1676 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

Yup, that’s about average.

[Ru]

I am trying to visualize 554 sq, feet. Is that fairly typical for a one bedroom downtown?

Barrrister, just take your house and divide it in to approx a dozen sections and you’ll get an idea.. or maybe just your bedroom is roughly equivalent?

[Mike K.]

Holy moly, I don’t think an average home is 6,600 square feet.

[Casual Kev]

I've mostly lived in ~550 finished sqft over the past few years and it's more than enough for me. I've been surprised at the amount of couples I've met living in the same amount of space, though. 

[Barrrister]

RU:  The condo is a good alternative if your first priority is to be right downtown. 

[m3m]

I lived in 550 sqft with my girlfriend for years. At times it was very cramped for 2. Especially if you’re not getting along. There’s nowhere to escape each other.

I now live alone in 850 sqft 1 bd apartment and find it opulently spacious.

In a completely unrelated note.... Julia - if you’re reading this, please come back. I swear I’ve changed. What does he have that I don’t??

[Barrrister]

M3M: He has an 8000 sq ft manor house with his and hers Mercedes for a start.

[sebberry]

Just poking around HP1's website - why are developers afraid to list prices? 

[Casual Kev]

Just poking around HP1's website - why are developers afraid to list prices? 

 

I feel like the hotter a market is, the less likely devs are to put a price tag. When I lived in Ottawa, nearly all new builds there had listed prices for specific floor plans. On the other hand, in Vancouver all you're gonna get is "starting from low 500s" or some such, until you're formally meeting with the sales team. Hell, some devs will make you set a budget before talking to you. 

 

Methinks it's a deliberate tactic to filter out tire-kickers, induce fear-of-missing-out among interest buyers and be able to change the price tag on the fly in case demand is higher than expected.

[Promontory Kingpin]

Paul’s Motor Inn welcomes their new neighbours to the neighbourhood

https://www.cheknews...pd-says-699713/

[MarkoJ]

Damn that's nuts....plywood on the front entrance that can't be good for sales.

 

Downtown is going to ****.

[aastra]

It's all a transparent effort to sustain the impression of crisis by counterbalancing the gradual positive progress in the Hudson district.

[Mike K.]

From a resident who purchased here, he says the concierge noticed the man acting strangely, asked him if he was alright, then stepped in and had the foresight to lock the doors electronically. The man then turned his attention on the building and smashed through, threatening the female concierge and a female cleaner, and I believe there was another woman in the immediate area as well. The man subsequently pulled the fire alarm.

[zoomer]

About a year ago I thought this was a solid building but too busy. Well, now that it's had a chance to shine for a bit, gotta say it's my favorite residential highrise in Victoria. What even comes close?



source

[aastra]

I also like Promontory and The Falls. But yeah, this one impresses me for how well it turned out, and how well it complements the HBC building (no offense to the old parkade, but it just wasn't doing it). HP1 and the HBC come together to produce something greater than either one of them alone.

 

We should add HP1 to the (still too short) list of modern buildings that we'd really miss if they weren't there. Wait a sec, I thought all modern condo buildings were supposed to be cookie-cutter and forgettable?

 

The HBC, HP1, the Hudson Mews, and the carriageway all come together very well. Terrific heritage reno, terrific highrise tower, terrific mid-block connection... all of those things that are supposed to be so difficult or even impossible to get right, they got right. (I wish the two residential buildings on the Jack Davis block had been a bit sharper, but I digress.)

 

Methinks this development should also put to rest so many unwarranted fears about density. Are there insufferable mobs of pedestrians on that block? Or relentless flows of vehicle traffic, coming and going?

 

In the pic above, just consider the redevelopment of the Hudson block along with the "Centra Gas" office building. That's some defining stuff right there. 100% Victorian, reflective of the city's unique approach. That's not Vancouver, that's not Calgary, that's not Kelowna, that's not Edmonton, that's not Saskatoon, that's not Winnipeg... and yet some people still fret about Victoria surely losing its uniqueness through development and redevelopment (and heritage restoration and re-purposing).

 

That said, I just hope HP2 doesn't blunder in clumsily at the end and drop the proverbial ball, with a wad of grease provided by the CoV.*

 

*sports analogy

Edited by aastra, 26 September 2020 - 01:29 PM.

[Nparker]

...I just hope HP2 doesn't blunder in clumsily at the end and drop the proverbial ball...

This is my concern as well.

[aastra]

 

...this one impresses me for how well it turned out, and how well it complements the HBC building...

 

(I wish the two residential buildings on the Jack Davis block had been a bit sharper, but I digress.)

 

Summary:

The old HBC building looks fantastic even though because it shares the spotlight with an attractive new building.

 

Call me crazy, but if the goal is to showcase Victoria's older buildings (rather than to detract from them) then it's almost as if drab & generic grey/brown slabs are not the best format for that purpose. Half-decently attractive new buildings seem to be much more effective.

[aastra]

The Centra Gas building got so many things right. And yet the same old controversies still persist, all these decades later:

 

"What should "sensitive" modern construction look like?"

or

"How can modern construction co-exist with older buildings without diminishing the old architecture?"

 

Some Victorians just refuse to consider the city's own successful examples. By this point there shouldn't be any lingering uncertainties about what works or what doesn't work.

[zoomer]

Amen Aastra, amen.

That drone pic clearly shows the the Bay department store and Hudson One compliment and make each other look more spectacular by their similarity and yet contrast. As stated by you and SouthPark, will the current visual be spoiled when the rental is built? Victoria never considers what the skyline looks like as others cities do and actively manage - maybe that’s a good thing, I dunno. My fear is that it’ll look like Legato and the twin Johnson towers when viewed from Fort Street. They appear to be one giant building with weirdly backset wings. Yet when viewed from opposite Moxies they look awesome.

[Nparker]

Am I South Park now?