Situated in South Langford, Formwell Homes’ newest residential community, Woodrow, offers residents a forest-side setting on a four-acre site along Klahanie Drive. © Formwell Homes
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By Mike Kozakowski of Citified.ca
REGIONAL
New MLS (Multiple Listings Service) listings, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB), rose this March compared to last, with 1,310 units added to the market, compared to 1,118 one-year-ago (an increase of 17%). Total active MLS listings numbered substantially higher this March at 2,647, compared to last year’s 1,970, a nearly 35% uplift. This year’s available inventory represents a nine-year high, but that remains far below inventory from 2007 through 2015. Despite the inventory rise, single-family, condominium and townhome sales, together with manufactured homes and commercial properties, totalled 588 transactions in March, a total literally in line with last year, when 590 sales were recorded via MLS throughout the month, VREB data shows. Read more here
ESQUIMALT
A landmark highrise development known as the ‘900s’ was approved on April 8th in a 5-2 vote following a multi-year planning process and two pubic hearings held one month apart. Council heard from Esquimalt-based applicant GMC Projects on the merits of a 26-storey condominium tower and an eight-storey rental block proposed for an aged commercial building at 900 Carlton Terrace, formerly home to the Carlton Club nightclub, and 900 Esquimalt Road, where a three-storey, 17-unit end-of-life rental and ground floor retail node is currently situated. GMC had returned to council on April 8th, after a March 4th meeting resulted in a vote among elected officials to seek guidance from staff on the relative value of a $4.1 million public amenity package the project would deliver (including a minimum $1 million pledged towards affordable rental homes for Esquimalt residents and workers, and members of the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations). Read more here
VICTORIA
2025 is shaping up to be a big year for housing in downtown Victoria, with several purpose-built rental projects coming due next year within downtown-proper, and one on the periphery in the North Park neighbourhood. The year will also see the completion of downtown Victoria’s first office tower since the opening of 750 Pandora Avenue in 2018, a 13-storey highrise built in tandem with a six-storey office complex at 1515 Douglas Street opposite Victoria’s City Hall. On the housing front, Citified’s project tracking shows four residential developments will collectively deliver 680 rental apartments in downtown-proper next year, which include Denciti Development’s five-storey Spencer Block on Government Street between Chatham and Herald streets, J Gordon Enterprises’ six-storey 1124 View Street complex, Salient Group’s 825 Fort Street tower (rising to 11 storeys) and 975 Pandora Avenue, a 16-storey tower from developer Townline. Collectively, the rentals will also add over 27,000 square feet of ground floor retail space. There are no condominium developments currently underway in downtown Victoria. At a new housing total hovering just below 700 units, 2025 is likely a record-breaking year for new rental housing completions in downtown-proper, which includes the central business district, and Harris Green. Read more here
LANGFORD
Victoria-based Formwell Homes has launched its first West Shore development in the forested South Langford neighbourhood. Aptly named Woodrow, once complete the 58-unit townhome community will sit within one of the municipality’s most notable traditional residential neighbourhoods, off Klahanie Drive, offering homebuyers a rare opportunity to establish roots in a setting that uniquely contrasts the region’s more prevalent urban core neighbourhoods and large, master-planned developments. Comprised of more than four acres of land and overlooking a forested setting, the Woodrow site will be home to 58 townhomes in total, including a range of three-and four-bedroom homes designed to appeal to families and couples. A half-acre naturalized park area is envisioned to encourage human connection with nature. Read more here
Another step towards expanding Langford’s West Shore RCMP detachment has been taken with the removal of a single-family-dwelling adjacent to the downtown Langford police station. Budgeted in early 2023 at a cost of $82.4 million, a new RCMP facility will more than double the present-day 37,000 square feet of operational space at the Atkins Avenue and Veterans Memorial Parkway/Millstream Road detachment, built in the 1960s and expanded in 1999, to yield approximately 93,000 square feet. To make way for construction, the 10,667 square foot 1960s-era wing, known for its neon lights overlooking the intersection of Veterans Memorial Parkway and Goldstream Avenue, will be bulldozed and replaced with a modern structure fronting Veterans Memorial Parkway/Millstream Road. Meanwhile, parking for officers and staff will be expanded to what were formerly single-family dwellings along Winster Road at Atkins Avenue, the last of which was recently bulldozed. In terms of massing, the new building is expected to stand at a height of six to eight storeys. The final design has not been publicly revealed to-date. Read more here
Mike Kozakowski is with Citified Media and can be reached at mailto:mike@citifiedmedia.com
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