“We’ve officially sold over one hundred condominiums since our sales launch in March,” says developer Dan Cox of Cox Developments.

 

Cox's 206-unit, 15 and 17-storey 989 Johnson mixed-use condominium and ground floor commercial development reached the milestone this month following a steady pace of sales to a segment of buyers increasingly overlooked by downtown Victoria’s high density real-estate offerings.

 

Attributing the project’s sales success to larger units, high-end finishings and the all-important parking stall, Cox says his decision to buck the trend of smaller urban homes and investor-focused layouts filled a gap that had quietly widened with the industry's penchant for purpose-built rental buildings and smaller condominium residences geared towards the eventual rental market.

 

“We consciously made an effort to attract the end-user buyer to 989. These are the folks paying attention to the physical layouts and efficiency of every room, and they’re far more particular about the orientation of their unit and the views it offers,” Cox said, adding that the decision to include a parking stall with each residence became a significant competitive advantage in a market known to retain parking capacity for mid-range and top-end inventory.

 

Situated along the 900-block of Johnson Street in downtown Victoria’s Harris Green district, 989 is currently under construction and expects to welcome residents by mid-2019.

 

“Our construction crews have just shifted from excavating the site to building the foundation for the towers. We expect to be at street level by early next year and are on track to complete the project by May of 2019,” Cox said.

 

989’s remaining one-bedroom units are priced from $435,000 and are offered in layouts starting at 620 square feet. Two-bedroom, two bath homes sized from 837 square feet – some with sweeping views across the city and towards the Salish Sea – start at $575,000.

 

Cox Developments is also building a 134-unit purpose-built rental complex on Pandora Avenue at Cook Street. The 13-storey tower, underway since mid-2015, will feature one and two-bedroom residences sized from approximately 440 to 1,000 square feet. A ground floor commercial component will yield some 6,800 square feet of retail space fronting onto Pandora Avenue and Cook Street.

 

The rental project’s second phase, a 10-storey, 37-unit lowrise at 1088 Johnson Street, is expected to get underway later this year. C