Colwood’s historic Pendray House, three neighbouring vacant properties and four strata retail properties are being marketed as a package for $8 million under a court-ordered sale.
The 8,400-square-foot house facing Esquimalt Lagoon, next door to Royal Roads University, was built close to a century ago and is familiar to beach goers. The two-storey structure, which is protected due to its heritage value, was the centrepiece of the sloping site, which has been divided for development.
For many years, the Pendray House was the base for what was then called the Pacific Centre for Human Development, offering family counselling. The Coast Collective arts group moved into the house in 2008.
In 2015, a project for the site called Pacific Landing was unveiled, to be built out in six phases.
Plans included 115 condominiums, a hotel, restaurants, a pub, spa, grocery store, yoga studio and wellness centre. But the project was not completed.
In October, the Supreme Court of B.C. granted Royal Bay Financial the right to sell the property. The company said in a court document it was owed $8.3 million in mortgages. The registered owner is Heather Bell Lands Corp.
Under the court order, a sale and distribution of proceeds would have to be approved by the court unless all parties agreed.
Royal Bay Financial is a partner of Pacific Landing Limited Partnership. One of the companies within the partnership is a trust with about 350 investors, a court document said.
A total of 3.9 acres is now being offered for development at 3221 Heatherbell Rd. The rest of the package includes the house on 0.47 acres with about 30 parking spots, as well as four completed strata retail lots totalling 3,465 square feet. A protected bird sanctuary runs through the site.
A variety of uses are permitted under the site’s comprehensive development zone. A maximum of 165 residential units and 330 units in a hotel are allowed on the entire site, the marketing brochure says.
Permitted uses on the vacant lots include residential units, brewhouse, daycare or eldercare facility, restaurants, retail, spa and studios.
The house could be used for arts and cultural facilities, a brew-house, gift shops, restaurant, and accessory buildings.
“It’s a great opportunity,” said Chris Rust, senior vice-president at CBRE Victoria, which is marketing the property.
Vacant lots on the west side of the property allow buildings of up to 12 storeys on one parcel and 15 storeys on the other.
The maximum height is six storeys, likely for future condominiums, for the third vacant lot, on the southeast side of the site.
Colwood’s web page says that in 1881, Havenwood, an acreage bordering Esquimalt Lagoon, was purchased from the Crown.
The Belmont Tanning and Boot and Shot Manufacturing Company owned it for a time and also operated a sawmill and then a tannery from 1870 to 1920 on Cottonwood Creek, now Colwood Creek, in Hatley Park.
Herbert and Charlotte Pendray bought the property in the 1920s, building the current house and naming it Havenwood. Prominent figures in society, the couple often hosted special events at their home and opened the grounds to public tours.
A December 1937 story in the Daily Colonist introduced the couple’s green parrot Jimmy to readers. He reportedly trilled to well-known operas. Jimmy lived in a large cage in Havenwood’s breakfast room, one of the Pendrays’ many exotic birds.
They had “one of the most interesting collections of birds in the Pacific Northwest, the aviaries containing specimens from Australia, India, South America, the British Isles, Japan, China, Africa and the Southern States — altogether there are about 375 birds,” the Daily Colonist said.
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