The Quadra-Hillside neighbourhood’s Evergreen Terrace social housing community could become a residential hub with 900 residential units and towers as tall as 20 storeys by 2040, according to the latest project update from BC Housing.

 

 

The provincial housing agency has unveiled plans for redeveloping the nearly eight-acre site bordered by Blanshard Street, Bay Street, Hillside Avenue and Dowler Place from a present-day density of approximately 200 residences in several low-rise, medium density structures, into a range of built forms across ten buildings, the tallest of which will stand at the Hillside Avenue (or northern) end of the site in an approximate 20-storey massing.

 

Several additional towers are envisioned at around 15 floors tall among multiple lowrise buildings.

 

Residences are proposed in studio and one-bedroom through four-bedroom forms, in ratios of 10% as studios, 19% as one-bedroom units, 36% in two-bedroom layouts, 25% as three-bedroom homes and 10% with four bedrooms. The build-out, BC Housing says, would begin in 2025 at the earliest with a ten to 15-year construction timeline, pushing project completion potentially into the 2040s.

 

A range of affordability targets will be included in the project, plus market-rate rental homes. Green spaces, underground parking and public amenities are also envisioned.

 

A rezoning application is expected to go before the City of Victoria by the end of the year with approvals expected in 2024.

 

BC Housing began a planning process for Evergreen Terrace's future in early 2022 in a bid to replace an aging stock of 175 units of social housing, plus 21 modular supportive units fronting Hillside Avenue.

 

The organization says its goal is to “replace the aging buildings with better-quality, more liveable and more sustainable homes that will serve Evergreen Terrace tenants for decades to come. Redeveloping Evergreen Terrace will also allow [BC Housing] to build many more homes on the site, providing much needed housing in Victoria.”

 

If approved by the City of Victoria, Evergreen Terrace will eventually become one of the largest housing communities on southern Vancouver Island. C

 

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