Developers behind the Fundy Quay project in Saint John will have more flexibility when construction starts.

On Monday, council unanimously approved the second of five buildings, even before work on the first has begun.

It comes as construction market risks over the past year continue to impact prices and timelines, according to one of the developers.

Chris Elias, vice-president operations at Fundy Harbour Group, said the approval would allow them to choose which of the two buildings to construct first, although their intention is to start with the second building.

“We would have the option to do the two in tandem if market factors would allow it,” Elias told council. “The intention right now is to still sequence the buildings.”

Council initially approved the southeast building last January. The 16-storey building with 165 apartment units and retail space will front onto Water Street.

The second building, located on the southwest corner closer to the harbour, will be six stories in height with ground-floor retail and 111 apartment units.

City staff said the second building “would involve less complexity in construction owing to its lower height.”

Elias told council Monday night that construction is expected to begin on the site over the next few months.

“We started our site servicing this fall and have gotten most of the public access done. The intention is to start the southwest building this summer during construction season,” he said.

Meanwhile, councillors also approved eliminating the requirement to have at least 350 on-site parking spaces.

“The developer is still intending to provide parking for the development through structured parking within the four main buildings and surface parking in the area between these four buildings,” said a staff report to council.

Mark Reade, senior city planner, said the developer would still have to provide enough parking to meet market demands for the residential units and commercial space within the development.

Once completed, the waterfront site will have five buildings with up to 677 apartment units and 177,000 square feet of retail and office space, along with a cultural space.

The developers would need to come back before council to get approval for the remaining three phases.

When the project was first announced in early 2021, it was estimated the full cost would be in the magnitude of $300 million.