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169 Victoria St S | 8 fl | Proposed
#1
This is a proposed 8 floor building by 1000002286 Ontario Ltd. And Legion Heights Victoria Inc. It spans the entire Victoria St frontage from Park St to Henry St, directly across the street from the 200 Victoria St approval. 

The building will contain 120 units split between studio, 1brdm and 2bdrm. There are a total of 53 parking spaces split between 2 levels of underground parking as well as 81 bike spaces in a bike room and 8 outside the building.

The development does not propose any commercial spaces so the ground floor contains the lobby, move in room etc, as well as residential units (fronting Victoria).

Docs:
Docs
Drawings
Urban Design Brief

Render, from Victoria and Park:
   
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#2
I think this is a perfect development for that intersection. NIMBY opposition should hopefully not be fierce.
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#3
Wishful thinking, but agreed it is a good fit for scale in that area. Wish more of these units had more street interaction in the design, similar to the TH units on the Caroline St towers.
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#4
(08-22-2024, 10:55 PM)ZEBuilder Wrote: The development does not propose any commercial spaces so the ground floor contains the lobby, move in room etc, as well as residential units (fronting Victoria).

It feels shortsighted to not have any retail here, and instead have large lawns. It's definitely not a retail corridor today, but with the other Victoria/Park proposal opposite it... the feel of the corner will be very weird with major commercial space on one side, and ground floor residential on the opposite.
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#5
Commercial on one side may well be sufficient to meet the demand for retail space in this area, though. Witness the empty retail units in most of the recent mixed-use buildings, the demand for retail space is not unlimited.
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#6
You're definitely right that it exceeds current demand for commercial space, but I'm thinking about Victoria's long term future. Especially if it gets a light rail line in 20 years.
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#7
No developer is going to risk putting in commercial space that is likely to sit vacant for half a decade. There's simply no demand anymore to risk it. Many of the projects I've been involved in this year in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc have significantly reduced the amount of planned commercial space, with two outright getting rid of all of it. And that's in real Canadian cities. The demand locally has been shot, unfortunately.
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#8
(08-23-2024, 01:05 PM)taylortbb Wrote: You're definitely right that it exceeds current demand for commercial space, but I'm thinking about Victoria's long term future. Especially if it gets a light rail line in 20 years.

The opposite side of Victoria will still have a significant development opportunity! Smile
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#9
Could be that they've set it back from the road to allow for future ROW development along Victoria. The sidewalk is right along the road here, I wouldn't be surprised if the space has been left for the region to improve sidewalks/biking facilities down the line. I think the same thing is happening on Weber (the Scott and Civic 66) where everything is pulling away from the road to create new space.
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#10
(08-27-2024, 11:50 AM)SF22 Wrote: Could be that they've set it back from the road to allow for future ROW development along Victoria. The sidewalk is right along the road here, I wouldn't be surprised if the space has been left for the region to improve sidewalks/biking facilities down the line. I think the same thing is happening on Weber (the Scott and Civic 66) where everything is pulling away from the road to create new space.

Yes, there was ROW for expansion in the site plan just up the road for Park/Victoria as well.
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#11
It could also be setback as the ROW may actually nearly touch the existing porches. I know that elsewhere, the City/Region right-of-way often stretches almost 3m back from the existing curbs.
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#12
(08-23-2024, 12:23 PM)taylortbb Wrote:
(08-22-2024, 10:55 PM)ZEBuilder Wrote: The development does not propose any commercial spaces so the ground floor contains the lobby, move in room etc, as well as residential units (fronting Victoria).

It feels shortsighted to not have any retail here, and instead have large lawns. It's definitely not a retail corridor today, but with the other Victoria/Park proposal opposite it... the feel of the corner will be very weird with major commercial space on one side, and ground floor residential on the opposite.

This was what I first thought.  But as much as I don't like it, I get it.  Ac3r is right...

(08-23-2024, 06:59 PM)ac3r Wrote: No developer is going to risk putting in commercial space that is likely to sit vacant for half a decade. There's simply no demand anymore to risk it. Many of the projects I've been involved in this year in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary etc have significantly reduced the amount of planned commercial space, with two outright getting rid of all of it. And that's in real Canadian cities. The demand locally has been shot, unfortunately.
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#13
The city approved this at last nights Planning and Strategic Initiatives Meeting it still has to go through final council approval at the next meeting.

Like normal Chapman was complaining about it, however Councillor Deneault pointed out that Chapman lives in the area and might have a conflict of interest which was a rather tense confrontation. With Chapman getting a wry smile after the confrontation.

Chapman and Johnston both had issues with traffic and complaining that all the TISs locally are done by one company but the planner pointed out that both city and regional staff had no issues and it takes into consideration the future units from 200 Victoria, Victoria and Park and then the property between 100/Garment and the Vic/Park development. So with that answer it basically made all of Chapmans issues moot which she like normal really didn't like it.

The developer is also applying for CMHC funding meaning a portion will be set aside for affordable housing units, there isn't an exact count yet since things might change at SPA but the value that will be given should the developer get funding is more than what is required as per inclusionary zoning.
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#14
So, it had to be okayed like majority of models regardless of the typical criticisms granted! When Chapman attempted to make a to do over traffic, the planner wasn’t totally amused and more or less stifled that issue. Also, the fact that you got that little call out regarding conflict of interest was rather entertaining. On the other hand, if the applications for the CMHC funding are successful, it could actually deliver some true affordable units, really, that would be a boon for the region.
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