A $60-million commercial development to replace Mill Bay’s burned-out Pioneer Square Mall could be in place by the spring of next year, and is expected to feature a clinic with two new family doctors.
Plans call for 100,000 square feet of construction on the high-profile site next to the Trans-Canada Highway, with parking in the centre, ringed by six buildings.
Two buildings will be two storeys tall, while the rest will be one storey, said Wayne Hopkins of Merdyn Group, which is partnering on the project with Limona Group.
Some approvals from the Cowichan Valley Regional District — including a development permit — and from the Transportation Ministry are still needed, Hopkins said Wednesday.
He said the goal is to split the site into two properties, one for the new commercial centre and the other for an assisted-living seniors centre.
The regional district was not immediately able to provide the status of the application for the project.
The former Pioneer Square Mall was razed by fire in May 2022. Vandals are believed to be responsible, Hopkins said.
Debris has been cleared and the site is ready to be redeveloped, with the first tenants expected to move in in the spring of 2026, he said.
Construction had been expected to start last fall, but the time taken to line up approvals pushed the start date back, Hopkins said. “So it’s a little behind but we think we can catch up.” The community has been waiting a long time for construction to begin, he said. “It’s not a community centre but it’s definitely a gathering place for people.”
Pioneer Square is to be redeveloped in line with the neighbouring Stonebridge project, also a partnership between Merdyn and Limona. Up to 950 homes of varying types, including below-market-price units, could be built in the master-planned community, Hopkins said.
Stonebridge’s eventual development value is estimated at $700 million to $800 million, including the commercial centre, he said.
The goal is to ensure that Pioneer Square and the Stonebridge housing development are only a walk or bike ride apart, and protecting Shawnigan Creek, which runs through the Stonebridge property, will be a priority, Hopkins said.
Anchors for the commercial centre are expected to include a 30,000-square-foot grocery store and a pharmacy-drugstore, plus name-brand restaurants, retailers, a daycare space and the medical clinic.
Business names have not yet been released, but all tenants will be new to Mill Bay, said Hopkins, adding it’s hoped that a third doctor will be added in the future.
“We had to provide some incentives obviously to make it all work for two young doctors,” Hopkins said. “We want the doctors to grow roots in the community and raise families in the community.”
While he did not go into details, he said the incentives were in the form of housing and leasehold improvements.
The health centre will include services such as physiotherapy, he said.
Space in the development — which will have native plantings, outdoor patios and cafes — is about 70 per cent spoken for, Hopkins said.
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