The five-storey, 82-suite Grand & Fir condominium on Island Highway at Portage Park in View Royal has launched pre-sales with the lowest downpayment required of any project in the Capital in recent history. Construction is expected to get underway this fall. © GT Mann Contracting
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By Mike Kozakowski of Citified.ca
ESQUIMALT
Central Block, a six-storey condominium by Victoria-based Abstract Developments, has seen a recent surge of interest in its junior one-bedroom homes as it nears its construction groundbreaking on Tillicum Road across from Esquimalt Gorge Park’s main entrance. A broad range of junior one-bedroom to three-bedroom homes are still available, with pricing starting from the mid $300,000s, the company confirms. Abstract anticipates completion in late 2024 or early 2025. Read more here
LANGFORD
Construction will soon begin on a 28,000 square foot retail centre on Happy Valley Road at Latoria Road in south Langford. The 12 commercial unit strip mall coming to 3553 Happy Valley Road will supply much needed retail space to the amenity-starved south Langford area currently undergoing significant residential expansion in the form of single-family, townhome and high-density developments primarily focused on the Latoria Road corridor spanning from Happy Valley Road to Colwood’s Royal Bay community. Initially proposed as a 21,000 square foot complex in the summer of 2021, the application morphed to total 28,231 square feet. Read more here
SOOKE
A 12,500 square foot health and wellness centre is now under construction in Sooke on T’sou-ke First Nation land adjacent to Highway 14. The facility will provide healthcare services to members of the T’sou-ke nation, along with community space and a resource hub, the nation says in its description of the project. Situated to the east of Edward Milne Community School, the T’Sou-ke Community Complex & Health Centre is the second phase of construction on the T’sou-ke nation’s IR1 lands across the street from the T’sou-ke reserve off Highway 14/Sooke Road between Lazzar and Idlemore roads, accessible via Edward Milne Road. The first phase was completed several years ago as a joint Tim Hortons drive-through and Petro Canada gas bar. Read more here
VICTORIA
Completion of a 15-storey condominium tower at Cook and View streets in Victoria’s Harris Green neighbourhood is only months away as the downtown ‘book-end’ project pushes north of 60 per cent sold-out. Mod, from developers Dan Robbins and Fraser McCall, is on-track for a late 2023 occupancy for its collection of one and two-bedroom suites appealing both to investor-owners, and end-users. With Mod so close to completion, Robbins tells Citified his team has been responding to considerable interest from down-sizers readying to move out of larger residences and into the convenience of a two-bedroom condo, along with couples looking to get into the real-estate market with a brand new pre-sale slated for a near-term move-in. Investors, meanwhile, are searching for competitively-priced one-bedroom units to make available as condominium rentals, according to Robbins. Read more here
Victoria council has green-lighted Chard Development’s and BC Housing’s 541-unit, multi-tower Douglas and Caledonia project on lands formerly occupied by a White Spot restaurant and the City Centre Hotel. The proposal – on Douglas Street between Discovery Street and Caledonia Avenue – also incorporates a 90-unit BC Housing-backed supportive housing facility that will rise on the north side of Discovery Street on the hotel’s parking lot. BC Housing currently operates the City Centre Hotel as residences for people experiencing homelessness. Between Discovery Street and Caledonia Avenue with frontage onto Douglas Street, Chard Development will deliver 147 condominiums in a 21-storey tower (plus over 41,000 square feet of office space and nearly 52,000 square feet of retail space), 171 purpose-built rental suites also in a 21-storey massing, and 133 below-market workforce rental homes in a 16-storey tower. Read more here
A 20-storey hotel on Fort Street at Blanshard Street may not be moving forward as quickly as expected, but it remains an active proposal, according to developer Merchant House Capital. The 128-room Montrose Wintergarden/Spire Hotel received approvals in the fall of 2021 as a redevelopment concept for 780-798 Fort Street, parcels occupied for many years by retailers like Monk Office Supply (since having vacated its space) and Ditch Records (still operating at 784 Fort Street). Read more here
VIEW ROYAL
The Capital Region’s newest condominium pre-sale coming to a View Royal waterfront park is shaking up the local real-estate market through a down payment structure never before offered in Greater Victoria. The Grand & Fir, comprised of 82 suites in one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom configurations, has launched its sales campaign with a market-leading 2.5 per cent initial down payment, and a final 2.5 per cent top-up twelve months thereafter. The project caters to today’s economy both in terms of helping first-time buyers enter the market and gives down-sizers transitioning into condominium living the option of avoiding drawing down investments to pay a traditional 15% deposit prior to occupancy. Read more here
Mike Kozakowski is with Citified Media and can be reached at mailto:mike@citifiedmedia.com
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