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PROPOSED
Residences at the Empress
Uses: rental, commercial
Address: 700 Douglas Street
Municipality: Victoria
Region: Downtown Victoria
Storeys: 8
Bosa Development has plans to erect an eight-storey rental building with ground floor commercial space southea... (view full profile)
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[Downtown Victoria] Residences at the Empress | Rentals | Proposed


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#21 dasmo

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 09:43 AM

Yep that spot was way too tight for a bus depot. No room for expansion and difficult to access. Not very central... The only benefit it had was it was located in the heart of tourist town...tourism should never be a priority....

#22 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 10:20 AM

Councillor Madoff has spoken.  The site is zoned for retail and hotel only.  No rentals or condos.  But it might allow a building up to 10 floors, but all depends on setbacks etc.  In any event, a rezoning would be required if they are rentals beyond 6/mos. per year, or condos.


<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>

#23 Nparker

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 10:22 AM

Councillor Madoff has spoken...

Remind me again why this woman was re-elected?


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#24 Mr Cook Street

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 10:39 AM

They could tap into the whole vacation rental scene and cater to that. Executive, longer term hotels. Fully furnished, weekly cleaning.... No rezoning required.


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#25 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 10:43 AM

They could tap into the whole vacation rental scene and cater to that. Executive, longer term hotels. Fully furnished, weekly cleaning.... No rezoning required.

 

That works for individual condo owners, only because they pay waaaaaay less property tax, and they often do not pay full tax on the rental income.

 

Not many large hotel owners are making 2 and 3-bedroom suites.


<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>

#26 Mr Cook Street

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 10:57 AM

That works for individual condo owners, only because they pay waaaaaay less property tax, and they often do not pay full tax on the rental income.

 

Not many large hotel owners are making 2 and 3-bedroom suites.

Good point.

 

Really curious to see plans for the building. Prime location. Not going to be cheap. So glad the bus station is getting evicted.



#27 jklymak

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 11:16 AM

Expect a constant whine from the Aria...


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#28 aastra

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 12:55 PM

There are some especially goofy comments under the TC's article.


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#29 aastra

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 01:09 PM

Seriously, "fix the heritage building* and keep it as a bus depot"? What on earth does that even mean? If this guy actually believes that a post-war crapshack somehow merits heritage status... I might just have a stroke.

 

Another guy apparently thinks pubs don't belong in heritage buildings. In Victoria.

 

And another guy warns that Bosa will turn Victoria into... Nanaimo. Which prompts somebody else to make the astute observations that a) not everyone can be rich, and b) the city needs to limit the amount of money that developers can extract from an economy.

 

It's like an insane asylum.

 

*I hope "the heritage building" is the Empress Hotel and not the bus depot, but if that is indeed what he means then "the heritage building" would surely qualify as a spectacular understatement.


Edited by aastra, 20 November 2014 - 01:15 PM.


#30 Nparker

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 01:19 PM

... the city needs to limit the amount of money that developers can extract from an economy....

Now, as I have mentioned before, I do have the occasional left-of-centre thought, but the above statement is just absurd. Doesn't Ben have better things to do than post his rantings on the Times-Colonist online?


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#31 Bingo

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 03:42 PM

 

Not many large hotel owners are making 2 and 3-bedroom suites.

 

Oak Bay Beach Hotel has some suites for sale.

http://www.oakbaycon...ces-floor-plans



#32 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 03:43 PM

^ Ya, but I think we already established Bosa won't be building suites for sale.


<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>

#33 Bingo

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 06:58 PM

^ Ya, but I think we already established Bosa won't be building suites for sale.

 

Okay, I guess some of the suites are timeshares that go into the rental pool, and there are various layouts.

 

details here: http://www.oakbaycon...otel-residences



#34 Mixed365

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Posted 20 November 2014 - 11:36 PM

I wonder if this will change/invigorate redevelopment plans for the Crystal Garden property. 


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“To understand cities, we have to deal outright with combinations or mixtures of uses, not separate uses, as the essential phenomena.”
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#35 Nparker

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 06:53 AM

I wonder if this will change/invigorate redevelopment plans for the Crystal Garden property. 

The staff at the Spaghetti Factory hope it will.



#36 sdwright.vic

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 07:29 AM

^??? Every time I walk passed the Spaghetti Factory is always doing a good business. But that is usually only in the summer...
Predictive text and a tiny keyboard are not my friends!

#37 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 07:35 AM

The restaurant side of the Spaghetti Factory is only a very, very small part of their business.  The manufacturing (factory) side is where all the money is.  They probably supply 75% of Western Canada's spaghetti.


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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>

#38 dasmo

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 08:15 AM

^ If that's true I have new found respect for that business.
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#39 Baro

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 09:04 AM

Use base zoning is ridiculous.  What does it matter if a building downtown is office, or condos, or a hotel, or an apartment?  Let areas evolve and grow naturally, responding to the demands and needs of the area.  I wish we had a proper form based zoning system.  There'd be some general rules on the massing and density of the lot and some extremely general use rules (like you can't build a refinery) but other than that, let the building fill in with whatever the city needs.  Maybe this decade it's apartments,  maybe next decade it's office.  What does it matter beyond the form of the building?  Let people build what's needed and don't try to micromanage every lot with ridiculous use based zoning.


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#40 Mike K.

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Posted 21 November 2014 - 09:07 AM

Especially in an era of conversions. From office to residential, from hotel to residential, from office to commercial, you name it, it's happening anyways.
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