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601 Herald Street is a five storey, 27 loft-style unit woodframe condo with ground floor retail situated at He... (view full profile)
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[Downtown Victoria] 601 Herald | Condos| 4-storeys | Built - completed in 2011

Started by Rob Randall , Jan 17 2008 01:42 PM

Condo Commercial

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229 replies to this topic

#1 Rob Randall

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Posted 17 January 2008 - 01:42 PM

This is the site of the former Victoria Brake Specialty Co. on the SE corner of Government and Fisgard kitty-corner to Sager's Furniture (beneath the giant 7-Up sign). This lot does not include the former Kabuki Cab space directly east. That parcel may be developed next year.

The developer is Formwerks. An interior courtyard would preserve the windows on the north-facing side of the heritage building beside it (except the window directly below the 7-Up sign). The height would be about the same as that building (about 50 feet). Parking would be inside the ground level (no underground). The roof of the parking would be the floor of the courtyard.

More details next week.

Photo by jaypeg21.

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#2 Nparker

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42,889 posts

Posted 17 January 2008 - 02:57 PM

Intriguing. Formwerks projects look interesting (from a quick perusal of their website). I look forward to seeing images of this.

One of their Vancouver commerical projects:

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#3 B.Bridge

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108 posts

Posted 17 January 2008 - 03:00 PM

Thanks Rob, I think you mean Gov't and Herald. Interesting.

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#4 G-Man

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 07:17 AM

Awesome. That is a great spot for a project. There was one residential project on the 600 block of Herald a few years ago but it would be nice to see it all change. The main issue with that block is Chung Wah Mansions which I know is a di Castri but it is also hideous.

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#5 Nparker

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 09:59 AM

The main issue with that block is Chung Wah Mansions which I know is a di Castri but it is also hideous.

Just which di Castri designs are not hideous? I sort of like the Ballantyne building, but it has not weathered the years well. Everything else was completely wrong for Victoria from the start. Mid-Century Modern just seems to have failed miserably here. Perhaps it only works in dryer climates like Palm Springs.

I am hoping Formwerks can do a design similar to the one I posted before.

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#6 G-Man

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 10:03 AM

^ I really like the Monday Mag building orignal and I like Central Junior a lot too.

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#7 Nparker

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 10:39 AM

^ I really like the Monday Mag building orignal and I like Central Junior a lot too.

I stand corrected, the original, CNIB (Monday Magazine, now Serious Coffee/AVI-Needle Exchange) was a great design before it was completely bastardized.

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#8 Caramia

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 10:08 PM

The Hydro building is still nice!

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#9 Nparker

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Posted 18 January 2008 - 10:23 PM

The Hydro building is still nice!

The one at Douglas/Bay? That's a lot older than any di Castri design...but I agree, in its original incarnation I suspect it was pretty nice.

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#10 G-Man

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Posted 26 March 2008 - 10:31 AM

So with the news that the Kabuki Kabs lot is for sale is there an opportunity that this proposal could be expanded to make a really great addition to the North end of town?

Really not pairing up the properties at this point would be a huge mistake.

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#11 D.L.

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7,786 posts

Posted 31 March 2008 - 11:48 AM

I can see a crane set up in the north end of old town holding up a box like they way it's done to take photos of the view from a site. It could be for this site.

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#12 Rob Randall

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Posted 01 April 2008 - 03:47 PM

There was the possibility earlier of this site being consolidated with the Kabuki Kabs site next door but they will now be separate developments.

The sale of this site is being finalized right now. As with any site requiring extensive environmental remediation, transfer of ownership can be a complex and lengthy process.

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#13 Nparker

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42,889 posts

Posted 01 April 2008 - 04:13 PM

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob Randall

The Brake lot is offered for sale on the Colliers site but I don't know if that means the Formwerks proposal is dead or not.

I just walked past this site about a half hour ago and the Colliers "For Sale" sign is still leaning against the "7-Up" building with a sold sticker on it, as it has been for several months (since before the Formwerks proposal came to light if I recall correctly). Could the Colliers website be out of date or has the lot really gone back on the market?

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#14 Rob Randall

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Posted 01 April 2008 - 10:32 PM

The final conditions are being worked out on the sale.

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#15 Rob Randall

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 05:59 PM

A couple of us on the DRA's Land Use Committee met with the architect and Trevor and Paul from Primewest Partners Inc. today. Here is a rough sketch of what the Herald Street facade might look like:

There are 27 units and 19 parking spaces. The density is 2.5:1. They would really prefer a single-lane entrance to the parking if they could get the engineering department to permit it (unlikely).

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#16 gumgum

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 06:31 PM

^ I like it.

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#17 G-Man

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 06:34 PM

You can convince the council I am sure, they can overide planning.

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#18 Nparker

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Posted 15 April 2008 - 06:46 PM

This looks good. Any preliminary sketches of the Government Street facade? Is it much the same as Herald?

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#19 aastra

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21,258 posts

Posted 15 April 2008 - 07:22 PM

So exactly why does the city demand super wide parking entrances? What's the intention behind that? They really seem to be missing the boat on yet another critical issue re: successful streetscapes.