Victoria council unanimously sent a 23-storey, 269-unit zero-parking rental tower proposal for 937 View Street to public comment following a review at this morning’s Committee of the Whole.

 

The Committee’s deliberations ranged from praising the applicant for the volume of proposed rental housing to questioning if additional property should be assembled for a larger, cross-block project. Mayor Alto said that while the application is not necessarily perfect in light of existing guidelines, Council’s job is to consider the future direction of the built form, rather than fall back on existing guidelines or development practices. The Mayor also cited the importance of public input when council and staff do not see eye-to-eye.

 

“While it is important for us to listen to and consider the expert advice of staff, it is Council’s job to listen to the evolution of the city. It’s important for us to provide opportunity for public comment, for what could be something that is an important next step, or not,” Mayor Alto said, and added:

 

“There is no doubt that this is a very challenging application. There is also no doubt, that there are a number of people who would love an opportunity to live in spaces like this.”

 

Unique for its focus on workforce suites with primarily studio and one-bedroom homes, if approved, the 937 View Street proposal will also deliver the single largest infusion of three-bedroom apartments in one building, totalling 16 homes. Of the 269 residences, 33 are in studio form, 219 are one-bedroom suites, one is a two-bedroom layout, and 16 are in three-bedroom layouts. The unit mix is conducive to a zero-parking tower, attractive to urbanites, young professionals working in proximity to the site, and seniors no longer desiring a vehicle.

 

A rendering of 937 View Street's rooftop amenity area, overlooking the city, the Salish Sea and Olympic Mountain Range.  Nelson Investments

 

The proposal for 937 View Street includes a 23rd floor rooftop lounge and interior fitness centre and resident amenity space, while a sixth floor podium level rooftop has a dog run, a community garden and landscaped seating and gathering spaces. At ground level, a grand lobby is designed to provide gathering space next to a café and co-working zone, a resident amenity room and a leading-edge cycling facility with a maintenance space. A dual lane loading zone will provide ample space for drop-offs and pick-ups, and parcel deliveries.

 

Council asked staff to work with the applicant on expanded tenant amenities, and additional amenity spaces for residents.

 

The applicant is offering a voluntary affordable housing commitment of $405,000 ($15,000/unit for 10% of the building). This provides an equivalent to 27 units of affordable housing as per the City of Victoria’s recent Housing Reserve Fund payment calculation in lieu of on-site below-market suites. The applicant will also enter into an agreement with the City to ensure the building remains rental housing in perpetuity.

 

Developer Nelson Investments has been pursuing approvals for a residential highrise at 937 View Street since 2016, on a development site uniquely eligible for a floor space ratio, or FSR, of nearly 8.0 as part of its high density Harris Green zoning known as R-48.

 

Under direction from Victoria’s former city council, the applicant was advised by elected officials in 2022 to consider an increase to the project’s setbacks, and alterations to the architectural design and massing. Subsequent changes resulted in an updated vision, rising to 23 floors from 19 as a slimmer tower that maintained the level of proposed rental homes of the wider 19-storey massing, along with street level design refinements.

 

In between the 2022 council meeting and council’s current review of the project, Starlight Investments’ secured approvals for a proposal at Harris Green Village immediately across the street from 937 View Street, where 32, 29 and 28-storey rental towers are now slated, cementing the future of taller and larger buildings in Harris Green.

 

At 23 storeys, with 269 suites and with zero parking, the fully electrified tower (no natural gas connections in suites) is a history-making development for the City of Victoria, and is among Canada’s largest market residential conceived buildings with no on-site parking. C

 

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