Have new additions, upgrades made downtown Sydney more vibrant?

Downtown Sydney, N.S., businesses are giving mixed reviews on the possible new business the NSCC campus is bringing to the area.

The opening of the new Nova Scotia Community College Sydney Waterfront Campus in Sydney, N.S., was expected to be a game changer for the downtown area. However, a year later, not everyone has noticed an increase in traffic from having the staff and students downtown.

“Not as much as I really thought we would,” said Tyler Gouthro, franchisee for the Philthy Philly’s location in downtown Sydney.

While business is generally pretty good, Gouthro said he would like to see more NSCC students stop by for lunch.

“We may do something more aggressive this year and maybe offer some more specials specifically targeting the students, but it did not generate enough that I thought it would,” he said.

Philippa Bryden, executive director of the Sydney Downtown Development Association, says the NSCC students have injected an energy into the downtown over the past year, and the new campus has made the waterfront more attractive.

“We’re also coming up on marking a year to have the reconstruction completed for Charlotte Street, so it’s just been a very, very nice year with a beautiful street and lots of people walking around on it,” Bryden said.

Derek Mombourquette, Nova Scotia’s interim Liberal leader and the MLA for the downtown Sydney area, helped spearhead the move of the NSCC campus to the Sydney Waterfront when it was first announced back in 2019.

“This was a significant construction project in the community which created hundreds of trades jobs,” said Mombourquette.

While those construction jobs are now in the past, Mombourquette said he has heard from businesses that have seen an increase in traffic since all the improvements were made to the downtown area.

“This was the biggest one, to move the college,” he said. “Of course, we’re always monitoring that but all the responses since the move of NSCC have been very positive.”

As for how many students might be around for the second year of operations at the Sydney Waterfront campus, a spokesperson for the NSCC said those enrolment numbers should be available sometime in October.

At Cape Breton University, located about ten kilometers away from Sydney’s downtown, international student enrolment has dropped significantly in recent years due to federal rules that cap international study permits.

“I know we might be down on those numbers, but I don’t think it will impact them coming to see us in downtown Sydney,” Bryden said.

This year’s NSCC Sydney students arrive on Tuesday for orientation, with the first day of classes set for Wednesday.

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