A rendering depicting Starlight Developments’ first phase of its master-planned Harris Green Village project along the 1000-block of Yates Street in downtown Victoria. Two residential towers, rising to 17 and 19-storeys, and a podium ground floor retail space, are proposed on land currently used as an automotive dealership. © IBI Group for Starlight Developments
Central Saanich
A popular strip mall in Brentwood Bay’s town centre could make way for a 105-unit affordable housing project.
Developer Verdier Commons Ltd., as part of an application through BC Housing‘s and the Capital Region Housing Corporation‘s Housing First Program, have applied to the district with plans to erect a mixed-use residential and commercial building at 1183 Verdier Avenue as part of a multi-phased development known as Roundabout Square.
The five-storey lowrise will include a single commercial unit at the building’s northeast corner with frontage onto a traffic roundabout at Verdier Avenue and West Saanich Road.
Esquimalt
Lapis Homes has proposed a 12-unit one, two and three-bedroom residential building along the 800-block of Craigflower Road on the Esquimalt side of the Esquimalt/Victoria border.
Planned for a property currently housing a single-family-dwelling at 812 Craigflower Road west of Arm Street, the building would mark the first non-townhome, multi-unit residential complex to be built along Craigflower Road east of Tillicum Road since the 1980s. The span of Craigflower Road from the Esquimalt border through to Tillicum Road, and a block north and south of the thoroughfare, is one of Esquimalt’s highest density corridors with over a dozen apartment buildings already standing.
Saanich
The district has approved an affordable seniors residence at 3200 Linwood Avenue just north of the Tolmie Road Saanich/Victoria border.
Developed by the Baptist Housing Society, the four-storey, nearly 100-unit residence will replace the 29-unit, two-storey Linwood Court seniors complex currently on the property. The existing facility has reached the age of replacement.
3200 Linwood Avenue will include socializing spaces for residents and amenities such as a guest room, a kitchen and a dining area.
One of the most high-profile, un-developed properties on southern Vancouver Island is now the focus of a mixed-use retail and office proposal.
Architectural firm de Hoog Kierulf has submitted plans for a two-storey commercial building on a triangular lot at Saanich Road and Douglas Street adjacent to Uptown Shopping Centre.
The proposed building, which will feature pharmacy and retail spaces at street level with offices above, will occupy the western half of the 7,400 square foot parcel designated as 3415 Douglas Street, while nine parking stalls and a driveway entrance off Saanich Road will absorb the remainder of the space.
Victoria
The completion of an iconic condominium development in downtown Victoria has marked a ‘sizeable’ achievement for Vancouver Island’s built form.
Hudson Place One, officially standing as the tallest building on the Island, has reached built status after three years of construction along the 700-block of Herald Street in downtown Victoria’s Hudson District.
Rising to 25-storeys with an 85 meter overall height, Hudson Place One has eclipsed Nanaimo’s 76 meter Beacon Tower – constructed in the mid-1990s along that city’s downtown waterfront – to reclaim the title of Vancouver Island’s Tallest Building for the Capital City.
A rezoning application for the first phase of downtown Victoria’s Harris Green Village redevelopment has been submitted to the City following public engagement and feedback sessions held last summer and fall.
Proponent Starlight Developments has unveiled a vision incorporating over 500 rental residences and a large ground floor retail component for a property between the 1000-blocks of View and Yates streets (at Cook Street) currently occupied by an automotive dealership.
The concept includes two residential towers, of 17 and 19-storeys, and a low-rise podium with staggered heights of up to six-storeys. The 17-storey building is depicted at the southeast corner of the property on View Street at Cook Street, while a staggered 19-storey counterpart fronts onto Yates Street at the northwest corner.
A 23-storey mixed-use residential and commercial tower proposed for downtown Victoria’s Hudson District has been approved by the City.
Dubbed Hudson Place Two, the nearly 72 meter tall highrise is destined for the 1700-block of Blanshard Street immediately east of Hudson Place One.
Municipal approvals were granted to Cool Aid Society’s and TL Housing Solutions’ first phase of the Crosstown project, a 154-unit affordable rental complex in Burnside-Gorge that will include a variety of commercial spaces and a daycare facility on lands once occupied by the Tally-Ho Hotel.
