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[Burnside/Gorge] | Metro Toyota car dealership | Built - completed in 2015

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#21 G-Man

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 06:19 AM

I doubt it would be a strip mall. The city would have the ability to stop something that they really did not want to go there.

#22 Bernard

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 06:38 AM

Given that the city of Victoria has done nothing to discourage inappropriate use in this area, and by that I mean car dealerships and places with drive throughs, I can see no reason why they would not approve a strip mall.

The city had a chance to set the tone for the street with the Volvo dealership.

Frankly I am not sure why the city does not define car dealerships in their own property tax classification and then run the mill rate through the roof. The car dealerships in the city of Victoria are an ugly blight that tie huge amounts of land and stop the natural expansion of the commercial, retail and residential development of the city to the east and north.

#23 G-Man

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 06:44 AM

While I am not a huge fan of the Volvo dealership it is the best one between Hillside and Uptown. It is at the sidewalk rather then a huge swathe of parking in front of it.

#24 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 06:47 AM

Given that the city of Victoria has done nothing to discourage inappropriate use in this area, and by that I mean car dealerships and places with drive throughs, I can see no reason why they would not approve a strip mall.

The city had a chance to set the tone for the street with the Volvo dealership.

Frankly I am not sure why the city does not define car dealerships in their own property tax classification and then run the mill rate through the roof. The car dealerships in the city of Victoria are an ugly blight that tie huge amounts of land and stop the natural expansion of the commercial, retail and residential development of the city to the east and north.


Ya, we could use our own version of an Auto-Mall, maybe out Keating way?

#25 Bernard

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 08:00 AM

The Volvo dealership is a huge miss use of the location and condemns it to decades more of car sales. It is an ugly dealership and the sidewalk is not much better than the status quo - I often walk past there.

An auto-mall would be a much better idea for this region. I wish this would happen so that the lands in the city could released to be developed. I would love to see the city take a clear policy position that car dealerships are unwanted in the city and set a timeline to get them out of the city.

#26 G-Man

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 08:05 AM

^ I agree completely.

#27 Bernard

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 08:16 AM

Just to remind people, at the moment there is about 15.5 acres of land in the City of Victoria near North Douglas dedicated to car sales. In Saanich there are 12 acres of land dedicated to cars sales in that area. That is 27.5 acres for car sales, this is more than the whole Dockside Green area.

What a freaking utter waste of land.

#28 jklymak

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 08:50 AM

It is an ideal corridor for office and high rise residential. I would love to see the city allow 15-20 story buildings along the corridor.


I wouldn't have any problem with the city allowing this, but I would be very surprised if you'd get many takers. I don't think too many people want to live or work on the highway out of town. To that end, I'd hate to see the city insist on high rise mixed use in this region in some misplaced effort to revitalize it. There are lots of holes in the ground further south w/o trying to set asides the vast tracts of stripmall wasteland to the north.

If you want to get rid of dealerships, start with the ones on Cook and Yates.

#29 jklymak

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 08:53 AM

BTW, I'm not trying to dispute that this is a waste of land, or that this area is horrible, but the fact that acres and acres of land are able to be wasted like this speaks to the fact that land is still not that valuable in Victoria. Fill in the rest of the underutilized land, and the owners of these lots will be clamouring to build in a couple of decades.

#30 Bernard

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 11:43 AM

I wouldn't have any problem with the city allowing this, but I would be very surprised if you'd get many takers. I don't think too many people want to live or work on the highway out of town. To that end, I'd hate to see the city insist on high rise mixed use in this region in some misplaced effort to revitalize it. There are lots of holes in the ground further south w/o trying to set asides the vast tracts of stripmall wasteland to the north.

If you want to get rid of dealerships, start with the ones on Cook and Yates.


I personally would like to see a focus of all new commercial development to be between downtown and Uptown. It would make more sense moving the core commercial office space in Greater Victoria further up Douglas so that it is closer to more of the people that commute in.

#31 Ms. B. Havin

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 05:14 PM

I personally would like to see a focus of all new commercial development to be between downtown and Uptown. It would make more sense moving the core commercial office space in Greater Victoria further up Douglas so that it is closer to more of the people that commute in.

But then what would downtown be for? Residential and pubs, with a few so-so shops thrown in?
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#32 jklymak

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 05:41 PM

I guess I'd like commercial to be as dense as possible so it can be easily served by transit allowing all those who commute to easily get to work. Spreading downtown out isn't the answer. Downtown isn't exactly bursting at the seams yet, but when it is, the city can start encouraging density along this corridor.

#33 amor de cosmos

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Posted 04 September 2009 - 07:48 PM

I personally would like to see a focus of all new commercial development to be between downtown and Uptown. It would make more sense moving the core commercial office space in Greater Victoria further up Douglas so that it is closer to more of the people that commute in.


I don't know if that would work here. maybe it would, since douglas runs approximately parallel to Victoria's main body of water. Hans Blumenfeld (who else? :P ) wrote about moving centres, which happens to some extent in most gridiron cities. in cities that expanded radially like London, Moscow, & others, the centre remained where it was, but

The shift does sometimes, though by no means always, occur where expansion in one direction is barred by a body of water. In such a "semicircular" metropolis the centre of population inevitably shifts farther & farther away from the original centre on the waterfront, exerting a pull on the centre to follow it. Probably the most spectacular example is New York, with the gradual and still-continuing shift of its centre from the Battery to - at present - about 50th St. This movement has left in New York, and elsewhere, a number of deserted and derelict ex-centres, which present some of the most untractable problems.


NYC seems to be his favourite example of this effect:

With the radiocentric plan, growth and change inevitably confirm and strengthen the original centre. It is different with the gridiron. In New York, while the financial centre has remained anchored at the "wall" of pregrid Nieuw Amsterdam, the more important "uptown" centre has constantly shifted to the north, from Canal St to 14th to 23rd to 34th to 42nd. It is still on the move and is now entering the Fifties. Similar shifts along the main streets of the gridiron occur in many North American cities, albeit on a smaller scale.


But then what would downtown be for? Residential and pubs, with a few so-so shops thrown in?

my concern also (obviously)

I guess I'd like commercial to be as dense as possible so it can be easily served by transit allowing all those who commute to easily get to work. Spreading downtown out isn't the answer. Downtown isn't exactly bursting at the seams yet, but when it is, the city can start encouraging density along this corridor.

makes sense to me!

#34 G-Man

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Posted 07 September 2009 - 05:36 PM

Well it would work if the population increased considerably which I would like to see.

#35 amor de cosmos

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Posted 24 September 2009 - 07:32 AM

i think i've found another example much closer to home. gastown is the old granville townsite, which is what it was called until it got changed to vancouver. the main downtown area seems to have moved to the south & west, i would say around the art gallery, robson square, robson st etc, leaving behind the downtown east side.

#36 martini

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Posted 23 October 2009 - 07:02 PM

I'm sure I read somewhere on VV that Victoria Motors was closing at the end of October.
Anyway this week they've cleared almost every car off the lot. Not much left.

#37 Koru

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Posted 23 October 2009 - 07:27 PM

I'm sure I read somewhere on VV that Victoria Motors was closing at the end of October.
Anyway this week they've cleared almost every car off the lot. Not much left.


Yes...They were given the goodnight letter by GM Canada - Dave Wheaton owns the dealership and is combining the inventory w/his dealership on Douglas by the BC Transit Yard.

#38 amor de cosmos

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Posted 24 October 2009 - 11:21 AM

i hope whatever gets built there preserves & incorporates the old showroom. that would look really cool, especially if it were moved all the way to the corner somehow

#39 Mike K.

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Posted 18 December 2009 - 10:33 AM

A clothing store is now open in what was once the used car showroom on the Burnside end of the property. It appears to be womens clothing.

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#40 Holden West

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Posted 18 December 2009 - 10:37 AM

In this building? I wonder why they didn't simply opt for a space in Mayfair?
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