Aryze Developments could break ground this year on a mixed-use, 34-unit purpose-built rental building near Royal Jubilee Hospital after Victoria council gave the project the green light at a public hearing Thursday night.
The project, which passed unanimously, is a six-storey rental building with ground-floor commercial space that will replace an existing four-unit townhouse development at 1693-1699 Fort St.
It will also have four lower-cost rental units.
“I’m thrilled to see council taking the housing crisis seriously and approving our project that is an incremental step toward healthier neighbourhoods and the provision of more rental housing choice within the areas outside of the downtown,” said Aryze principal Luke Mari.
Mari said they will submit a building permit application within the next three months and could start building this fall or early in 2024.
The building caters to the emerging car-free lifestyle that this city council seems to favour, based on other projects it has approved.
The project will have only nine parking stalls — the existing rules call for at least 36 stalls.
There are plans for bus passes for all residents for three years, parking for a car-share vehicle and car-share memberships for each unit, 63 long-term bike stalls and six visitor bike stalls.
Coun. Jeremy Caradonna said the project ticked a lot of the right boxes as it densifies the site with six storeys, and adds much-needed purpose-built rental to the city.
“And it’s a mixed use building. And that’s really important because it activates streets,” he said. “So I think it’ll add to that village feel that I think is pretty badly needed in our Jubilee neighbourhoods. It’s also a car-light development, which is really fantastic, and I think aligns with the values and vision of this council.”
Coun. Dave Thompson said this is a project that helps tackle the “crisis-level housing shortage” while Coun. Chris Coleman said it’s a project that wouldn’t work everywhere but works well on this site outside of dowtown.
“This is about changing the way we look at the way the city develops and the need to address critical housing,” he said.
While council may have been enthusiastic, some neighbours were not, with several complaining about the aesthetics, that it will be too big for the neighbourhood, affect tree coverage and would add to an already difficult parking situation.
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