A group of historic Chinatown buildings connected by private interior passageways and courtyards is being renovated and converted into entry-level condominiums in downtown Victoria.
The project is one of the latest by local developer Chris Le Fevre, who purchased the Lee Cheong Alley building at 533 Fisgard St., and the Lum Sam Courtyard building at 534 Pandora Ave., this year from longtime owners.
Both are designated as heritage buildings by the city of Victoria.
While Le Fevre builds modern housing such as the Railyards in Vic West, he also takes on historic properties that are often empty, at least in their upper floors, and renovates and brings them up to today’s seismic standards.
In the case of the Chinatown properties, he’s planning on keeping ground-floor commercial at the Lee Cheong building. The rest of the site, including its small interior tenements, and the Lum Sam building will be converted into
25 condos, priced at about $300,000, Le Fevre said.
Units will be about 400 to 500 square feet each.
The existing buildings total about 15,000 square feet.
If all goes according to plan, the project will be ready for occupancy in fall 2016.
Already buyers are lining up, Le Fevre said.
Like some of his and other developers’ downtown projects catering to the urban market, this one does not have parking.
The two-storey height will remain unchanged, Le Fevre said. Buildings will be remediated, brought up to current seismic standards and the integrity of the architecture maintained.
Le Fevre is again working with Campbell Construction. “I wouldn’t be doing these buildings unless I could rely on their capability,” he said.
The buildings were constructed in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the wake of the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes as workers and merchants arrived in Canada.
A narrow brick-lined walkway leads from Fisgard Street into cosy courtyards and staircases. Tiny tomatoes and Swiss chard, flowers and colourful lights currently fill the spaces, all hidden from the street. Existing units are rental housing.
Walking through these back-to-back Chinatown properties today gives visitors a view into history, when these buildings were constructed with their private places.
Interior spaces will help foster a vibrant energy to the site, Le Fevre said. “These courtyards create the whole vitality. I feel privileged to be the person who is going to do it.”
