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Former Mayfair Lanes Project


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#1 Baro

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:03 AM

I couldn't find the old thread on this but it was being discussed in my office and I can't remember all the details on this.  I know Mayfair Lanes was demo'd to build a Superstore, but then that all fell through.  Some folks in my office were saying it was the local grocery store cartel that put pressure on the city to block competition, what was the full story here?


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#2 aastra

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:15 AM

Would the local cartel include Walmart and Target? Because they both expanded into groceries after the bowling thing fell through, right?


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#3 Mike K.

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:19 AM

The local grocery cartel put a stop to a multi-billion dollar conglomerate’s plans to open yet another store in addition to the dozen they already operate throughout the CRD? I think that’s a little rich. Loblaw has two grocery stores in the region and operates the Shoppers chain. They’re very well established already.

Companies of that size and financial backing can sit on empty land for decades before making a move.
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#4 Baro

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:26 AM

So what officially killed the Mayfair lanes redevelopment?


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#5 Cassidy

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 09:42 AM

So what officially killed the Mayfair lanes redevelopment?

Loblaw (the owners) did.

They have had a few development permits prepared for the property, and the last one they had never even made it to Saanich Concil before Loblaw pulled it from consideration.

 

Loblaw obviously feels the property represents a wise investment, despite dragging their heels in terms of developing it, at least such that they consider it valuable enough somewhere in the future to keep on paying upwards of a quarter of a million dollars each year in property taxes to Saanich.


Edited by Cassidy, 13 May 2019 - 09:42 AM.

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#6 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:05 AM

I think both Uptown (T&C) and Superstore (Mayfair Lanes) were announced in 2006 but I don't know if Uptown was public knowledge when Superstore bought the bowling alley. I don't think we know for sure what killed it but it might have been the Uptown announcement. 

 

Also, I don't think Superstore's parent company was doing all that great financially at the time.


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#7 jonny

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:06 AM

I theorize that Loblaws is simply playing the long game and is waiting to buy up the Tim Horton's and Esso. 


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#8 Baro

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:09 AM

That's good to know,  the water-cooler talk was very much that the big bad meddling city blocked the project on behalf of local grocers.  Instead, the property owners simply decided not to build and hold the land long term instead.


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#9 Mike K.

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:09 AM

That’s exactly it. They are waiting out the TH property, and/or the gas station.

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#10 jonny

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:12 AM

Loblaw's balance sheet shows $30B in assets. I'm guessing they're not to worried about holding one little property in Saanich BC. 



#11 RFS

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:13 AM

I vote they build this

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#12 jonny

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:16 AM

^ That's so much better with Douglas St frontage than Tolmie St frontage. 


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#13 sdwright.vic

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:21 AM

I theorize that Loblaws is simply playing the long game and is waiting to buy up the Tim Horton's and Esso.


Now that 7-11 owns all the Esso gas bars, I am going to venture a guess that it will be a very long wait for that piece of property.
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#14 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:23 AM

7-Eleven owns the gas station? Or do they just run the food and beverage inside?



#15 sdwright.vic

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:26 AM

A deal by Imperial Oil Ltd. to sell its remaining 497 corporate Esso retail stations for $2.8 billion will translate into more 7-Eleven convenience stores in Alberta and British Columbia.

https://www.google.c...ar-megadeal/amp
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#16 jonny

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:46 AM

If Loblaws offered enough 7-11 would sell. That's the way the world works. 

 

They wouldn't necessarily even need or want both the TH and Esso properties. Perhaps owning the TH and Swiss Chalet property would be enough. 



#17 aastra

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:48 AM

 

I vote they build this...

 

I vote for some broad Chard-style redefinition of possibilities and expectations. It would be great if a process similar to what happened downtown could happen along the Douglas Street strip. Right now we're still in the "it will never happen" phase, but ten years from now we could be in the "of course it's happening, nobody ever doubted it" phase. Somebody just needs to get the ball rolling.



#18 Rob Randall

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 10:51 AM

If Loblaws offered enough 7-11 would sell. That's the way the world works. 

 

An unsubstantiated rumour at the time originating from a Mayfair Lanes employee said Loblaw's paid five times assessed value for the bowling alley.



#19 Mike K.

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Posted 13 May 2019 - 11:36 AM

They paid a relatively handsome sum, but it wasn’t beyond the realm of a typical transaction for the magnitude of land and a money making business. A close friend of mine is the son of the former owners.

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#20 van-island

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Posted 10 July 2019 - 03:22 PM

I heard that the proposal for the Superstore was similar to the Richmond BC store (i.e. on stilts) and CoV rejected it due to that. But I may have dreamed that solely based on my disgust at the Richmond store's design.

 

I am holding out hope for a huge T&T grocery store on that site, bringing amazing asian culinary delights to Victoria.


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