Property Types Hospitality
Rezoning Approval Pushes Forward $1.8B Canada Mixed-Use Project
April 29, 2008
By: Barbra Murray, Contributing Editor

The process of rezoning a nearly 14-acre parcel that is currently home to two retail centers in Colwood, Victoria, Canada progresses to the final stage, thereby paving the way for the development of a high density mixed-use project. League Assets Corp. and Turner Lane Development Corp. are partners on Colwood City Centre, which will cost an estimated $1.8 billion to complete at full build-out.

The Colwood City Council presided over the final public hearing on the project (pictured) last night, wrapping up the third step in a four-pronged rezoning process that will allow for the development of retail, office, lodging and multi-family housing on the property. Ultimately, the land now occupied by Colwood Plaza, which League acquired last year, and Colwood Corners Mall will give rise to a 3.2 million-square-foot, environmentally-friendly transit-oriented development featuring a group of 11 towers ranging from 12 to 29 stories, as well as a number of low-rise commercial and retail podiums.

"The underpinning of this is a truly sustainable development," Turner Lane's Ron Taylor, development manager for Colwood City Centre, told CPN today. "Commuting from West Shore to Downtown is not desirable. Socially it is not a good thing, and environmentally it is a horrible thing. This project is in response to what workers want today. It will be a place where people can live, work and play without a car."

Colwood City Centre is being planned to serve as the new downtown core of Greater Victoria's West Shore area, and it will accommodate an increasing need for both commercial and residential offerings. "There is significant pent up demand," Taylor said. "The greatest population growth in Greater Victoria is projected well into the future to be in West Shore; already, 60 percent of the population growth and virtually all of the retail growth in Greater Victoria has been in West Shore." Construction of Colwood City Centre will take approximately 15 years to reach full completion.

 The city council is scheduled to convene next month to sign off on the final step in the rezoning process, after which there will be a fairly lengthy mandatory waiting period before Turner Lane can move forward with the application for development permits. "That's a much shorter process," Taylor said.



 
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