FOG BLOG SAINT JOHN LOG: DEVELOPER PLANS TO TURN LONG VACANT ST. VINCENT'S SCHOOL INTO APARTMENTS!

Developer buys Saint John's long-empty St. Vincent's school building for apartments

Plan is to turn former girls' school into residential units, says real estate agent After sitting empty for two decades, the former St. Vincent's High School building has been sold.

Service New Brunswick records show Fredericton-based City Line Holdings Ltd. — the same company that bought a former west side school last month — purchased the property on Friday for $700,000.

Jason Stephen, the seller's real estate agent, wouldn't confirm the name of the buyer but said the plan is to turn the former school into residential units.

Stephen said the designs aren't final — nor the number of units — but he said there are "going to be some spacious units in there." He said the idea is to turn the gymnasium into multi-level units. St. Vincent's High School first opened in 1919 as a boys' school before becoming a Catholic girls' school in 1954. It continued to operate as an all-girls' school until it closed in 2002. The building has been vacant ever since.

A decade ago, a non-profit group tried to transform the old school into apartments and a daycare.

In 2017, they even invited alumni of the Cliff Street school to tour the building. Tape on the floor of a classroom helped illustrate how a two-bedroom apartment would be laid out — even the toilet and bathtub were outlined on the floor.

Fifty-eight apartments were planned, along with a daycare that could accommodate 60 infants and pre-school children.

Stephen said he got involved in the project about 600 days ago.

After so many false starts for the property over the last two decades, Stephen called it one of the proudest-but-challenging sales in his career.