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PROPOSED
The Ventana
Uses: condo, commercial
Address: 1003 View Street
Municipality: Victoria
Region: Downtown Victoria
Storeys: 14
Condo units: (2BR)
Sales status: in planning
The Ventana is a proposal for a 14-storey luxury condominium tower along the 1000-block of View Street at Vanc... (view full profile)
Learn more about the Ventana on Citified.ca
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[Downtown Victoria] The Ventana | Condos, retail | 14-storeys | Proposed


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#41 Rob Randall

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 08:27 AM

^People living in the nose of the new Janion have a similar challenge.

 

If this were any of the other architectural firms building big condos in town I'd be skeptical but this is by Jan Zak and he has a good track record of making buildings that are attractive and engaging.



#42 MarkoJ

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 08:29 AM

I like it!


Marko Juras, REALTOR® & Associate Broker | Gold MLS® 2011-2023 | Fair Realty

www.MarkoJuras.com Looking at Condo Pre-Sales in Victoria? Save Thousands!

 

 


#43 Mike K.

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 08:48 AM

^People living in the nose of the new Janion have a similar challenge.

 

If this were any of the other architectural firms building big condos in town I'd be skeptical but this is by Jan Zak and he has a good track record of making buildings that are attractive and engaging.

 

Right! The The Reef in James Bay, by the same developer and architect, also has a curved facade on the west side of the building.


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#44 Nparker

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 08:52 AM

Westbank...decided not to pursue such shapes following that project due to the difficulty expressed by purchasers with finding suitable furniture.

I don't think architecture should be dictated by some people's limited imaginations in regards to interior design. I am pretty sure anyone who can afford one of these units at Ventana can probably hire a designer to custom build furniture pieces to fit the space. Hand me over your decorating budget and I could probably make the space look great by shopping at Wayfair*!

 

*free shipping on orders over $75  ;)



#45 aastra

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 09:17 AM

Comparing Chard's Johnson St. project to this one is silly. The Johnson St. project keeps me up at night, it seems like it will be so blah and ordinary. This place would be one of a kind in Victoria. But more importantly, it would be a half-decently interesting building in Harris Green, a neighbourhood that desperately needs more half-decently interesting buildings.

 

I just don't get what the risk is here. Small site deep in Harris Green that nobody has shown any serious interest in until now. Small building, not too tall. Different shapes and forms than the standard slabby blah stuff that dominates the neighbourhood.

 

Anyway, to my eye it seems to be something of a shorter & less wide version of this building in Portsmouth, UK:
https://goo.gl/maps/Bpkur3jJstR2


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#46 Nparker

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 09:46 AM

... to my eye it seems to be something of a shorter & less wide version of this building in Portsmouth, UK: https://goo.gl/maps/Bpkur3jJstR2

It looks like the Portsmouth building solved most of its curved walls "problems" by making the these areas balconies.

 

I am just glad to see something proposed that is trying to be different.


Edited by Nparker, 28 June 2018 - 09:48 AM.


#47 m3m

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 01:51 PM

Reminds me of this one in Hamburg. 

hamburg_hafencity_architektur_in_der_haf


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#48 zoomer

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Posted 28 June 2018 - 06:41 PM

There is no risk with this one, it’ll be a welcome addition, it has potential, but still based on the rendering and if it’s anything like that Portsmouth one, well, it’s boring. Luxury buildings at luxury prices should be better than this. If it ends up closer to the Hamburg version I’d be happier.

I find Aria and Shutters more interesting and creative than this one with their big sweeping and ultimately more dramatic curves. Semi-related thought - It’s a shame that Shoal Point wasn’t built right downtown with retail on the ground level.

It’s good to disagree with Aastra for a change - he’s come a long way since we first were awarded VV usernames and he ended up being named after the budget telephone on the conference table.

#49 Mike K.

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 05:25 AM

Short end of the stick, for sure. And both of you didn’t even qualify for a capitalized name.
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#50 jonny

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 08:53 AM

Well isn't this a pleasant surprise!

 

It’s funny how prime lots can sit vacant and underutilized for years and years and then nice little projects like this crop up.

 

To say this would be a welcome addition to Harris Green is an understatement. We only have a few renderings, but this will be a building that’s worth stopping and taking a look at – a real rarity in Harris Green. This is really like nothing else we have in Victoria, which is reason enough for me to give this one a thumbs up on top of the usual positives – the massive land use improvement of taking a drab little parking lot and turning it into housing, the aesthetic improvements of putting up an interesting new building, adding to the population mass of downtown/HG, incremental skyline improvement, something – anything! – to cover/remove attention from VT, etc. etc.


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#51 Nparker

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 08:57 AM

Well said jonny.



#52 Casual Kev

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 09:52 AM

The biggest parking issue in Victoria is not on the West Shore but among downtown residences. Virtually every building has occupants waiting on parking, and in some cases quite a few of them with very long waits. Couple that with a massive decrease in reservable public parking and you’ve got a market that will pay a premium for two+ secured spots in their own building.


I meant in the sense that since the suburbs are growing disproportionately, then it follows that car-dependent households are also growing. Which doesn't mean that new downtown residents will have the same need for multiple cars.

#53 aastra

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 10:38 AM

 

It’s good to disagree with Aastra for a change - he’s come a long way since we first were awarded VV usernames...

 

I suppose there's some sense in it, aastra and zoomer being far apart. And you just know that Mike will be in his regular place right in the middle.


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#54 Mike K.

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 12:56 PM

I meant in the sense that since the suburbs are growing disproportionately, then it follows that car-dependent households are also growing. Which doesn't mean that new downtown residents will have the same need for multiple cars.

I’m not sure that it does. The suburbs are embracing high density development at a rapid rate and, believe it or not, far outpacing the core in that regard.

The big difference between the suburbs and the core is people tend not to complain about the automobile aspect of their lifestyle. It’s embraced, even. Where we see a lot of the complaining is from people who assume suburban residents universally are worse off or negatively impacted by more reliance on a vehicle, and they push the narrative that commuting by car sucks, that it’s inconvenient, etc. The “we need to keep more people from being forced to commute by car into Victoria” movement reflects that sentiment, and we hear it a lot ...from people who don’t commute into Victoria by car.

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#55 Casual Kev

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 02:06 PM

Langford is hosting density, but it is conditional on a commute to the CRD core. The West Shore is a bedroom community, not an alternate city center. Most people living there will evidently be car-dependent; being in an apartment doesn't change the distance between amenities and jobs.

And I flatly disagree with your second paragraph. Before moving to DT Victoria I had exclusively lived in suburbs, and you bet that transportation and time spent commuting are top complaints and are often key political issues. More people moving in without infrastructure upgrades - you're screwed. Impactful carbon tax - you're screwed. Poorly maintained roads - you're screwed. ICBC needing to break even - you get the point.

Either way, my original point was that higher car ownership is most likely driven by people moving in farther out rather than a fundamental change in preferences, therefore downtown residents may not be figuring in the increase of car ownership rates. For whatever it's worth, I don't actually oppose the building's parking plans but wondered how sensitive prospective buyers would be to their availability.

#56 Jackerbie

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 02:40 PM

Either way, my original point was that higher car ownership is most likely driven by people moving in farther out rather than a fundamental change in preferences, therefore downtown residents may not be figuring in the increase of car ownership rates. For whatever it's worth, I don't actually oppose the building's parking plans but wondered how sensitive prospective buyers would be to their availability.

 

Basically.

 

CoV car ownership was 1.06 in 2011, 1.08 in 2016, which is an increase but just barely.

Downtown car ownership was 0.77 in 2011, 0.66 in 2016, which is a small decrease.

 

Part of that decrease may be directly linked to what Mike was talking about: can't own a car downtown if you have nowhere to put it, so with less places to put it of course ownership is declining.



#57 Casual Kev

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 03:16 PM

But if you already live downtown you aren't going to leave you car out in surface parking/parkades. Commuters and visitors need those amenities, however. The loss of these spots affects people living outside downtown far more than those living in the area. I presume developers build private parking according to the expected needs of their residents.

#58 Mike K.

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 05:02 PM

That’s not so. Residents utilized private parking for vehicles they couldn’t park in their own building. It was and continues to be a struggle, but now more pronounced than ever.

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#59 Casual Kev

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Posted 29 June 2018 - 05:54 PM

Maybe I got my big city bias on, never knew anyone who lived in a downtown area who used outside parking...

#60 Mike K.

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Posted 30 June 2018 - 07:13 AM

It’s a big issue here with insufficient parking located within the buildings themselves (generally speaking).

That’s why luxury buildings like Ventana will feature more parking than the City requires, knowing that folks paying a premium for residences expect it and will pay for it.

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