Plans for three residential tower blocks — two of which would be 21 storeys — at the north end of downtown Victoria will go to public hearing this spring, along with a proposal for a 90-unit supportive-housing building in the same area.
The site in the 1900 block of Douglas Street bordered by Caledonia Avenue and Discovery Street had been home to the White Spot restaurant and the Capital City Centre Hotel.
In 2021, BC Housing bought the Capital City Centre Hotel and purchased the parking lots surrounding the building at 722 and 726 Discovery St. The hotel was converted to temporary shelter for the homeless. The province plan was to convert the area into rental housing, which is part of the project now proposed by Chard Developments,
The three residential tower blocks would contain about 450 units of housing, plus retail and office space. One tower is a market condominium building with retail and office space on its lower levels, while the other is a purpose-built market rental building on top of retail space, a restaurant, childcare facility, and full-service grocery store.
The 90-unit supportive-housing building, put forward by B.C. Housing, would be constructed at 722 and 726 Discovery St.
Council voted unanimously April 20 to move the two projects forward, saying they satisfied the requirements laid out last fall by the previous council.
Mayor Marianne Alto, who was part of that council, said all but one of the requests that were made of the project have been met and she could live with the one that couldn’t be accommodated.
The supportive-housing project would be built first and is being designed to house residents of the former Capital City Centre Hotel to ensure no one is displaced by construction.
The hotel will be torn down to make way for Chard’s larger project.
The previous council directed Chard and B.C. Housing to rework the design of the Discovery housing project to make it appear less institutional and to protect Garry oak trees on Discovery Street.
The new design, which will be submitted in coming weeks, is expected to provide more of a setback to save two of the three Garry oaks.
