COLWOOD
Royal Roads University (RRU) is considering building a pre-fabricated office complex with capacity for upwards of 150 workers as its looks to modernize its West Shore campus.
RRU has outlined a series of must-haves for the envisioned building that include a life expectancy of 35 years, a construction timeline that yields an occupancy permit within two years of the start date, and that the design be environmentally leading and accessible to persons with disabilities.
Although specifics like the architectural presence, footprint and massing of the project will not be known until chosen parties are further into the design process, the intended location for the project is in proximity to parking lot 4, which is situated within an oval-shaped gravel track immediately to the west of the main university thoroughfare connecting to the entrance on Sooke Road.
COWICHAN VALLEY
A landmark real-estate holding in the City of Duncan has been put up for sale to the tune of $8 million as pressures on the lodging industry mount.
The Ramada Duncan Cowichan Valley hotel at 140 Trans-Canada Highway north of the Cowichan River bridges represents a strategic investment opportunity along the town’s main thoroughfare which has seen several high-profile redevelopment scenarios in recent years.
Land improvements occupy just one and-a-half acres of the 3.5-acre holding, leaving significant room for additional buildings or a comprehensive re-envisioning of the entire property with roughly 160 meters of highway frontage.
LANGFORD
TJX Companies plans to open the Capital Region’s second Marshalls off-price department store later this fall or by early winter of 2021 at Millstream Village shopping centre.
The roughly 20,000 square foot store, coming to the former locations of a Tommy Hilfiger outlet, a La Vie En Rose lingerie boutique, and three spaces between them, will become one of the shopping centre’s anchor tenants joining large-format retailers like PetSmart, Michael’s, Golf Town and local grocery chain The Market on Millstream.
Woodsmere Holdings is nearing the start of construction on a 9.2-acre industrial park along Highway 14 between Glenshire Drive and Loledo Place as Langford’s western entranceway from Metchosin and Sooke goes into development overdrive.
The property, which requires significant terraforming to level its rocky topography, is being prepped by blasting crews for a six building construction effort fronting the 2900-block of Sooke Road/Highway 14 that will deliver nearly 200,000 square feet of light industrial space, mini storage, and live-work residences.
A project site plan issued by Woodsmere Holdings indicates that a three-storey mini storage facility will overlook the highway from the northwest corner of the land at the curve west of Slegg’s Building Materials, while a single floor but over-height industrial building will be situated immediately to its south. Further south along Loledo Place, two rows of bi-level live-work buildings will rise with nearly 30-units between them. The eastern perimeter will include two additional single storey industrial buildings.
VICTORIA
A highrise rental tower proposed for the 900-block of View Street adjacent to the View Towers complex has grown in height and unit density as it enters year three of municipal planning.
Developer Nelson Investments with Victoria-based architectural firm de Hoog Kierulf have transitioned plans from what was initially envisioned to be a 15-storey, 215-unit rental tower circa 2017, to an 18-storey, 267-unit proposal that would stand taller than the 19-storey View Towers constructed in the 1960s.
British Columbia’s provincial cannabis dispensary chain plans to open the Capital Region’s second location at The Bay Centre.
BC Cannabis Stores is pursuing approvals to situate a dispensary within a nearly 1,800 square foot retail unit along the Bay Centre’s 600-block of Fort Street frontage. The space formerly housed a Teavana tea store.
The transformation of the Medical Arts Building on Pandora Avenue at Cook Street into condominiums and ground level retail space is nearing completion. The multi-year endeavour has repurposed the 1950’s modernist era complex into The Wade, a 102 residential suite undertaking that includes a new-build portion with frontage onto Johnson Street and a commercial ground floor.
Construction has begun on the final phase of The Hudson District and what will measure up as Victoria’s second-tallest building.
Hudson Place Two – a 23-storey rental tower comprised of nearly 250 residences and 8,300 square feet of commercial space – has progressed to an active construction site following the completion of its 25-storey counterpart and the Island’s tallest building, the Hudson Place One condominium tower, which received occupancy earlier this summer.
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