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UNDER CONSTRUCTION
University Heights, building A
Uses: rental, commercial
Address: 3956 Shelbourne Street
Municipality: Saanich
Region: Urban core
Storeys: 6
University Heights, building A is proposal for a six-storey mixed-use rental and retail complex at Cedar Hill ... (view full profile)
Learn more about University Heights, building A on Citified.ca
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University Heights Shopping Centre


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#81 AllseeingEye

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Posted 27 July 2017 - 08:48 PM

Others disagree. We should be doing IMO with our major malls what cities like Vancouver are doing; densify the crap out of them and in the process turn them into something other than an homage to 1950's and 60's car-and-asphalt-centric thinking. Oakridge, Metrotown and Brentwood Malls on the mainland come to mind in regards.


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#82 Nparker

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Posted 27 July 2017 - 08:51 PM

...We should be doing IMO with our major malls what cities like Vancouver are doing; densify the crap out of them and in the process turn them into something other than an homage to 1950's and 60's car-and-asphalt-centric thinking.

Exactly. There are opportunities at all 3 of the major "Victoria" malls (Hillside, Mayfair & Tillicum) to add substantial residential components.


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#83 Cassidy

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Posted 28 July 2017 - 07:42 AM

There are always lots of cars in the parking lot, even down at the "other" end from Home Depot ... so somebody is using the mall.

 

Despite having that Home Depot as my "local" Home Depot, and visiting that HD at least once a week for many years now ... I've never set foot in any store BUT Home Depot  - and have only seen the inside of that mall on the rare times when seeing a movie that isn't playing anywhere else but the Landmark.

 

Is University Heights really even a mall in the traditional sense? ... it seems to have no "inside", and an outside with so many nooks and crannies you can't, with the exception of the anchor tenants, see any storefronts at all. And when you go "inside", it seems that the interior consists of only a stairwell and an elevator.

 

Not very inviting, and definitely time to bring the "mall" portion of the site up to date. 

 

When I was a kid, the site was all Ruby Road, the old Shell gas station in the middle of a field, and endless greenhouses ... so I guess this is an upgrade from that ... but that "upgrade" was tired a decade ago, and is ultra-tired in 2017.


Edited by Cassidy, 28 July 2017 - 07:43 AM.

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#84 AllseeingEye

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Posted 28 July 2017 - 08:44 AM

There are always lots of cars in the parking lot, even down at the "other" end from Home Depot ... so somebody is using the mall.

 

Despite having that Home Depot as my "local" Home Depot, and visiting that HD at least once a week for many years now ... I've never set foot in any store BUT Home Depot  - and have only seen the inside of that mall on the rare times when seeing a movie that isn't playing anywhere else but the Landmark.

 

Is University Heights really even a mall in the traditional sense? ... it seems to have no "inside", and an outside with so many nooks and crannies you can't, with the exception of the anchor tenants, see any storefronts at all. And when you go "inside", it seems that the interior consists of only a stairwell and an elevator.

 

Not very inviting, and definitely time to bring the "mall" portion of the site up to date. 

 

When I was a kid, the site was all Ruby Road, the old Shell gas station in the middle of a field, and endless greenhouses ... so I guess this is an upgrade from that ... but that "upgrade" was tired a decade ago, and is ultra-tired in 2017.

 

Yup; I remember older neighborhood teenage boys bow-hunting for pheasant on the site prior to the construction of the actual original mall.



#85 Bingo

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Posted 28 July 2017 - 08:50 AM

 I've never set foot in any store BUT Home Depot  - and have only seen the inside of that mall on the rare times when seeing a movie that isn't playing anywhere else but the Landmark.

 

 

The Landmark gets first run movies all the time. We saw Dunkirk there just last weekend.

Covered parking is a real asset in the winter when taking in a movie.



#86 Cassidy

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Posted 28 July 2017 - 11:19 AM

The Landmark gets first run movies all the time. We saw Dunkirk there just last weekend.

Covered parking is a real asset in the winter when taking in a movie.

I should have said "rare occasions when a movie I want to see isn't playing at one of the new theatres with ultra-comfy-seating and other luxuries the Landmark hasn't yet undertaken".

 

But I agree, the underground parking is unique for movie theatres in the CRD, although Silver City is only a short walk in the rain from the "under" parking portion of the Tillicum parkade. 



#87 Citified.ca

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 11:57 AM

Exclusive: University Heights Shopping Centre poised for major makeover

 
Building-B.jpg
 
University-Heights-Building-A-southeast.jpg

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#88 Nparker

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:05 PM

That's a MAJOR transformation. It looks good. One wonders how close to this vision the finished project will become? I guess the theatres will be lost in the re-build, but Home Depot will remain?

With the end of Sears, Hillside Centre would be wise to add a residential component as part of any future redevelopment.



#89 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:15 PM

Here is the mall today, for comparison.  Lol.

 

25442966_10154954576060894_6944137870489


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<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#90 shoeflack

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:18 PM

Interesting that Home Depot remains untouched (unless I'm looking at this wrong). This project is very similar to the Save-On/Home Depot development at Cambie and 7th/8th in Vancouver. I would have figured Home Depot would get some residential units above.



#91 Mike K.

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:26 PM

Perhaps that’s phase two. Building B Juts up against HD.
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#92 Bingo

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:42 PM

I hope the theaters remains just beyond that middle entrance and below. The present theater is lower than the underground parking.

 

University-Heights-Building-A-northeast.

Building A as seen from Shelbourne Street,

 



#93 PraiseKek

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 12:57 PM

Hopefully the parking lot underneath is designed by the uptown parking lot designers. So well done.



#94 grantpalin

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 01:59 PM

I like the concept. There's a lot of open space that might be better used (rather than parking) if integrated with underground parking. Looks like a demo of the existing mall (sans Home Depot) and the outbuilding with JJ Morgans and CIBC. Wonder how/if the theater would be preserved.

 

BTW the linked post has an error in the second paragraph. "Both will be situated along Cedar Hill Cross Road between the existing Home Depot space and McKenzie Avenue and will incorporate two levels of commercial space." No Cross at that location!


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#95 shoeflack

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 07:39 PM

How about this neat old photo of University Heights from Saanich archives...

 

2016-038-024h.jpg


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#96 Bingo

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Posted 18 December 2017 - 08:19 PM

How about the greenhouses across the street?



#97 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 19 December 2017 - 12:12 PM

So the house I grew up in is in the very bottom right, the furthest one into the corner.

 

Those greenhouses were mostly there as I grew up.  The path running up the right side of them was our route to K-mart, you can see it ends then there is a crosswalk across Shelbourne.


<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#98 Nparker

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Posted 19 December 2017 - 12:21 PM

...Those greenhouses were mostly there as I grew up...

When I first read this I thought you had written "Those greenhouses were mostly there as a grow op". I suppose that's more of a 2017 kinda thing.


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#99 dasmo

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Posted 19 December 2017 - 12:27 PM

Yep, malls with residential is the future of malls. Now if they can only have the stones to go all underground parking...
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#100 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 19 December 2017 - 12:29 PM

The greenhouse owners were very nice, they did not mind if you walked or biked on a bit of their property.  So a popular route was to skirt under the bottom there and then along the left edge of them and up to Shelbourne. 

 

Right near the bottom there they kept bees, the hives were fun to go by.  So that was often my rote to get up to junior high school.


Edited by VicHockeyFan, 19 December 2017 - 12:33 PM.

<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

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