A rendering of 937 View Street’s lower levels. The 23-storey tower promises to liven up the View Street pedestrian experience, and will align with residential density recently approved at the adjacent Harris Green Village development. © Nelson Investments
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By Mike Kozakowski of Citified.ca
ESQUIMALT
Victoria-based developer Lapis Homes is moving forward with a revised residential complex formerly denied by Esquimalt council over massing and height. Now underway at 812 Craigflower Road is a three-storey, 10-unit purpose-built rental apartment with a mix of layouts in studio through three bedrooms, with several surface parking stalls at the rear of the building. Lapis Homes had formerly pursued approvals for a 12-unit, four-storey design on the parcel, once the location of a single-family-dwelling. Esquimalt council denied that vision in 2020 due primarily to its lot coverage. Read more here.
CENTRAL SAANICH
A 10-unit townhome community near Saanichton could be transformed into 61 purpose-built rentals. Developer Castera Properties (associated to developer Groupe Denux) has submitted a proposal for a four-storey lowrise with studio through two-bedroom apartments, and three-bedroom townhomes above underground parking at 7701 East Saanich Road. Completed in 1980, the site’s ten existing townhomes, all rentals, have reached their end-of-life, according to Castera, which describes the units as having insufficient insulation potential due to thin walls and no at-grade insulation, leading to high heating costs for residents. The style of piping used within the buildings, known as poly-B, is prone to failure, Castera says, and creates a risk of flooding. Other maintenance issues have also been described, such as aged decking, and water egress related to chimneys. Read more here
SOOKE
Highway 14’s 1.2-kilometre expansion project in the District of Sooke will soon open to four lanes of traffic between Glinz Lake and Connie roads at the exit to East Sooke. Part of $86 million in corridor improvements announced by former Premier John Horgan in 2019, the new four-lane section of Sooke Road/Highway 14 spans just over a kilometre and includes a new alignment along with a traffic-separated exit onto Gillespie Road, which serves as the primary corridor for East Sooke and Sooke-proper’s growing Silver Spray community. Read more here
On the heels of approvals for a 98-unit residential development on Sooke Road at Church and Goodmere roads in Sooke’s town centre, a 161-unit rental project is moving closer to fruition south of Sooke Road opposite the Royal Bank branch. Developer WestUrban is awaiting a development permit to deliver a broad range of rentals in the form of two six-storey buildings at 6645 Sooke Road, with frontage along Brownsey Boulevard through to Goodmere Road. Read more here
VICTORIA
Aryze Developments has revealed a new design concept for its proposal to re-imagine a landmark property known for its eclectic heritage rentals on Quadra Street at Fisgard Street in the North Park neighbourhood. The Abbey Apartments at 1702 Quadra Street – dating to 1911 as a two-storey commercial-turned-rental residential building with 15 suites – will no longer feature as the ground floor component of a residential tower planned by Aryze and will instead become part of the rezoning effort through a repurposing of its bricks for “short walls” and “planters” the proponent calls “material memory,” and via history-themed artwork. Another aspect of the initial plan incorporated into the update is the lack of residential parking. Read more here
One of downtown Victoria’s largest-ever purpose-built rental developments is getting underway at View and Vancouver streets on the site of a former recycling and bottle depot. ‘View & Vancouver,’ a six-storey, 162-unit block at 1124 Vancouver Street and 941-953 View Street will include a mix of studio, one, two and three-bedroom suites, cycling storage and 30 parking spots for residents with a further 14 stalls available to visitors. Read more here
Nelson Investments has envisioned a mixed-use residential tower comprised of 269 rental suites in the form of a 23-storey tower at 937 View Street – between the 1969-built View Towers complex and an upcoming rental block on View Street at Vancouver Street described above – and across from the newly approved Harris Green Village with towers of 28-to-32 storeys. Last spring, Victoria officials fell short of greenlighting Nelson Investments’ former plans for the parking lot, citing a desire for greater setbacks and calling for design amendments to what was then an 18-storey massing with 266 units. In late May, the company submitted a concept that builds on the former council’s feedback, while incorporating key tenets of the current administration’s pro-housing, car-lite agenda for downtown’s future generation of residences. Due to geotechnical challenges, the proponent is proceeding with the proposal with no on-site parking allotment. Read more here
Mike Kozakowski is with Citified Media and can be reached at mailto:mike@citifiedmedia.com
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