A rendering of an 18-storey mixed-use residential and retail proposal for 4512 West Saanich Road, currently occupied by the Med Grill restaurant in Saanich’s Royal Oak neighbourhood. © D’Ambrosio Architecture + Urbanism
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OAK BAY
A new record has been set for the priciest single-family-dwelling ever sold through the Multiple Listings Service (MLS) on Vancouver Island.
After only 64 days on the market, a 1.67-acre estate at 3155 Beach Drive in the District of Oak Bay’s Uplands community sold earlier this month for $13,195,000.
Listed in March for $15.5 million by Lisa Williams of Sotheby’s International, the 2016-built 11,900 square foot mansion “boasts a timeless and elegant design with beautiful hand-crafted finishing [and] appointments throughout.” The home features five “oversized [and] luxuriously appointed bedroom suites,” eight baths, and “generously proportioned rooms designed for both large-scale entertaining and relaxed [and] casual family living.” The holding even includes its own two small (albeit private) islands, and beach access for kayakers.
SAANICH
The redevelopment of Saanich’s Med Grill property and the restoration of a heritage building next door could deliver over one hundred rental and condominium residences with modern retail spaces to the burgeoning Royal Oak community, Citified has learned.
A proposal for 4512 West Saanich Road at Viewmont Avenue has envisioned an 18-storey tower comprised of 29 BC Housing-backed affordable rental suites in one, two and three-bedroom configurations, 42 market rental apartments sized at one and two-bedrooms, and 30 one, two and three-bedroom condominiums.
SHAWNIGAN LAKE
An environmentally-forward and socially-driven development effort on two nearby sites in the Cowichan Valley’s Shawnigan Lake community could deliver approximately 500-units of below-market, market and rental housing to the growing Victoria suburb.
Shawnigan Village and Shawnigan Estates are planned as separate projects, with the ‘Village’ totalling 17-acres and comprised of approximately 90 townhomes, 120 condominiums in low-rise buildings, studio spaces and a school component operated through Relish Studios (known as the Vancouver Island School of Technical Arts, or VISTA). The site will also accommodate a grocer.
Shawnigan Estates will put attainability ahead of profits, according to the developer, through the delivery of 200 single-family-homes sold at below-market prices. The lands will also include a trio of rental buildings at up to three-storeys in height totalling 60-units, and a mixed-use institutional component will be earmarked for medical offices, seniors’ resources, a daycare and commercial spaces.
VICTORIA
Downtown Victoria’s Mod pre-sale condominium has reached 50 per cent sold-out status as the 15-storey tower begins its rise along Cook Street at View Street.
The 129-suite Harris Green project’s one and two-bedroom layouts span between 445 and 762 square feet, plus balcony options at up to 73 square feet in area. Select units also include parking in the form of a multi-level underground parkade.
Construction on a 34-residence townhome project in Victoria’s Burnside Gorge neighbourhood is on-track for a spring 2023 completion despite labour challenges, supply chain issues and the rising cost of new-build housing.
Washington, a project from homebuilder Formwell at 3080 Washington Avenue is rising as one of the Capital’s largest ‘missing middle’ developments in a generation, and at a time when the City of Victoria is moving towards up-zoning residential neighbourhoods to encourage housing types like townhouses, multi-plexes and duplex homes in lieu of a single-family status quo.
With the final release of homes slated for sale this fall, the company plans to also unveil a display home showcasing Washington’s traditional-styled exteriors, modern up-market interiors with a mid-century flair, and an attention to detail typically seen at custom-built single-family dwellings.
The fate of downtown Victoria’s last automotive dealership has been sealed following the sale of Cook Street’s Volvo showroom to a Victoria developer.
GAIN Automotive Group’s former holding on Cook Street between Yates and View streets – directly east of what up until recently was the Harris auto dealership (now based in Langford) and kitty-corner from the former Mazda dealership – has been sold to Jawl Properties, one of the largest development firms on Vancouver Island.
Although the deal recently closed, the developer says Volvo’s lease remains in place over the medium term, and no formal plans are currently in play for the one-acre, L-shaped parcel situated on the Fernwood side of the Harris Green-Fernwood border.
The price of the acquisition has not been disclosed. However, BC Assessment’s 2022 valuation of the land, at 1101 Yates Street, is sitting at just over $13.5 million.
Mike Kozakowski is with Citified Media and can be reached at mailto:mike@citifiedmedia.com
