1035 replies to this topic

[UrbanRail]

what's happening with the heritage buildings on this site?
i know they are remaining but what are they going to be used for?
i'd hope they will be redone and house a variety of things, retail, artist studios gallerys, office, some light industrial (custom furniture) etc, but in all likelihood im guessing that council decided a great use would be for community uses like halls, seniors centres etc that just do nothing to an area
hopefully im wrong though, i have no idea so if someone could let me k now that'd be great.
also, i agree there is too much green space in the area with the water front and just down the road, but hopefully that extra space is being saved for light rail! or something of the sort

Retail (resturant, market, cafe, etc) and some community use will be placed into the heritage buildings, but a small part of it will be retained for rail maintence (1 stall). The site will retain its rail theme with several murals, displays (like models, pictures and rail cars, which would be rotated every few weeks or so). There is also the possibility that the old sand towe and water tower will be rebuilt on site.

The tracks going thru the site to downtown will be retained for future commuter rail use. The developers have also offered to put a station in the site, should that be the terminus, but that is unlikely as I get the feeling that downtown will remain the permanent terminus, with the possibility of extending the tracks to Centennial Square.

Here are some links of what it will look like

http://roundhousevic...com/gallery.htm

http://roundhousevic...se_proposal.pdf

[concorde]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

Oh, and of course Ken Mariash is known to keep his promises (excuse me while I laugh). He had to exit Calgary many years ago for reasons I won't get into.

[spanky123]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

Oh, and of course Ken Mariash is known to keep his promises (excuse me while I laugh). He had to exit Calgary many years ago for reasons I won't get into.

Exactly.

[Koru]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

Oh, and of course Ken Mariash is known to keep his promises (excuse me while I laugh). He had to exit Calgary many years ago for reasons I won't get into.

many years ago? I thought Mariash just recently got out of Calgary with the sale of the Deerfoot Meadows property in Feb of this year to Ivanhoe Cambridge, while retaining ownership of the bluffs land?...whats the deal with this guy?

[aastra]

I had no idea Roberts House & Orchard House were that tall...

You mean you never noticed them looming over everything? The city is cast into perpetual shadow because of them.

Didn't council also approve the heights for the Hudson's towers? I forgot about that.

[aastra]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

So is it a fantasy or will it just take a long time? I hope nobody was thinking all of these new buildings would go up overnight. We need only look to the Songhees or the Selkirk to get an idea of the sort of timeline we can expect. Highrise towers were first approved for the Y-lot back in the spring of 1994.

[baconnbits]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

Oh, and of course Ken Mariash is known to keep his promises (excuse me while I laugh). He had to exit Calgary many years ago for reasons I won't get into.

for reasons you wont get into or reasons you dont know about?
my understanding is that he was fairly well regarded in alberta, even being honoured by Ralph Klein at one point for his contributions

are the sales at bayview not going well, there seems to be a lot of reference to that, but i haven't heard any specifics
i know obviously dockside and several other projects are slowing. is it a similar story with bayview?

[UrbanRail]

Its a nice fantasy, but given the current state of Phase 1 and the lack of sales, it might be another 30 years before the site looks like the pictures.

Oh, and of course Ken Mariash is known to keep his promises (excuse me while I laugh). He had to exit Calgary many years ago for reasons I won't get into.

unfortunately the roundhouse and related buildings dont have another 30 years in their current state.

[UrbanRail]

So is it a fantasy or will it just take a long time? I hope nobody was thinking all of these new buildings would go up overnight. We need only look to the Songhees or the Selkirk to get an idea of the sort of timeline we can expect. Highrise towers were first approved for the Y-lot back in the spring of 1994.

My understanding of the roundhouse project is that it will take 10 years to complete.

[Caramia]

One of the more attractive parts of the agreement was that they deal with the heritage preservation aspects first.

[Rorschach]

are the sales at bayview not going well, there seems to be a lot of reference to that, but i haven't heard any specifics
i know obviously dockside and several other projects are slowing. is it a similar story with bayview?

I've looked at the models and the Bayview has some beautiful condos but the price is just too much. Who is going to spend $600,000 on a <1000 sq ft one bedroom condo? It looks like the place will have good views since you can see Bayview from every nice spot in Victoria. I'd sure love that southeast facing penthouse, but who is going to drop a couple of million on it?

I saw a few homeless encampments in the area right in front of the place, so that's going to be a deal breaker for anyone willing to drop that kind of money too.

[Caramia]

Some of the most expensive units have already sold.

[Koru]

for reasons you wont get into or reasons you dont know about?
my understanding is that he was fairly well regarded in alberta, even being honoured by Ralph Klein at one point for his contributions

are the sales at bayview not going well, there seems to be a lot of reference to that, but i haven't heard any specifics
i know obviously dockside and several other projects are slowing. is it a similar story with bayview?

I really have to echo you're comment/question about Ken Mariash...to my understanding (and not talking out of my arse I've been doing some research) Mr . Mariash seems to be highly regarded across the board, especially in Alberta, being lauded for visionary with the creation of Deerfoot Meadows as a premiere shopping destination and I can confirm Heritage Partners (which is one of his companies) only recently sold to Ivanhoe Cambridge in February of this year ( I understand he also has a project of some sort going on in Edmonton, his exact involvement or project I haven't been able to confirm yet), as I earlier stated he has retained the residential development portion of the lands. On top of that, as part of Bayview he has created a 1.8 acre park for Vicwest as well as donating $75 000 a year for 5 years to the Victoria Symphony Splash (yes it is advertising for himself) but at the same time I can't say I've seen any other developers in Victoria doing this? -

Concorde...perhaps in light of the positives that Mr. Mariash has given us to dwell on at this point you could indulge us with what you mean by being run out of Alberta and unable to keep his word?

[aastra]

My understanding of the roundhouse project is that it will take 10 years to complete.

There you go. So we're looking at 2019 if things go as planned?

[concorde]

Mr Mariash is known to screw over a lot of people. I have spoken to several executives of Canada's top 10 general contractors and many won't do business with him due to his business ethics.

People receive awards from government all the time, but that doesn't mean they are well liked. Bob Wright of Victoria received several awards last year including a top award from the Victoria Chamber of Commerce. He also gave over $10 million to UVic last year. All that doesn't mean he is well liked. People with money always have "friends".

[UrbanRail]

One of the more attractive parts of the agreement was that they deal with the heritage preservation aspects first.

As a member and a director in the rail historical group is working with the developer, that is very good news. These buildings need a lot of attention.

I dont know Mr Mariash personally, but I did meet him and he seems like a very nice guy and apparently he is a train buff.

Roundhouse Properties has been very supportive of E&N Days and our efforts to retain the rail theme of the site.

[Rorschach]

Why doesn't the existing train leave from downtown but go to Langford, then go back to Victoria, and then leave again on its regular daily trip all the way to Courtney? Seems like a schedule could be worked out to take people from Victoria to work in the West Shore and then bring in the people who live in West Shore but work downtown. It might cut some of the commute for some people. That Colwood crawl is a killer. A small change like this might make the train more useful and not add too much expense to its daily operation costs.

Even if they used two trains to get the timings right, they have the track switches in place to move commuters in each direction. Just seems so simple there must be a reason it has not happened yet.

[G-Man]

^ You're crazy!

[UrbanRail]

Why doesn't the existing train leave from downtown but go to Langford, then go back to Victoria, and then leave again on its regular daily trip all the way to Courtney? Seems like a schedule could be worked out to take people from Victoria to work in the West Shore and then bring in the people who live in West Shore but work downtown. It might cut some of the commute for some people. That Colwood crawl is a killer. A small change like this might make the train more useful and not add too much expense to its daily operation costs.

Even if they used two trains to get the timings right, they have the track switches in place to move commuters in each direction. Just seems so simple there must be a reason it has not happened yet.

Trust me when I say that this has been talked about. In fact many of the responses BC Transit got in regards to the busway were why isnt the E&N being used for commuters?

The biggest stumbling block is the provincial government. Everyone is on board for commuter rail (BC Transit is on the Communities for Commuter Rail group), including the FEDs, but Falcon wants to see a business plan. So until Falcon accepts a business plan from the ICF to fund the upgrades to the E&N, dont except to any commuter rail of any kind.