FOG BLOG CITY NEWS LOG: OLD WOOLWORTH'S IN KING'S SQUARE TO BE TORN DOWN, NEW COMPLEX TO BE BUILT

Grocery store, offices and up to 90 residential units are part of the plan for old Woolworth's site........Plans are not finalized, but a major 12-storey retail, office and residential development at the top of King Street in Saint John is being put together by developer Percy Wilbur as a replacement for the abandoned former Woolworth's store he bought in November.

That's substantially larger than his original plans for the property.

"It's been pretty exciting," said Wilbur.

"There's a lot of people in the city anxious to see something happen to that eyesore of a corner that's been sitting there for so long.".......Current plans call for two floors of underground parking and a main floor retail space that Wilbur is hoping will be a grocery store. Above that will be two levels of office space sitting underneath up to 90 residential units on nine upper floors, many with unobstructed panoramic views of the city.

Wilbur believes there is demand for that much more living space in the uptown area, but can scale the number of apartments back to 70 on seven floors if required.

He is currently deep into construction of an 85-unit residential building on Wentworth Street and said it's already 25 per cent taken nine months before it will be finished.