A proposal to revamp the former Times Colonist building on Douglas Street with a brewery, distillery, brewpub, liquor retail sales and commissary kitchen will go to a public hearing.
Merchant House Capital is planning to create a “campus-style” mix of offices, liquor manufacturing space and a 13-storey residential tower. They are applying to rezone the land to allow for the new uses. An application for the 150-unit tower, to be built on the parking lot, is still being prepared for city council.
Major structural and seismic work is complete in the existing building, at 2621 Douglas St., and construction is expected to be finished in June 2022.
David Fullbrook, chief executive of Merchant House Capital, said there’s been a lot of interest from potential tenants to operate a brewery, brewpub and distillery in the renovated space, and he expects many will be prepared to move forward if the rezoning application is successful.
A 20,000-square-foot area will offer commercial kitchen space for food truck operators, caterers, delivery food services and other food service businesses to prepare food and beverages for sale on and off-site. The concept allows smaller start-up businesses to expand their operations and share kitchen costs to reduce overall costs and risks, Fullbrook said.
Merchant House Capital is envisioning a redeveloped space where people can “work, live and play all in one location,” Fullbrook said.
“Hopefully it’ll help turn the corner for, you know, an underutilized part of the city, at a time when we we kind of need to be efficient on how we use real estate,” Fullbrook said.
The Times Colonist moved out of the building last September, relocating editorial, advertising and business staff to Upper Harbour Place in Vic West and circulation staff to Esquimalt.
A date has not yet been set for the public hearing.
