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926-932 Pandora Avenue is a proposal for a 10-storey condominium and townhome development with ground floor retail space in Victoria's North Park neighbourhood.
The building will span between the 900-block of Pandora Avenue and Mason Street.
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Five ground-oriented townhomes will front onto Mason Street.
Groundfloor commercial space will front onto Pandora Avenue.
are you suggesting there is a deep throat in city hall feeding intel to our own bob woodward here?
i find it a bit suspicious that the city bought it with no fanfare. that's atypical.
https://www.vicnews.com/news/victoria-buys-properties-on-pandora-for-almost-10-million/
The total cost of both properties — 28,880 square feet — was $9.595 million, which Eisenhauer said closely aligns with the BC Assessment value of the combined parcels and is also supported by independent appraisals.
https://www.vicnews.com/news/victoria-buys-properties-on-pandora-for-almost-10-million/
BC Assessment for 2020 was $9.504 m. But it was only $7.594 M the year before. The big jump is likely because the site was in the rezoning process.
BC Assessment has been know to triple the assessed value of property when someone applies to rezone it and only backs down if challenged. I suspect they did the same thing here and the developer didn't challenge the assessment because they used it to argue for a higher price from Victoria and the City negotiator was too dumb to realize he was being manipulated.
BC Assessment for 2020 was $9.504 m. But it was only $7.594 M the year before. The big jump is likely because the site was in the rezoning process.
BC Assessment has been know to triple the assessed value of property when someone applies to rezone it and only backs down if challenged. I suspect they did the same thing here and the developer didn't challenge the assessment because they used it to argue for a higher price from Victoria and the City negotiator was too dumb to realize he was being manipulated.
Most commercial properties in the core saw big jumps last year. The issue with these lots are the proximity to Our Place and potential environmental issues which one could argue reduce its value.
Lets face it, the developer has sat on their proposal for 2 years. Clearly they felt that developing the site economically would be problematic. This is a big win for them.
Just to be fair, the land was acquired in 2016, as tiger pointed out, and the first incarnation of the proposal emerged in 2017. The last update to the proposal was in April of 2019, so I suspect the City would have engaged this developer in a conversation to buy the property by late 2019 or early 2020.
And as I said earlier, there is more information coming soon, including the workings of the finances at play.
City of Victoria acquires Pandora Avenue land holdings across from Our Place shelter
Multi-million dollar land play believed to be the first step in creating a City-operated housing agency.
Save-On-Foods, 600 upcoming residences set new course for North Park's and Harris Green's Pandora Avenue
Downtown Victoria's Pandora Avenue corridor is slated for big changes as developers focus in along the under-developed thoroughfare.
10-storey condo proposed across the street from Our Place
A mixed-use condominium and at-ground commercial development has been proposed for lots stretching between the 900-blocks of Pandora Avenue and Mason Street.
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