[Langford] Capella condos | 45-, 39-, 33- & 27-storeys | Canceled

Langford gets $1.4-billion condo project

BY CARLAWILSONTimes Colonist staff

A Vancouver developer known for building multimillion-dollar homes in “trophy locations” is planning a $1.4billion luxury project at Bear Mountain in Langford.

More than 1,000 condominium units with mountain and ocean views, large covered decks, a vineyard, private wine vaults, concierge services, an outdoor amphitheatre, a spa, a fitness centre and pools are planned. And, a “spectacular” restaurant and winery will be cantilevered 21 metres off the hillside, said developer Robert Quigg, who heads the Quigg Group, which bought the eighthectare parcel of land on the mountain.

According to Quigg, the company creates “amenity-rich developments” that take advantage of a site’s natural attributes to “bring the outdoors in.” The Bear Mountain development will offer what Quigg describes as a “whole lifestyle community” providing the kinds of services seen in four-to-five-star hotels.

Designs for the two-phase project, which is expected to be complete in 10 to 12 years, are still being worked out, but units are expected to go up for sale in the early fall. Construction on the site is also expected to begin in the fall, as the site already has the required zoning and approvals from Langford.

Units will range from 850 square feet to 5,000 square feet, and prices will start at about $500,000, but Quigg did not cite a ceiling.

Bear Mountain Resort president Len Barrie said Quigg’s project will have a positive effect on the overall development. “It’s going to drive golf membership sales for us. It’s going to drive revenues at all the other facilities that we have up here,” he said.

Bear Mountain already features a golf course, restaurants, hotel, spa, athletic club and a village. Today, there are 600 residences, although when the development is complete there will be an estimated 5,000 units and 10,000 residents.

Langford Mayor Stew Young said the Quigg plan will be an economic driver in the community and help residents by keeping taxes down. “It is going to give Langford a huge tax boost, probably the largest development to date that we have had.”

Young said he met with Quigg about six months ago and encouraged him to come to Langford. “He is ‘the’ developer in Canada right now.”

Quigg’s previous projects include The Properties at Hollyburn Mountain in West Vancouver, with 44 multimillion-dollar residences, including a 4,800-square-foot penthouse that sold for $5.9 million.


Posted by: Vichockeyfan
http://www.bearmountainbyquigg.com/


Posted by: ressen
Bear mtn. towers coming
By Rudy Haugeneder
News staff
Jun 15 2007

Highrise towers are coming to Bear Mountain.

Langford has issued a development permit allowing construction of a 25-storey highrise - the smallest of four planned luxury condominium towers reaching up to 45 storeys - on an eight-hectare site on Player’s Drive just off Bear Mountain Parkway.

And there’s nothing Langford or Bear Mountain homeowners whose mountain and ocean views will be obstructed by the development, can do about it, said Mayor Stew Young.

The $1.4 billion, Vancouver-based Quigg Group highrise project which will have 1,000 condominium units when completed within 10 years, meets all the special “comprehensive area” designation rules Langford has given the 220-hectare Bear Mountain development.

Coun. Lillian Szpak, vice-chair of Langford’s zoning committee, pointing out that the development permit is only for the tower foundation.

Szpak said the project is part of the comprehensive zoning package and is in keeping with existing zoning.

The first tower is expected to be completed within 20 months, and Quigg says it expects to have a sales information office at Bear Mountain village by the end of June.

Although rock blasting to prepare the site began several months ago, several angry Bear Mountain residents whose views will be blocked when the highrises are completed, said they didn’t know about the towers until recently.

At least one homeowner on the street just above the Quigg site didn’t know about the size of the project until asked by the News Gazette for comment.

Most residents said they bought on Bear Mountain after being “sold” by realtors and contractors on the panoramic view offered and never expected those views to be interrupted by highrise towers.

Nor did Langford councillors Winnie Sifert and Matt Halstrom, who both expressed surprise that huge towers were slated for the site.

“I didn’t know anything about that,” said Sifert. “That’s going to be big. I can’t even imagine.”

Several Bear Mountain home and lot owners affected by the Quigg project spoke off the record because they have business interests involving the Bear Mountain development.

Most said they purchased their lots and built expensive custom homes to take maximum advantage of the views.

Retired United Nations official Louis Barbeau, who lives next to view lots on the market for as much as $699,000, said allowing the Quigg development verges on criminal.

“We bought here for the view, not to be blocked by this behemoth,” said Barbeau, who added he’s heard whisperings in the neighbourhood of a class-action lawsuit to halt the development.

He said a scale model of the final phase of the Bear Mountain development available for public view at the hotel next to the golf course calls for nine residential towers.

Like other residents, Barbeau said he’d expected the eight-hectare site to be developed into low-rise condos that would not block anyone’s view.

Not all residents, however, are opposed to the Quigg project.

Former professional hockey player Clayton Young, whose views won’t be badly obscured by the towers, said “I’m pro- development. So be it. Bear Mountain is a great project and whatever they want to do, I’m for it.”

Another person on the same block, who said he has developed at least 10 lots on Bear Mountain, said “I knew it was in the works. We’ve been building for years. It’s not an issue.”

The comprehensive area designation means Bear Mountain development can design what it wants as long as it doesn’t go over density regulations allowing 5,000 residences and 10,000 people by the time the project is completed several years from now, said Young.

However, that’s a lot larger than the original Langford zoning and official community bylaw amendments passed in 2002, after project manager Les Bjola and LGB9 Development Corporation proposed to build “a variety of housing to a maximum of 1,500 residential units over the next 10 to 15 years,” according to council minutes from 2002.

Young said getting the first Quigg tower under way is “good news— a real boom for Langford.”

Total highrise development proposed for Colwood and Langford, including all phases of Bear Mountain, would number around 30 towers within the next couple of decades if all the proposed projects are approved.

That’s not including highrises Young said he would like to see built in Langford’s downtown core.


Posted by: G-man
^ I guess they should have been on VV we have been talking about the Bear Mountain towers for at least a year?



Posted by: LJ
The towers on the scale model are not the ones in question, they are located on the top of Skirt Mountain and the cave is on the SW face of Skirt Mountain.

This development is halfway down Mini Skirt Mountain the first turn off to your left after entering Bear Mountain property.The blasting they have been doing there was not for this project, it was for gravel and rock needed for their other projects. Quigg developments just recently bought the entire site from LB and the building of very high rises in that location is a new concept.



High-end resort homes 20 minutes from Victoria
THOMASINA BARNES
Globe and Mail

* BEAR MOUNTAIN RESORT
* DEVELOPER: The Quigg Group
* PRICE: Starting at $500,000
* SIZE: From 850 sq. ft. to 5,000 sq. ft.
* SALES CENTRE: 129-1335 Bear Mountain Village
* CONTACT: 1-877-250-2502

Canadian investors are buying into the good life — think island living with a resort lifestyle — and The Quigg group aims to quench this desire by adding 1,000 new condominiums to Vancouver Island's Bear Mountain Resort.

"We were highly motivated to select Victoria as the site for our latest [and largest] community because of the strong demand for prime B.C. real estate, particularly on southern Vancouver Island," says Robert Quigg, chief executive of The Quigg Group.

"British Columbians, as well as others from outside the province, are discovering the benefits of island living and are interested in communities that offer an amenity-rich lifestyle," he says.
Bear Mountain
Enlarge Image

The $1.4-billion development will include a fitness pavilion, full spa, on-site concierge, vineyard, restaurant and private wine vaults. The Quigg community will also take advantage of the existing Bear Mountain Resort facilities by offering its residents memberships to the two surrounding Jack Nicklaus golf courses.

"The Quigg Group was fortunate to be able to purchase these premium sites from Bear Mountain Resort," says Mr. Quigg.

"While we are a separate entity from Bear Mountain and will be building our own luxurious lifestyle neighbourhoods to complement the amenities of this mountain resort community, we know our buyers will appreciate the close proximity to the two inviting golf courses, the Westin Bear Mountain Resort and the upscale village restaurants."

The Quigg community at Bear Mountain Resort also has the distinction of being the largest project in the western world to exclusively feature high-end Miele appliances.

"We plan to bring Quigg's distinction in architectural design and unparalleled, old world craftsmanship to this new comprehensive community while celebrating the world-class setting," says Mr. Quigg. Views from each home will span from Victoria harbour to Mount Baker and will be accented by large outdoor living spaces.

Can we see the renderings anywhere yet??? Links to drawings??? that sort of thing???

Not quite yet. The presentation centre is scheduled for completion by the end of this month, however.

I'm surprised to learn these highrises would be in addition to the ones in the model. So how many tall buildings in total are they planning on the mountain? It'll be a city unto itself.

It'll be a city unto itself.

that's the idea. they're trying to make it like whistler

Methinks it'll be much bigger than Whistler if all of this stuff goes through. How many buildings does Whistler have that would even qualify as highrises? Maybe two or three in the 10-12 story range?

Langford has issued a development permit allowing construction of a 25-storey highrise - the smallest of four planned luxury condominium towers reaching up to 45 storeys...

Can anybody hazard a guess as to the total number of highrises they're planning on building out there (all projects, all phases)?

My sense is this deal is not the last 3rd party sell-off so it's anyone's guess what will be proposed. BM's nine towers and Quigg's four bring us to 13, but there's ample opportunity to develop the south side of the resort with more high density digs. But who knows, the BM NIMBY movement might catch steam and put an end to "skyscraper" construction (at 45 storeys that Quigg tower could very well hover near 150m, the cutoff for a skyscraper).

. BM's nine towers and Quigg's four bring us to 13,


The nine highrise towers on Skirt mountain, indeed all the land on Skirt mountain has apparently been sold by LB already.

This happened before the Quigg deal. The only highrise that LB still has an interest in(unfortuantely) is Soaring Peaks which back on the burner again, after appalling pre-sales. Hopefully they make some wholesale changes to the project before it comes to fruition.

Bear Mountain will never be like Whistler!

Whistler is a year-round destination with world-class skiing October through April, world-class golfing March through October, and offers a warm enough climate for relaxing getaways on beautiful lakes in the summer months. And it also offers a great starting point for the extreme outdoors adventurers.

Bear Mountain has two golf courses (one still yet to open), that are playable less than the rest of the capital region courses because of the frost its gets earlier into the fall and later into the spring!!! That's it! That's all it will ever have.

Whistler is a community in itself, sustaining its very own existance.

Bear Mountain is a bedroom community for the wealthy who still have to "come down the mountain" fives days a week to work and more to shop.

The Bear Mountain developers should stop comparing the two. They are not comparible. Having said that, I still feel Bear Mountain is a very nicely put together community. But it really needs to have an identity of its own, and not glaum on to an already established world-class destination as Whistler truly is.

Its no different than the condos being built on 6 Mile Road - "A Whistler Inspired Community". What does that mean?

Bear Mountain will never be like Whistler!

Whistler is a year-round destination with world-class skiing October through April, world-class golfing March through October, and offers a warm enough climate for relaxing getaways on beautiful lakes in the summer months. And it also offers a great starting point for the extreme outdoors adventurers.

Bear Mountain has two golf courses (one still yet to open), that are playable less than the rest of the capital region courses because of the frost its gets earlier into the fall and later into the spring!!! That's it! That's all it will ever have.

Whistler is a community in itself, sustaining its very own existance.

Bear Mountain is a bedroom community for the wealthy who still have to "come down the mountain" fives days a week to work and more to shop.

The Bear Mountain developers should stop comparing the two. They are not comparible. Having said that, I still feel Bear Mountain is a very nicely put together community. But it really needs to have an identity of its own, and not glaum on to an already established world-class destination as Whistler truly is.

Its no different than the condos being built on 6 Mile Road - "A Whistler Inspired Community". What does that mean?

Very slim odds of playing golf in March in Whistler. Try another month that starts with M.

The Bear Mountain developers should stop comparing the two. They are not comparible.

I don't see much of a difference. They're both fake resort communities built from scratch by developers. You could even argue that Bear Mountain is a bit less fake simply because it's not nearly as remote as Whistler was when they started building it.

From Forbes.com:

At the base of these behemoths are three villages: Whistler Village, Upper Village and Creekside. And to be charitable, they are not beautiful places. With their clean lines and resort-clone facades, the towns exude the spirit of Intrawest, the company responsible for much of the real estate here.

Developer to build tallest towers on Island
Bill Cleverley, Victoria Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, July 05, 2007

Langford's Bear Mountain community will soon be home to the tallest buildings on Vancouver Island.

Plans for four condominium towers ranging from 27 to 45 storeys were unveiled yesterday by Vancouver developer Robert Quigg as part of his $1.4-billion development off Bear Mountain Parkway...

Langford Coun. Lillian Szpak called the development "an architectural wonder" that fits the principles of smart growth, with many units on a small footprint. "We are really happy to see an environmentally friendly development go in."

Quigg said some of the towers, which are being built on a site with an elevation of 200 metres, will be visible from Victoria. The tallest of the buildings, when completed, will add 137 metres to the site's elevation. By comparison, the summit of Mount Finlayson is 416 metres.

But Quigg said the architectural footprint of four towers is minuscule compared with that of more than 600 single-family homes sprawling over a hilltop.

Blasting is already under way and concrete is expected to be poured for the first 27-storey tower this fall...

Highlands resident Vicky Husband is an environmentalist who campaigned for the preservation of the Sooke Hills as a natural western backdrop for Victoria. She was less than enthusiastic.

"[The towers] are going to be an eyesore for the whole region," she said. "Where it affects the region even more is the whole traffic issue and Bear Mountain's demanding that the public pay for an overpass.

"Why should the public pay for this [development] that's ruining the quality of life, totally ruining the landscape?"

Full story at:
http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/news/story.html?id=ff651c5a-d289-4407-a816-ff6ff4476828&k=83244

Langford Coun. Lillian Szpak called the development "an architectural wonder" that fits the principles of smart growth, with many units on a small footprint. "We are really happy to see an environmentally friendly development go in."

SMART GROWTH??????????????????????????????????????????????? You have got to be kidding me. Environmentally Friendly???????????????????????? Wow this is a new low in comprehension of terminology by a local politician. I am still hoping that CRD board votes down the change in the urban containment boundary so that this can't go ahead. Or is that a different part of BM?

I think that may be the part of BM that's squeezing into the Highlands. This development has green lights all the way from Langford's City Hall.

SMART GROWTH??????????????????????????????????????????????? You have got to be kidding me. Environmentally Friendly???????????????????????? Wow this is a new low in comprehension of terminology by a local politician. I am still hoping that CRD board votes down the change in the urban containment boundary so that this can't go ahead. Or is that a different part of BM?[/quote]


How is this project different from a lot of other high rise developments? If you want to contain urban sprawl you must increase density in certain areas.

Why are you so against this? I don't disagree with you, necessarily, but what is your reasoning for not liking this project and liking/desiring other high rise development.

Location. That is it. If we were proposing a similar amount of units downtown I would have little problem so long as it fit within the urban fabric. The fact remains that every single person in Bear Mountain will have to drive to do anything. There is no transit service and even walking to the closest grocery store, The market on Millstream, will take hours. Creating an extremely car dependent super burb at a time when our highways are already taxed is a grave mistake.

I'm still not getting how it's the height of environmental sensitivity to shave a mountain bare* and build highrises on it. This is the same Victoria that criticizes highrise infill projects downtown for not being environmentally sensitive enough?

*not the same thing as a mountain bear

137 meters is the same height as the Scotia tower in Vancouver.

A big reason that density is good downtown is that there is an infrastructure in place for the the people downtown. There is residential, commercial and office space in close proximity, along with all of the utility infrastructure in place to cope.

A tower in the wilderness has none of the synergies in place to justify the density. Power, sewage, water, garbage removal, everything has to be extended to this single node of density. The people in the tower disperse widely to do shopping, work, and dine. While I'll admit that it's mildly better than 100 acres of single family dwellings, it's still not smart density.

Cougars are gorgeous felines, but I wouldn't want one wandering down Douglas St. Skyscrapers are lovely, but I don't want to see them on Bear Mountain.

Maybe we can find a compromise and build skyscrapers for cougars.