Saanich's 27-acre Royal Oak Golf Club property along Elk Lake Drive has been listed for sale. The lands were the subject of a lengthy redevelopment plan stemming from the course's sale in 2017, following its 2016 closure. William Wright Commercial Real Estate Services
Shuttered Royal Oak Golf Club property listed for sale at $9.5 million
Mike Kozakowski, Citified.ca
Published May 10, 2023
The former Royal Oak Golf Club lands near Saanich's Commonwealth Place have been listed for sale to the tune of $9.5 million, seven years after the club's closure.
The 27-acre property shuttered in the first half of 2016, and following its sale in 2017, onlookers anticipating a development play to materialize on its desirable land assets in what is a central, well-connected location.
In 2018, an application filed with the District of Saanich via 1122590 B.C. Ltd had sought to exclude a significant portion of the golf course from the Agricultural Land Reserve (ALR) in order to "facilitate future development," although the proponent did not provide publicly accessible concept plans for how it planned to build out the holding if its removal request was approved.
Despite its ALR designation, redevelopment of the golf course would not necessarily be out of line with development activity in the immediate area.
Situated at 540 Marsett Place between Elk & Beaver Lake Regional Park and Elk Lake Drive, the nine-hole course is bordered by residential and commercial projects that have transformed the western portion of Royal Oak in recent years, and there's more construction on the way.
Approved for the northern edge of the course, Mike Geric Construction's Marson condominium is envisioned as an 11-storey complex with an adjacent lowrise. The same developer built Travino Royal Oak, with approximately 250-units of condominiums and rental apartments across multiple buildings, approximately one kilometre away.
The Elk Lake Drive corridor is also home to Saanich's Commonwealth Pool nestled along the golf course's southern border. Seniors residences, townhomes and a hotel have also been built in the immediate area over the last two decades. The hotel is planning an expansion, and a nearby multi-unit residential building has secured approvals.
Removal of ALR designation in the Capital Region for development purposes is not without precedent.
In 2016 developer Omicron received approvals to remove 7.5-acres of ALR land within the Victoria International Airport boundary for its Sidney Crossing shopping centre at Beacon Avenue and Highway 17. That project was expected to start construction in 2017, although it was ultimately sidelined, and now a new proposal has emerged for the site that could deliver a hotel. Smaller tracts of ALR land have also been removed in recent years to accommodate development. However, such undertakings were met with strong opposition.
In operation since the mid-20th century, Royal Oak Golf Club became the second Victoria-area golf club to succumb to industry-wide declining membership rates and rising operational costs at the time of its closure. In the fall of 2015, Prospect Lake Golf Course, also in Saanich, closed after 41 years in business. Meanwhile, a proposal to turn a portion of North Saanich's Glen Meadows Golf Course into a Rural Agricultural Neighbourhood with excess lands used for farming was nixed in 2015. C
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