One of the first public parkades to open in downtown Victoria since the 1990s is slated to welcome motorists this spring as part of a twin tower condominium project nearing completion in Harris Green.

 

Chard Development’s 20-storey Yates on Yates and its counterpart Vivid at the Yates were constructed above a shared underground parking garage that will feature a public parking component accessible via the 800-block of Johnson Street.

 

Yates on Yates, presently in the midst of its occupancy phase, wrapped up construction last month and its sister tower (with frontage onto Johnson Street) is scheduled for occupancy by the second quarter of 2021. Once work concludes, Chard Development plans to unveil a 62-stall parkade to downtown workers and business owners.

 

“As part of our commitment to the downtown core’s economic health and resiliency, Chard Development is pleased to confirm that a public parking facility below our Yates on Yates and Vivid at the Yates condominiums is just months away from being available to motorists working in the city centre,” says Byron Chard, Chard Development’s President and CEO.

 

The supply of public parking in Victoria has declined steadily in recent years as surface lots transformed into mixed-use residential and commercial buildings restricting on-site vehicles to residents or patrons of businesses within. Many redevelopment efforts have worked to encourage alternative modes of transportation – including public transit and cycling – and several have made parking available to the public, although capacity is limited to after business hours or associated to specific retailers.

 

Chard’s parkade will usher in one of the first of what stakeholders in the business and events industries hope are multiple investments into public parking infrastructure which, outside of COVID-19’s demand fluctuations, remains in tight supply. Users of the new garage, Chard confirms, will be offered monthly parking with access to electric car charging stations.

 

Underway since 2017, the twin towers are comprised of 261 suites with only seven homes remaining for sale within the up-market Yates on Yates. The collection of two-bedroom move-in ready condominiums, priced from $769,900, is nearing a post-completion sales effort set to launch this weekend.

 

Meanwhile, the developer is in the early stages of a pre-sale ownership opportunity on Yates Street at Cook Street known as Nest. Nest will include residences in one, two and three-bedroom layouts throughout a 12-storey tower with ground floor retail spaces. Sharing a central landscaped mews with Nest, Chard’s second attainable ownership pre-sale called Haven (with frontage onto Johnson Street just east of Cook Street) will build upon the success of Vivid at the Yates’ below-market pricing with a BC Housing-backed program available to qualifying purchasers. The 104-suite condominium will rise to six-storeys. C

 

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