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Design proposal for the Turner Building site near Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria

Community groups will get a look at the plan for the former home of Ian’s Coffee Shop on Richmond Road.

A plan for a six-storey building with a distinctive rounded end and art-deco flavour on a high-profile site on Richmond Road is being taken to Jubilee area community associations for feedback.

Developer Karl Robertson, founder of Empresa Properties Ltd., aims to submit rezoning and development permit applications to the City of Victoria this fall as “we continue to work alongside the community.”

If successful at city hall, the development of the Turner Building site would add ground-floor retail uses in an effort to create a village atmosphere. It would be topped by five storeys with 55 residential rental units.

The new structure would replace an existing building that has been vacant for two decades and was once the site of the popular Ian’s Coffee Shop. The property is made up of three lots to form a parcel bordered by Richmond Road and Birch and Pembroke streets.

We are thrilled to be creating a landmark for the Jubilee Village community by spearheading a pedestrian-focused plaza in our designs with Biophilia Design Collective along Birch Street,” Robertson said.

Cascadia Architects said the proposal would bring vitality to the area. “The project also proposes to create a significant community amenity in partnership with the City of Victoria, by closing the intersection of Richmond Road and Birch Street to create a public plaza that will extend and amplify the positive pedestrian-oriented activity created by the ground-floor commercial spaces.”

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