[Downtown Victoria] Johnson Street Gateway (Northern Junk) | condos; commercial | 7-storeys | Cancelled in 2019

Merrick architecture is working to come up with a mixed use plan for this site.

The two Northern Junk buildings will be restored, but instead of facing a stub street and some landscaping like they are now the buildings will face a new building--kind of a half-circle or three-quarter circle that almost wraps around the old buildings.

Height will be in line with other Old Town buildings.

This is very early design stage, nothing is firm and no proposal is before Council yet. First will be rezoning.

Height will be in line with other Old Town buildings.

So 100 feet or less?

We know how well the last curve in old town fared... hope this one has better luck.

...

Design concept revealed for historic downtown waterfront property
By Mike Kozakowski, VibrantVictoria.ca
http://vibrantvictoria.ca/?p=2415

The Northern Junk Buildings, located at the foot of the Johnson Street Bridge in downtown’s Old Town district, are slated for renovation by Vancouver-based Reliance Properties. Recently revealed preliminary plans for the remainder of the property include the construction of a 5-storey mixed-use building designed by Victoria-based Merrick Architecture.

“What we have now is a preliminary concept for the site and we anticipate moving towards community meetings within six to eight weeks,” said Jon Stovell, General Manager of Reliance Properties. [...]

Sounds very promising.

This is not going to go over well, is it?

Fix two of the oldest heritage buildings in the city and add an appropriately sized new building that would rejuvenate that area of downtown?

Nope, not at all.

You're expecting a negative fuss about this project? Wouldn't such a fuss confirm that Victoria has plunged into a mire of outrageous hypocrisy worthy of the end times?

I'm trying to figure out where exactly the 5 story building will go. On the grassy portion on the other side of the parking lane, right? Will the parking lane be part of the new building? Or will that be the covered thoroughfare? Can someone draw me a picture or something?

Where the controversy may lie is the blocked views to the harbour. You can't get a friggin boat parked in the harbour without someone *****in' about blocked views. How is a 5 story building going to go over?

Thank god for the heritage card - because that massive leverage. But still, I worry.

I have plenty of questions, too. This project has been a very long time in coming but I doubt anyone will be giving it a free pass just because of that.

Re: blocked views, aren't the various trees and the old buildings themselves already blocking the view? In any event, I'm much less concerned about views from roadways and parking lots than I am about views from pedestrian-oriented areas. All they really need to do is create a nice viewing area on the harbour side of the project. There's plenty of room in which to do it. Beautiful spot to enjoy a drink and watch the sun go down.

I'm trying to figure out where exactly the 5 story building will go. On the grassy portion on the other side of the parking lane, right? Will the parking lane be part of the new building? Or will that be the covered thoroughfare? Can someone draw me a picture or something?

Preliminary plans suggest the five-storey building will be located on the grass and will extend across "Wharf St" (yes, we have two Wharfs, one of them being that short street that comes up immediately after the bridge and serves the parking lots). The width of the wing covering Wharf will be more or less the width of the current grassed area that you can see behind the GMC van on Street View.

So not only will it save two heritage buildings and improve this area of downtown but it will also de-suburbanize that awful area at the end of the Johnson Street bridge?

I look forward to seeing the design as I am thinking about jumping on the bandwagon.

Could be good. I just hope it is a nice building and not like either this or this, which are the only two modern buildings on that stretch of Wharf. Looking at them makes the lack of harbourfront development seem a blessing rather than a curse.

Something modern and glassy would be nice.
Thanks for more detail, Mike.

We can put our faith in Merrick Architecture. But City Hall's design review process and design "feedback" by councillors could impact the final design.

608 Broughton's rounded corners would have been a stellar addition to Old Town. Instead the developer was forced to absolve the project of all originality.

...which are the only two modern buildings on that stretch of Wharf.

There's also the Salvation Army's building and the Streetlink building, and a few other buildings that were sanded down at some point so they don't like anything like their original form (even though some people still call them heritage buildings).

I'd say the reno of the building that now houses Swans should point us in the right direction.

Lest we forget the evolution of the corner of Yates and Wharf from this:



...to this:



...to this:
http://maps.google.c...0492&z=16<br />

^Ya gotta love the '50s. Just makes you want to bang your head.

So does anyone remember the little buildings that stood between the Northern Junk buildings and the Chandler's building? I presume they were torn down in the 1970s when the Regent Hotel was built? I have no memory of them. In their place we have that little park and the vehicle access down to the Regent.

It's interesting because even after that area had been gutted and reconfigured for new-and-improved vehicle access to the bridge there was still a decent little collection of very historic buildings along the west side of Store/Wharf Streets.

You can see them in context in this 1970 photo:
http://www.flickr.co...333596/sizes/l/

Aerials from before the reconfiguration:





The facades:

Important public meeting on the Northern Junk properties

Downtown residents are invited to see the plan for the property around this pair of historic buildings on the harbour near the Johnson Street Bridge.

The meeting will be held Wednesday, September 29, at 7 p.m. at the Victoria Regent Hotel, 1234 Wharf Street. It is hosted by the DRA.

You will get a chance to see the drawings for the development of the site: the old derelict buildings will be rehabbed and a new condo building will be constructed in front. You will be encouraged to ask questions; the architect and developer will be there and they will want to know your opinion.

Northern Junk proposal examined by neighbours

By Robert Randall • Published on Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Downtown residents got their first look at the newest iteration of the Northern Junk condo project at a recent community meeting hosted by the Downtown Residents’ Association at the Victoria Regent Hotel on Wharf Street.

For many, this was their first look at the proposal which will see a new five-storey condo building with ground floor retail constructed immediately to the east of the existing pair of heritage stone structures dubbed the “Northern Junk buildings” after the previous owner’s use of the buildings as a second-hand/scrap store.

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