RENTAL OF OFFICE SPACE
ENVISION SAINT JOHN: THE REGIONAL GROWTH AGENCY
REQUEST FOR PROPOSAL (RFP)
GROWTH HEADQUARTERS
Date of Issue: February 27th, 2025
INTRODUCTION
ORGANIZATIONAL PROFILE:
Envision Saint John: The Regional Growth Agency (Agency) is an agile organization that excels at connecting people and activating strategic, data-driven growth, ensuring that the region is Always Moving Forward. We represent the City of Saint John, Quispamsis, Rothesay, Grand Bay-Westfield, Hampton, Fundy-St. Martins, and Fundy Rural District. We are the backbone economic development organization helping to accelerate growth. Our role is to attract people, visitors, business, and investment to
the Saint John Region.
PURPOSE OF THE RFP:
This Request for Proposals (RFP) is being undertaken to identify new or existing space available and to analyze lease costs, to provide the Agency with its current and potential future office space needs. This RFP is meant to invite the presentation of leasing options for evaluation, consideration, and negotiation with the Agency.
The Agency is in search of space that will give it community profile while bringing together our team and key strategic partners in economic development. This will be the Agency's headquarters for growth - an innovative, flexible, and collaborative environment ideal for hosting regional, national, and international companies and leaders.
The Agency is requesting written proposals to lease office space within or immediately adjacent to our region's central business district - uptown Saint John.
TERMS & CONDITIONS
Please prepare proposal(s) based upon the following terms and conditions:
1) BUILDING: Please state name, address and general description of the building.
2) BUILDING OWNERSHIP: Please detail the structure of ownership of the property, identifying all principals and partners.
3) TERM OF LEASE: Five (5) years, ideally commencing summer 2026.
4) RENEWAL TERM: Right of renewal for a further five (5) year period.
5) PREMISES:
We are looking for an approximate total square footage of 15,000-18,000 of quality office space. Typical occupancy would be from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. However, evening and weekend occupancy is also required. The ideal configuration would have communal workspaces, private meeting rooms, storage rooms, kitchen and staff lounge, staff washrooms, and a large board room as described below. It is preferred that all spaces are contiguous on a single floor to encourage
collaboration and knowledge spillover between our teams and partner tenants (sublessors).
Communal Workspaces: an open office environment for the Agency's 22 employees and employees of sublessors - Opportunities New Brunswick with 14 employees, Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency with 6 employees, Saint John Industrial Parks with 2 employees, Research New Brunswick with 1 employee and the New Brunswick Innovation Fund with 2 employees. While it is our priority that all spaces are contiguous on a single floor, separation between the Agency and sublessors due geometry and layout of
the floor space may be acceptable.
Kitchen and Staff Lounge: room to accommodate several tables for a total seating capacity of at least 30 people. Floor space, countertop space and electrical capacity must be available for electrical appliances which include a coffee maker, kettle, toaster oven, three (3) fridges, two (2) microwaves, water cooler and dishwashing machine. Plumbing must be provided for one sink and one dishwashing machine.
Meeting Rooms: 10-12 private meeting rooms ranging in size to accommodate 4 to 12 people. Ability to accommodate audiovisual equipment such as a wall mounted TV screen and control panel. In-floor wire-chase for utilities preferred (power, network, audiovisual cables). Ideal size configuration:
No. of Rooms
Meeting Room Sizes
No. of people
~ Square Footage
5
4
100 - 140
5
6-8
160 - 200
2
10-12
200 - 240
Large Board Room: one room to accommodate 25-30 people and ancillary furniture. Ability to accommodate audiovisual equipment such as three (3) wall mounted TV screens, in-ceiling speakers, and control panel. In-floor wire-chase for utilities preferred (power, network, audiovisual cables).
Storage: secure rooms with lockable doors. Ideally, one room of approximately 100 square feet and one room or combination of rooms totalling 400-500 square feet.
Printer Room: a room or space within common area approximately 70-80 square feet with appropriate utilities (network and power).
Staff Washrooms: please specify what is available, e.g. number of stalls, male, female or gender neutral, public, private or shared.
Please specify the available square feet for spaces described above and scale drawings of the proposed space in CAD format and PDF.
6) RENT CONCESSIONS: Please provide details of any concessions you can offer, including free rent, moving allowance etc.
7) TENANT IMPROVEMENT ALLOWANCE: Please provide details on any tenant improvement allowances available to the Agency. Please specify current condition of the Premises (ie: type and condition of lighting, ceiling, interior walls, HVAC, flooring etc).
8) HOLDOVER: The Agency will have the right at the expiration of the lease, and upon 60 days written notice, to extend the lease for no more than six months, under the same terms and conditions including rental rate.
9) EXPANSION OPTIONS: Please provide details on options for the Agency to expand the premises during the term on the lease.
10) SUBLET & ASSIGNMENT: The Agency shall have the right at any time to sublease or assign all or any portion of the Agency's Premises to any unrelated entities with Landlords consent, which will not be unreasonably withheld. Our current sublessors include Opportunities New Brunswick, the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, the New Brunswick Innovation Fund, and Saint John Industrial Parks Inc.
11) HEATING, VENTILATION & AIR CONDITIONING: Landlord shall provide heating, ventilation and air conditioning as required for the Agency's comfort, use and occupancy.
12) CLEANING: Landlord shall, at its sole cost and expense, clean the Agency's Premises five days per week pursuant to cleaning specifications to be agreed upon and made part of the lease. Please provide the Landlords current specifications including available waste streams (e.g. garbage, cardboard, plastic recyclables, compost, etc).
13) BUILDING SECURITY: Please provide a description of the Building's security procedures and systems.
14) PARKING: Describe location, type and amount of parking - on or off site, surface or garage, availability of public, private and accessible spaces, and whether cost is included in the base rent or additional cost.
15) SIGNAGE: Please specify what exterior and/or interior signage opportunities exist for the Agency.
16)#LEASE FORM: Please provide a copy of the current standard lease form with your proposal.
OPTIONAL BIDDER REGISTRATION AND SITE VISIT
An optional bidder registration will be available for those interested in receiving information updates during the open period of the RFP. This in an option only to prospective bidders and is not a requirement. Bidders are also invited to schedule an appointment for a guided site visit of the current headquarters of the Agency.
Bidders list will not be disclosed until after the final closure date for the bid process. Bidders can register or arrange site visit by emailing nick.cameron@envisionsaintjohn.com stating your interest and return email address for communications.
QUESTIONS
All questions must be directed to nick.cameron@envisionsaintjohn.com.
PROPOSAL SUBMISSION
The issuing of this request for proposal does not constitute an offer to lease and the Agency reserves the right not to enter into any lease as a result of this process.
Please submit proposal(s) by email to hello@envisionsaintjohn.com by 4:00 p.m. AST, March 31st, 2025 and use the following as your subject line Proposal for Growth Headquarters.
Thank you in advance for considering our request and addressing each of the items in this request for proposals. All submissions will become the property of the Agency.
EVALUATION
Eligible proposals will undergo an evaluation process that includes assessment by a committee. Assessment criteria may include, but not be limited to, location, visibility and profile, additional leveraged investments, strategic community impact, quality, improvement allowance and incentives. The committee may elect to short list proponents as deemed necessary. Proponents may be asked to provide additional information or details for clarification.
This is a tender notice only. In order to submit a bid, you must obtain official tender documents from the New Brunswick Opportunities Network, another authorized tendering service or as indicated in the tender notice.
