New plans for the former Holy Cross school on Rickett’s Road in St. John’s just got a whole lot bigger.
The city is poised to approve a sprawling development for the area, near St. Clare’s Hospital, including a dozen three-storey structures, totalling about 200 units.
The site includes the former school, and property to the west of it, backing onto St. Clare and Campbell avenues.
The application received enthusiastic and unanimous support from council’s committee of the whole yesterday.
Now it’s on to the next public council meeting to seek approval in principle.
Coun. Ophelia Ravencroft says it’s just what the doctor ordered.
“This was a space that has been chronically underutilized for a very long time, with Holy Cross having closed a number of years back, and the French school district had a school there that’s no longer operational,” said Ravencroft, a former resident of the area.
“With all of those changes it always struck me that this was an area that was rife for something kind of along these lines to happen. I think that the level of density that’s being proposed here is really impressive. This is good stuff.”
City staff allayed any concerns regarding the fate of a new child care centre in the former school, which was approved by council just last month.