A rendering of One Victoria Place depicts a redevelopment proposal for 1520 Blanshard Street in downtown Victoria. The 35-storey mixed-use residential and commercial tower, if approved and built, would stand as the Island’s tallest building. © Reliance Properties/Crosstown Properties/Office of McFarlane Biggar
By Mike Kozakowski of Citified.ca
ESQUIMALT
Greater Victoria’s brewing industry incubator could have a new hang-out spot for beer lovers, if an application currently before the Township of Esquimalt gets the nod from council. A boutique brewery established in 2018 as a small-batch producer in North Saanich has set its sights on a tasting room as part of a new ‘nano’ brewery on Lyall Street. Howl Brewing, formerly operating in North Saanich from a small space adjacent to Mills Road’s Fickle Fig Farm Market, moved to the 1200-block of Lyall Street in 2024 after securing approvals to brew beer on-site, and has now submitted a rezoning application plus an official community plan amendment to permit a public tasting room.Read more here
SAANICH
Abstract Developments’ Townhome Collection has released a spectacular homeownership opportunity along Saanich’s Gorge Waterway as part of its growing roster of new-build Greater Victoria ‘missing middle’ home offerings. Last week, Abstract officially announced the third and pinnacle addition to its ‘Collection,’ known as Brooke. Priced from $1,150,000, the up-market, luxury release of 25 three-storey townhomes on the Gorge Waterway with picturesque water views features three and four-bedroom layouts in an ideal location close to transit routes, shopping, and one of the most picturesque waterfront pathways in Victoria. Read more here
VICTORIA
A newly completed residential and retail development that now stands in place of a strip mall formerly home to popular Greek restaurant Ithaka, a Panago Pizza franchise and other retailers, has fully sold its commercial units. Chard Development’s 107-suite Nest tower – situated at 1100 Yates Street and Cook Street with its one and two-bedroom residences now over 90% sold-out – is fully subscribed for four street-level commercial units representing 5,915 square feet of modern retail space, while a second floor 8,333 square foot daycare, called Fueling Brains Academy, is expected to open in mid-2025. Read more here
A proposal that could deliver Victoria’s tallest building has been revealed by Vancouver-based developers Reliance Properties and Crosstown Properties for 1520 Blanshard Street in the city’s downtown core. The project, named One Victoria Place, calls for a 35-storey massing on the northern portion of the roughly one-acre property, with two lowrise podiums flanking the tower down Cormorant Street to the west, and along the Blanshard Street frontage to the south towards Pandora Avenue. Uses include 321 residential units with approximately one-third of homes “family-sized,” at-grade commercial units and co-working offices, while podium roofs will have exterior amenity areas, in addition to interior amenity provisions. Reliance believes the 1520 Blanshard Street development parcel, currently home to a three-storey office complex, is “uniquely suited to a tall building,” and cites the location as “at a critical jog in the city grid between Pandora Avenue and Cormorant Street.” Architecturally, the design from Vancouver-based architectural firm Office of McFarlane Biggar Architects + Designers evokes brutalist cues that appear to draw from the CIBC tower on View and Douglas streets and other notable downtown landmarks, that is described by Reliance as “a contemporary interpretation of Victoria’s rich history, culture and environment that will have lasting significance for Victoria’s skyline and in the city’s cultural fabric.” Read more here
A move in-ready downtown Victoria condominium tower has launched its final sales campaign ahead of what’s shaping up to be a busy winter and spring season. Falling interest rates and new mortgage rules that include 30-year amortizations for first-time buyers entering the housing market via pre-sale homes, has drawn considerable interest to Mod, a 15-storey, 129-unit highrise on Cook Street at View Street in downtown Victoria’s Harris Green neighbourhood. Read more: here
REGIONAL
2024 was the third highest-grossing year for real-estate transactions on southern Vancouver Island, with $6.6 billion in Multiple Listings Service (MLS) sales across 6,900 transactions, according to the Victoria Real Estate Board (VREB). The VREB’s data shows a whopping $6,600,383,119 total value for purchases in 2024, including commercial deals posted to MLS. The only years where transactions reached higher were 2021 with $9 billion, and 2022 with $6.8 billion. Looking ahead for 2025, changes to America’s political landscape could have an effect on Canadian real-estate, with economists weighing the weak dollar as favourable for American investment, while federal immigration policies could dampen anticipated demand and help balance supply from coast to coast. Additional market impacts may be introduced should a Conservative government assume power in Canada later this year. Read more here
Mike Kozakowski is with Citified Media and can be reached at mailto:mike@citifiedmedia.com
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