A rental housing development featuring a pair of six-storey buildings that broke new ground in the local construction industry is winning accolades from residents, neighbours and the municipality of Saanich.
Herons Landing and the Ardea at the corner of Burnside and Tillicum roads are the first rental-only structures on the South Island to take advantage of 2009 changes in the building code that allow wood-frame multi-family buildings up to six storeys, an increase of two floors, said builder Ernie Yakimovich.
E Y Properties Ltd., Yakimovich’s three-generation, family-owned company, is at the forefront of an emerging local trend. In addition to Yakimovich’s new 104-unit complex, there’s a five-storey rental wood-frame building wrapping up in Langford. Also in Langford, there are two applications for six-storey wood-frame multi-family buildings, one with 130 rental units. Saanich has a five-storey wood-frame condo building going up.
Still, new rental developments funded by the private sector are not common. Yakimovich said his new project is the first rental the company has built in nearly three decades.
“This is a big deal,” said Saanich Mayor Frank Leonard, on hand Thursday to officially open the Herons Landing and the Ardea. “This is a real event to have a purpose-built rental building in our municipality and in our region. It’s got to be more than a quarter of a century since something like this has opened up — private money providing rental housing in our community.”
Greater Victoria’s rental vacancy rate was 2.8 per cent in October, according to the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
Yakimovich said the new development was the result of a “a perfect storm” of circumstances — the six-storey, wood-frame allowance, low interest rates, reasonable construction costs, the fact the company already owned the land, support from Saanich in zoning, parking and density, and backing from the Gorge Tillicum Community Association.
“It allowed us to maybe take a slightly lesser margin in order to allow this to happen,” Yakimovich said. “All those factors basically had to come together.”
Once land and costs including construction are added up, the project is valued at $18.5 million, Yakimovich said. The goal was a high-quality, environmentally friendly project, he said. “We tried to maximize the standards wherever possible.” Features include quartz countertops, in-floor radiant heating and nine-foot-high ceilings.
The multi-family development is the first in the region ot obtain a BuiltGreen Platinum rating. “This raises the bar for others to aspire in the resident-building sector,” Jenifer Christenson, Built Green Canada’s executive director, said in a news release.
The first tenants of the Ardea and Herons Landings moved in late last year.
Tenant George Johnson, 88, said he loves of the location and features of his fifth-floor bachelor unit. “It is just the size I want. For me, it is perfect. Everything is brand new.”
Rob Wickson, community association president, said the group first started talking about the site with Yakimovich a decade ago. The neighourhood is pleased to see such a quality rental development.
E Y Properties has about 600 rental units in the region. Herons Landing has 60 units and 3,000 square feet for the company’s head office. Ardea, a Latin word for heron, has 44 units.
Units range from bachelor suites starting at $850 a month to three-bedrooms from $1,700. Yakimovich’s daughter Angela Oakley said 23 units are still available.
