also utilizes the Inside Connection, a large pedway system connecting the complex to other prominent locations in the city such as the Saint John City Market, Delta Hotels, the city hall, TD Station, and other areas.
It is the location for the New Brunswick Black History Society's Black Heritage Site, the first of its kind in New Brunswick.
History
Before its establishment, the site of Brunswick Square was once home to Manchester, Robertson & Allison (MRA's), a large department store that operated from 1866 until its closure on December 31, 1973. The decision to close came as part of a major redevelopment plan for uptown Saint John, announced in August 1973, which outlined a $42 million, two-phase private development project spearheaded by a consortium including the New Brunswick Telephone Company, the Bank of Nova Scotia, MRA Holdings Ltd., and Trizec Corporation. The project was designed by Toronto architectural firm Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden in collaboration with Saint John-based Mott, Myles and Chatwin.
Demolition was originally anticipated to begin in early February 1974, but was delayed slightly to allow remaining MRA staff to fully vacate the premises. Demolition officially began around mid-February 1974, starting with property on Germain Street by the Loyalist House.
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This entry incorporates text from “Brunswick Square (building complex)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.