A community performance area, three buildings with ground-floor commercial space and condominiums above, plus underground parking are envisioned in a redevelopment plan for the Cordova Bay Plaza.
“It is like a blank canvas,” local developer James Gardiner said Friday.
Gardiner said he has an option to purchase the property, provided the municipality of Saanich grants a development permit for the proposal. The nearly three-acre site is owned by Your Family Food Mart Ltd., of Victoria.
Residents will be able to view plans on Sept. 21 at the plaza, 5144 Cordova Bay Rd., from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The aim is to create a new village centre, said Gardiner, a real estate agent and owner of James Gardiner Construction.
It would provide needed housing in that area, he said.
A large uneven parking lot is next to Cordova Bay Road. Locally owned Tru Value Foods is the anchor in the modest strip mall to the west.
Jeannie Kam, who has owned Super Duper Dollar Store for 16 years, is “extremely excited” about the proposal, saying it will help attract business. “It is due. The mall is definitely aging.”
Project architect Alan Lowe said existing tenants are welcome to be part of the project, but at this time it is unclear what will happen during the two-year build-out.
Plans call for three new buildings featuring a West Coast contemporary design, Lowe said. A rezoning is not required.
He anticipates submitting the permit application following the community meeting and is hoping for municipal approval within six months.
Ideally, construction would start by late spring 2017, he said.
A 17,000-square-foot grocery store space is planned, with three storeys of condominiums on top. A total of 42 units offering between 800 and 1,200 square feet would go in that building, Lowe said.
Another four-storey building would go up on the south part of the site, now a lawn, he said. It would have about 15,000 square feet of retail space and 37 condos.
A smaller building with about 5,000 square feet of ground floor commercial, with six condos on top, is planned for the northeast corner of the site.
The project would have 328 parking stalls. One level of underground parking would hold nearly 200 stalls and the rest would be on the surface, Lowe said.
A public plaza integrated into the sidewalk along Cordova Bay Road could hold tables and chairs, he said. Next to the plaza, part of the surface parking lot could be closed to make room for a stage for community events and seating for about 300 people.
It is too early to predict construction costs, Lowe said.
An earlier development was shelved because of contamination from a former service station across the road. Lowe said that is no longer a concern and that the B.C. Ministry of Environment has issued a needed certificate of compliance.
