New development proposed for former restaurant

SYDNEY — When Craig Boudreau purchased the former Jasper’s restaurant property in downtown Sydney, his intentions weren’t to use the location as a parking lot forever.

The owner of J. Francis Investments Ltd. hoped to one day offer a new development at the corner of George and Dorchester streets, a goal which may soon become reality.

Boudreau is proposing a commercial/residential development for the property, which would coincide with various other potential renovation and revitalization projects that are hopeful for the downtown core.

The proposed development, which will be known as Dorchester Place, will have a 7,000-square-foot footprint with five to seven storeys, five of which are likely to be used as residential units.

The development would include commercial space on at least the first floor, with residential space above.

“The way that a city and town begin to grow and prosper, economically, is when you have a partnership and you have public and private investment going on — one sort of feeds the other,” said Boudreau. “Cape Breton has to become self-sustainable and the only way we’re going to do that is really through public and private partnership and I see that happening now.”

A number of downtown projects are expected to take place in the near future, one of the biggest of which is construction of the new Nova Scotia Community College on the Sydney waterfront.

In February, the Cape Breton Regional Municipality gave its approval to move the Sydney fire station to a municipally-owned parcel of land.

Other projects within the municipality include the second berth at Sydney Harbour, the revitalization of Charlotte Street, new healthcare infrastructure in Sydney, North Sydney and New Waterford, as well as private renovations to buildings within Sydney’s downtown core.

“Cape Breton has never seen these kinds of investments in its entire history,” said Boudreau. “As the government is investing money in infrastructure, it’s only right for me as a developer and a business person downtown to try to coincide with that.”

Boudreau purchased the property in August 2018 for $127,300 — nearly $40,000 over the asking price, which was initially $89,500 in March 2018.

The property was once home to a gas station dating back to the 1960s. The former Esso service station initially operated on the spot before the Town House restaurant opened.

Jasper’s restaurant then leased the property from Imperial Oil from about 1978 until it abruptly shut down in 2007.