Bill Larkin surveys his tidy garden at Vic West’s Railyards where bright blue poppies bloom and multiply.
The trains have long been gone and it’s quiet here. Cyclists glide by on the Galloping Goose trail, framed by tall greenery. A harbour ferry passes by the pier.
When Bill and wife Jan, former Winnipeg residents, arrived to look at a three-storey townhouse that was for sale in 2007, the quiet is what they noticed.
“The first thing I did when I got out [of the car] was listen,” Larkin said. The couple could not hear any noise from nearby Tyee Road.
The Larkins are happily settled in their home. They rented their place out for a couple of years and moved here in 2009.
Jan loves the proximity to downtown. The couple has downsized to one car from two.
“It gets me motivated to get out and walk,” Jan said. As kayakers slip by in the water, Jan looks around and says “this is so vibrant.”
It wasn’t always like this. The property was once a bleak industrial prospect, a former CN railyard dubbed Bayside Village in the 1990s as ideas for development unfolded.
Today, the waterfront site is filled with condominiums and townhouses built in a contemporary design, showcasing a rainbow of colours. Patterned brick sidewalks, a viewing platform, public washrooms and landscaping are among amenities. And there’s no one demographic. All ages live here.
Developer Chris Le Fevre has spent just over a decade transforming the 13-acre site between the Point Ellice Bridge and Banfield Park. The land had already been remediated when he purchased it and now it’s nearing completion.
He built the Goose trail along the waterfront land and further transportation links will be developed. A children’s play area is still to come, as is new signage at Bay Street and Tyee Road to mark the entrance to Vic West.
The final Railyards development permit has been submitted to Victoria City Hall, Le Fevre said. No rezoning is needed as a master development agreement was approved more than 10 years ago.
Le Fevre is hoping to start construction in six to nine months on condominium buildings ranging from three to six storeys along Tyee Road.
There will be 140 units and work will take about 24 months to complete, marking the end of construction at Railyards.
Once finished, Railyards will have about 500 residential units (slightly more than 100 are townhouses and the rest are condo units) and a population of about 2,000, Le Fevre said
The site includes 3,000 square feet of commercial space. The nearby Westside Village on Wilson Street provides a range of shopping options for the neighbourhood.
Le Fevre figures that he will have spent more than $100 million on construction and site services by the time the Railyards is finished. Victoria’s Campbell Construction has done most of the building.
Architect Joost Bakker, of Dialog in Vancouver, created the initial layout and plan for the Railyards and designed most of the earlier buildings, Le Fevre said. His modern designs will be again featured in the upcoming condo buildings.
“From the start, I realized from an architectural perspective that I needed something that was relatively contemporary,” Le Fevre said. “Initially, I think it took the buying public a little bit to digest the progressive architecture.”
The Railyards caught on and Le Fevre continued building and selling during the recession when many other developers cancelled or postponed projects.
Workers are nearing completion of seven townhouses. Bonds Landing, a 49-unit condominium building, is under construction and will be finished later this year.
