Demolition of the former St. Andrew’s school in downtown Victoria is underway in preparation for construction of a controversial $70-million block of 209 rental units and ground-floor space for small retailers.
The new 200,000-square-foot building will stagger from six storeys on Pandora Avenue to four storeys on Mason and Vancouver streets and is slated for completion in February of 2019, said Daryl Simpson, senior vice-president of Vancouver’s BlueSky properties, a division of Bosa Properties.
The Catholic elementary school closed in 2013.
Simpson predicts that the as yet unnamed building “will act as the catalyst for the renewal of the neighbourhood.”
When Victoria approved the project last October, Mayor Lisa Helps voted in favour, but called it the most difficult decision she had made on council, a position that hasn’t changed.
The “wrenching part” is the challenge inherent in attracting new downtown rental spaces, keeping development from encroaching on farmland on the Saanich Peninsula, and voting in opposition to friends and colleagues who disagreed with the scope of the project, she explained.
A petition with 1,200 names — not all from the North Park neighbourhood — opposed the development.
“Once we see the building built, I think its urban design elements will read very nicely with the streetscape,” Helps said. “Yes, it’s large, but the 1996 North Park neighbourhood plan allowed for up to 10 storeys on the site. We need new rental stocks, and the more the better.”
In addition to 11 units committed to remain below-market rental in perpetuity, the developer has also agreed all units will remain rental for a minimum of 10 years.
Jenny Farkas, president of the North Park Neighbourhood Association, said Monday that it’s important to look forward to what the development can bring to the area. Despite the level of opposition, “we have to put this behind us,” she said, and focus on building relationships with the developer and with future residents whom she hopes will be engaged with the neighbourhood.
Voting against the proposal were councillors Pam Madoff, Ben Isitt and Jeremy Loveday, who said the level of community opposition was just too great, with Isitt citing “a wall of opposition” by North Park residents.
Despite approval in October, it’s taken this long for necessary permits and to evolve drawings to the point where the developers could satisfy the requirements to obtain a building permit, Simpson said.
Amenties will include:
• a grocery store tenant that has asked not to disclose its identity until it announces the move to employees;
• an interior courtyard for use by tenants and townhouses fronting Mason Street;
• two levels of underground parking providing 273 stalls accessed off Mason via Vancouver Street; and
• gardening beds on the roof deck, bike storage, a bike-repair room, a do-it-yourself room and LaundroMutt dog wash.
Rental rates will be determined by market conditions once the building is complete, Simpson said, with suites varying from studios to two-bedroom units.
“The degree of affordability remains to be seen,” Isitt said. He finds it “unfortunate” that the Catholic Diocese of Victoria decided to maximize the revenue from its property via a single building filling the entire site rather than deeding any land toward nearby Franklin Green Park or for a laneway for delivery trucks. Instead, Mason Street is “essentially being turned into a loading bay for this development,” Isitt said.
