The West Shore’s tallest highrise building is quietly nearing completion at a height of 18 storeys, and most Victorians will have had no idea it was even underway.

 

 

One Bear Mountain, located at 2000 Hannington Court atop Bear Mountain Resort, has been under construction since the fall of 2020 when crews began dismantling a concrete shell left behind by a stalled condominium development known as The Highlander. The Highlander came to a halt in 2009 due to fall-out from a financial crisis at the time, after reaching the fifth of 14 floors.

 

Comprised of over 200 residences, One Bear Mountain features a 15th floor outdoor pool, a 16th floor lounge, and a fitness centre on the third level. Its homes span from one-bedroom residences to three-bedroom plus-den layouts, including expansive penthouses.

 

Despite condominiums initially representing the majority of homes at Bear Mountain Resort, One Bear Mountain is the first major high density project in over a decade at the Langford community, with new housing at the resort primarily comprising of single-family homes and townhomes.

 

The mountain's now former tallest building is Finlayson Reach, an 11-storey condominium completed some 17-years-ago as part of Bear Mountain Resort’s initial phase of development in the mid-2000s. Elsewhere on the West Shore, a 12-storey mass timber-built rental tower was completed in downtown Langford (Tallwood 1) in 2022 that followed on the heels of the nearby Danbrook One/Ridgeview Place tower, an 11-storey concrete building along Claude Road completed in 2019. Danbrook One was renamed Ridgeview Place in 2022 following a forced move-out of its residents stemming from building code issues. The tower lost its occupancy permit for a second time in 2023, and remains vacant.

 

One Bear Mountain’s status as the West Shore’s tallest landmark may be short lived, provided an 18 and 24-storey condominium pre-sale effort north of downtown Langford along the 2700-block of Scafe Road at Peatt Road proceeds to construction. The two-tower project, known as The Scene, has undergone excavation work and is awaiting a construction start. Meanwhile, another two-tower condominium project, planned for Jacklin Road at Dunford Avenue, could usurp The Scene with building heights of 25 and 29-storeys, if built.

 

At 29-storeys, the Jacklin Road proposal would even surpass downtown Victoria’s current stock of tall towers, which currently top out at 25-storeys (Hudson Place One, also the Island’s tallest highrise). Meanwhile, a 32-storey tower on Yates Street at Vancouver Street was approved in early 2023, which if built, would stand as downtown's tallest, but it may fall short of two 33-storey towers planned for Colwood Corners in Colwood that await final approvals. C

 

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