Doyle Childs of RE/MAX Island Properties in downtown Duncan
COWICHAN VALLEY – Slowly but surely, the spotlight began starting to shine on the Cowichan Valley commercial real estate market in the past few years.
“I would say so,” states Doyle Childs, a real estate agent with RE/MAX Island Properties, and the incoming Chair of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board Commercial Division. “I think we lagged behind for a long time. I have worked in the Victoria and Nanaimo markets, and there was always a discount for the Valley. But that discount has shrunk substantially now.”
Like most of Vancouver Island, the Cowichan Valley is experiencing a robust real estate market that shows no signs of abating any time soon. Much of the interest is coming from elsewhere.
“I would say the Valley is growing on its own from the influx of people,” he observes. “It’s not Victoria people primarily moving here, it’s out of province people, and I’ve personally had a couple of clients move here from Hong Kong during the pandemic times.
“The one thing that really surprised me was the amount of demand for strictly cash flow property. I recently had an unconditional offer come in on a commercial property, which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.”
RE/MAX Island Properties, formerly RE/MAX Duncan Mill Bay, has offices in Duncan, Mill Bay and Victoria. Childs came to RE/MAX from Cunningham & Rivard Appraisals Ltd., where he was a partner, and also formerly worked at the BC Assessment Authority.
The District of North Cowichan and the town of Duncan are both undergoing Official Community Plan reviews, and Childs believes the decisions made at those tables will be evident in the next few years in terms of development opportunities and growth.
“There is a commercial/residential OCP in progress,” he notes. ”Some councilors are questioning whether the amount of projected development is sustainable and whether the new development would negatively impact existing nodes. Meanwhile, there are a number of people who have already made decisions based on the OCP as it is, so there is a fair bit of angst about what might happen.”
The continues to be strong demand for commercial property in the Cowichan Valley and Childs says he is presently working for a national tenant who has expressed interest in locating there. The recent opening of the new 49th Parallel grocery store at Berkey’s Corner has been really popular, and he says more development is planned for around that area.
“There is a real shortage of industrial land, primarily,” he notes. “We’ve had some movement on serviced commercial and warehouses, but there’s not been a lot of demand on retail. There is renewed interest in the downtown core, and if you go downtown in Duncan there are not many vacant spaces any more. There’s plenty of parking there now.”