Peeling paint, windows papered over or boarded up, and homeless people sleeping in tents in the doorways. 

The state of Moncton's century-old Subway Block, vacant for years, has led to questions about the three-storey brick building's future. 

"It has, I think, come to the point of drawing attention to the building," Moncton Coun. Charles Léger said in an interview. 

"The fact that the windows are boarded up — sometimes is what's necessary to really make everyone realize that we have an opportunity here that we don't want to lose."

The building owner says it has no immediate plans for the building but has been trying to sell it. 

Brian Steeves, whose company Seville Property Group Ltd. purchased the building in 2008, said he had hoped to keep the facade but replace much of the rest with an eight-storey commercial and residential building.

Steeves said rules around building residential units in close proximity to rail lines scuttled those plans.

"We ran into issues with it being close to the CN (rail) lands," Steeves said. He said the company then tried selling the building.

"We had a couple interested buyers looking to set up downtown because it was pretty vibrant the year before last. We thought we might have a sale, but then COVID hit and the pause button has been hit for everything down along Main Street right now," Steeves said.

The Subway Block is a nationally and municipally registered historic building. The listing describes its Italianate storefront architecture as significant to the development of the city's downtown. 

The listing says the structure replaced a wooden building on the same site around 1917 to create a better esthetic and modern view of the city for passengers on trains going over the nearby Subway overpass structure, built in 1915. 

In better days, the complex had restaurants, shops and a bookstore. 

Because of the heritage designation, any proposals to demolish the structure would need to be reviewed and approved by the city's heritage board. 

"The state of this building is sad," said Coun. Paulette Thériault, who chairs the heritage board. 

"Hopefully someone, the owners, will come up with some idea, and if they cannot salvage the entire building, perhaps they could salvage the facade."