Greater Victoria developers want to go higher.
Bosa Properties’ 21-storey Promontory at Bayview Place in Vic West is the tallest building in Victoria.
The 27-storey Beacon condominium tower in Nanaimo is the tallest on Vancouver Island.
Developers are proposing to build more buildings in Victoria that are 20-plus storeys.
Townline is vying for the top spot with a pitch for a 30-storey residential tower at 1700 Blanshard St., where the Bay parkade once stood.
Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps said a few weeks ago that she has not seen the proposal yet, but will keep her mind open and look at its design.
Townline, developer of the Hudson district, has already received the green light for a 24-storey tower.
At Vic West’s Bayview site, owned by Focus Equities, a fourth condominium tower could rise as high as 26 storeys, but the height has not been finalized.
That building would likely have about 205 units, said Paul Corns, Bayview Place communications manager.
Even if the new tower comes in at 26 storeys, it would not appear higher than the 21-storey Promontory on Victoria’s skyline because of the different land elevations at the 20-acre site, he said.
Focus Equities owner Ken Mariash also has development plans for heritage buildings at Bayview that were once used by the Canadian Pacific Railway. He wants to use the buildings to establish something akin to Granville Island Market in Vancouver.
The goal is to have a variety of retailers and for the area to be a place that attracts the community with special events
As part of this, railway box cars will animate the site, Corns said. “They will begin to define the site as part of the continued acknowledgment of the important history connected to Vic West and the Songhees Peninsula.”
