The new terminal for Harbour Air and Kenmore Air was towed into Victoria’s Inner Harbour and pulled and pushed into place shortly after 5 p.m. Saturday.
Cheers and clapping broke out among the more than 100 people who waited for the terminal to arrive. A tug left Bamberton at 3 a.m., pulling the terminal at a speed of 2.5 knots.
The terminal is scheduled to open about April 1 once utilities have been put into place.
A contemporary West Coast design features wood on the exterior and on the ceiling, and plenty of windows. It has a green roof designed to mimic the form of a wave.
This terminal will replace trailers which will be taken out in coming months, to make way for the new David Foster Way along the downtown waterfront.
The building housing the Flying Otter Grill and offices will remain in place on the waterfront, leading to a new outdoor seating area in front of the terminal building.
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Earlier story:
If the weather co-operates, Harbour Air will deliver its new floating terminal to the Inner Harbour today.
The two-storey, 5,200-square-foot building, with a distinctive wavy roof, is being brought in by barge and tug between 3 and 5 p.m., said Harbour Air vice-president, Randy Wright.
The $4-million terminal has been under construction for several months at an undisclosed location near Bamberton.
If it arrives on time, the new fixture on Victoria’s famous harbour will likely be seen by a national audience watching a Rogers’ Hometown Hockey broadcast on Sunday from Ship Point. It’s part of a Canada-wide broadcast of a game between the Vancouver Canucks and San Jose Sharks starting at 4 p.m.
The floating terminal will eventually be part of a new public plaza on the existing terminal site.
Victoria Float Plane Terminal Ltd., a group that includes Harbour Air and Kenmore Air, has agreed to a 20-year lease with the City of Victoria that will see the terminal move from city land to the city’s water lots in front of 950 and 1000 Wharf St., adjacent to Ship Point and the lower Wharf Street parking lots.
“I think it will be the catalyst to start the David Foster Pathway where those buildings were,” Wright said. The waterfront pathway will go from Ogden Point to Rock Bay when complete.
The plaza will have green space, trees, benches, bike racks and room to accommodate passenger pick-up and drop-off, taxis and buses.
Wright said it is a huge step in improving the Inner Harbour gateway, which hasn’t seen much construction in the past two decades.
Under the lease, the terminal and plaza are to be completed by the end of January 2017. The lease agreement provides an initial term of five years with a starting annual rental rate of $202,000, rising to $253,000 in year five. There are provisions for three renewals of five years each.
Harbour Air carries about 420,000-plus passengers on 60,000 flights each year using 34 aircraft. It has 400 staff, with 100 on Vancouver Island, Wright said.
