A nearly 100-unit rental complex has been proposed by telecommunications giant TELUS and Victoria-based Aryze Developments for several parcels at Feltham Road and Tyndall Avenue in Gordon Head.

 

 

Planned for 1805-1811 Feltham Road, TELUS and partner Aryze have unveiled plans to redevelop a TELUS network facility into TELUS Living, a five-storey, purpose-built rental project that hopes to provide high density housing to Gordon Head in addition to network infrastructure for the telecom. 

 

Although the proposed building height and density are a departure from the immediate area's built form, a document drafted by Aryze’s Director of Development, Chris Quigley, for the District of Saanich and the local community describes the effort as taking “an existing public utility site and [transforming] it into a much-needed rental housing development while also continuing to deliver critical telecommunications infrastructure.”

 

Quigley adds that “TELUS has a strong vision for how their existing Network Building can be better integrated into the neighbourhood in order to use the land in a more efficient manner that can also meet neighbourhood and District housing goals.”

 

A rendering of TELUS Living, proposed for Feltham Road at Tyndall Avenue in Gordon Head.  TELUS / Aryze Developments

The proposed design, from architectural firm Office of McFarlane Biggar, utilizes a massing of five connected blocks split into three and two footprints, allowing an existing community pathway to remain accessible to the neighbourhood. The blocks are connected between levels two through five via glass-clad hallways.

 

Residential amenities will include a rooftop patio featuring a kitchen and lounge, a fitness facility, a pet-care station, a bike repair station and storage. Parking will be in the form of a single-storey underground parkade accommodating just under 70 vehicles.

 

The project, if approved, will be TELUS’ second high-profile construction site in the Capital. The company is currently building TELUS Ocean, a 10-storey office tower on Douglas Street at Humboldt Street in downtown Victoria. TELUS Ocean will add approximately 154,000 square feet of modern office space to the city centre that will accommodate TELUS employees and leased offices in addition to community space and retail units.

 

Aryze, meanwhile, is actively pursuing approvals for multiple housing projects throughout the Capital, and has several developments already approved. Most recently, Aryze received the green light from the City of Victoria for a townhome project at 902 Foul Bay Road in Fairfield, and a four-storey rental block on Catherine Street at Langford Street in Vic West. Currently selling is Seven by Aryze, a luxury townhome offering in the ‘missing middle’ format along McClure Street in Fairfield. C

 

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