Victoria Construction - #7

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by excel

12 cranes is a big number. I'll be heading over to Victoria soon, excited to see all the action.

12? I don't think there's that many. The last time I checked there were 10.

[vicdevelopments]

There are 9 cranes downtown 1 in VicWest 1 in Saanich and 1 in Langford a total of 12 cranes in Greater Victoria

[Vin]

Originally Posted by vicdevelopments

They were tearing down St. Andrews School today. Kinda sad as I went to that school as a kid.
DSC07305 by steven roberts, on Flickr
I will see if I can take some pics tomorrow.

This is really sad. I hate seeing things like this happening. There is enough ground around this building to build something taller and more modern without having to tear this gem down.

[aastra]

The old building was plain but had it been spiffed up it would have looked great. Victorians just have no appreciation for the city's history and heritage. During the supposed controversy around this project I don't think I ever heard anyone mention the old building itself or anything about preserving Victoria's historic built form. It was just more of the same meaningless BS about traffic issues and shadowing issues and other evils that never materialize.

And so this sort of thing continues to happen. Meanwhile, there are a hundred sites in downtown alone that are ripe for redevelopment and that are currently occupied by nothing of any value to anyone.

[Phil McAvity]

Surface parking lots provide parking for people and jobs for those that enforce them which is of value to people so the only lots that are really of no value are those that are cordoned off and not being used for parking so you'll have to narrow your list still.

[aastra]

Name one.

You're asking me to identify just one parking lot, empty lot, or crapshack building in the entire downtown area? Not a hundred, but just one?

What's the implication here? You don't believe that there's even one parking lot, empty lot, or crapshack in the entire downtown area?

[aastra]

I just hope you haven't turned into one of those Victorians who values parking lots and empty lots as some sick-and-twisted equivalent of open space.

[Phil McAvity]

I'm still waiting for an answer

[aastra]

I must be missing the joke here, but just in case Phil has been replaced by someone who isn't familiar with Victoria, I'll summarize some of the sites in the downtown area that are ripe for redevelopment:

Parking Lots/Empty Lots:

1) below Wharf Street in front of Harbour Square
2) below Wharf Street between the Regent Hotel and the old Custom House
3) Store Street beside the Janion
4) Store Street between Herald and Fisgard
5) Store Street at Chatham
6) Store Street between Discovery and Chatham (Capital Iron lot)
7) Fort Street at Langley
8) Chinatown between Herald and Fisgard
9) Humboldt at Douglas ("flatiron" lot)
10) Courtney Street behind the Falls
11) Courtney at Blanshard (behind the Royal Theatre)
12) Broughton between Blanshard and Douglas
13) Broughton near Quadra
14) Meares near Cook
15) View at Vancouver
16) Between Fort and View beside View Towers
17) Fort and Quadra (View Towers' empty lot)
18) Three large car dealership lots around Yates and Cook
19) 800-block between Yates and Johnson (beside the Coronet)
20) Fisgard and Blanshard (beside Monday Magazine)
21) Caledonia between Quadra and Blanshard
22) Caledonia beside Royal Athletic Park
23) Caledonia at Douglas
24+) several smaller lots in North Park
25) Superior at Government
26) Menzies at Kingston
27) Half of the Dockside Green site
28) Bay at Tyee
29) Douglas between Hillside and Bay

I'm sure I missed a few, but in any event we're talking around 30 surface parking lots or empty lots?

Underdeveloped sites still to come...

[aastra]

Maybe we're disappointed that there are still so many surface parking lots and even some outright empty lots? Is that it?

[Phil McAvity]

Surface parking lots provide parking for people as well as jobs for those that patrol them which is of value to people so the only lots that are of no value are those that are cordoned off and not being used for anything so i'd like to see you narrow your list to those.

This will soon be Victoria's tallest office building:





This is Escher, Victoria's latest mid-rise, topped out and nearing completion:



This is actually two different construction projects, the crane in the background is for Legato and the foreground will soon see 989 Victoria, both will be 17 stories.

[aastra]

Why did you edit your original reply in post #1265 from "Name one." to what it currently says?

Anyway, come on. So I suppose the empty lots are also valued by the people who sleep in them or dump trash in them? Those people would be upset if the empty lots were redeveloped?

You know what we're talking about here. We're talking about architectural value, historical value, uniqueness, heritage, nostalgia... those sorts of things.

[aastra]

Most of my trips to work or school were via bike, bus, or foot, but even so I still had some favourite parking lots for those times when I had access to a car. I can honestly say that I never shed a single tear when any of those parking lots disappeared.

Hey, didn't you like the HBC department store's parkade? I liked it a lot. Very convenient, cheap, a decent view from the top level, and it had that old school city parkade vibe. Even so, I still didn't really mourn its demise.

[vicdevelopments]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

I'm still waiting for an answer

This crane is in Saanich on the corner of Admirals and Gorge Rd they are on the 3rd floor now.
admirals and Gorge rd by steven roberts, on Flickr

This crane is on the first floor still there is a sign that says its 62% sold out.
Kelly and Jacklin Rd by steven roberts, on Flickr

[aastra]

Now my head is spinning. I was right, his original post was "Name one."

But who cares now? On VV we just learned that one of our most valued parking lots is coming up for redevelopment! 800-block between Yates and Johnson.

[vicdevelopments]

Originally Posted by aastra

Now my head is spinning. I was right, his original post was "Name one."

But who cares now? On VV we just learned that one of our most valued parking lots is coming up for redevelopment! 800-block between Yates and Johnson.

I apologize that was your question. Phil McAvity posted a question for me about where the two cranes were in Saanich and Langford. It looks like he deleted the posted question.

I have always had great hopes for that 800 block parking lot. What is it that is being proposed? Do you have a rendering? I just saw on facebook a status of this project. Chard has done so much good for Victoria. I hope he tries to push the envelope on this one. Victoria needs a signature tower or towers.

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by aastra

Why did you edit your original reply in post #1265 from "Name one." to what it currently says?

Because I screwed up

Originally Posted by aastra

Anyway, come on. So I suppose the empty lots are also valued by the people who sleep in them or dump trash in them? Those people would be upset if the empty lots were redeveloped?

You know what we're talking about here. We're talking about architectural value, historical value, uniqueness, heritage, nostalgia... those sorts of things.

My point was, there are two lots downtown that are of no value to anyone, View and Vancouver and the lot parallel to View Towers which is a far cry from your hyperbole of, "close to 100".

Thanks for the pics Steve, i'm totally unfamiliar with either of those projects.

[aastra]

Dude, I identified 30 surface parking lots and upon further review I missed some. Add in all of the underdeveloped properties (crapshacks, strip malls, small post-WW2 commercial buildings) and you'll sure be getting close to a hundred if not exceeding it.

Parking Lots/Empty Lots:

1) below Wharf Street in front of Harbour Square
2) below Wharf Street between the Regent Hotel and the old Custom House
3) Store Street beside the Janion
4) Store Street between Herald and Fisgard
5) Store Street at Chatham
6) Store Street between Discovery and Chatham (Capital Iron lot)
7) Fort Street at Langley
8) Chinatown between Herald and Fisgard
9) Humboldt at Douglas ("flatiron" lot)
10) Courtney Street behind the Falls
11) Courtney at Blanshard (behind the Royal Theatre)
12) Broughton between Blanshard and Douglas
13) Broughton near Quadra
14) Meares near Cook
15) View at Vancouver
16) Between Fort and View beside View Towers
17) Fort and Quadra (View Towers' empty lot)
18) Three large car dealership lots around Yates and Cook
19) 800-block between Yates and Johnson (beside the Coronet)
20) Fisgard and Blanshard (beside Monday Magazine)
21) Caledonia between Quadra and Blanshard
22) Caledonia beside Royal Athletic Park
23) Caledonia at Douglas
24+) several smaller lots in North Park
25) Superior at Government
26) Menzies at Kingston
27) Half of the Dockside Green site
28) Bay at Tyee
29) Douglas between Hillside and Bay

[Phil McAvity]

read post 1271

[vicdevelopments]

I am glad that we are getting so many developments on these parking lots. I've never seen so many cranes now there is a slated development of the 800 block of Johnson and Yates street. Another major parking lot. My problem is we are losing parking at a great rate. I had to go to the dentist at the Bay Center and all the parking lots were full even the View Street Parkade. I ended up parking over by Capital Iron to park and walk over to the Bay Center. I wonder if it is time for either the City of Victoria or a developer to build a new parkade in Victoria. Especially losing the 800 block of Yates and Johnson Streets. If they do they need to build with better floor heights. I cant fit my ford ranger in every parkade.