Victoria Construction - #7 - Page 90

Phil McAvity · #**1781** Posted **Sep 18, 2018, 3:38 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aastra

The 1950s office block was a horrible bunker of a building and easily the greatest singular offense ever against Victoria's grand harbour milieu.

Exactly

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vin

The destruction of this building is an abomination. Shame shame, Victoria!

I don't care how old Customs House was, it was fucking ugly so this rebuild is a massive improvement and we should be ashamed of that? I don't fucking think so. If anyone should be ashamed it should be you with your abominable opinion. The city obviously agrees with us here too

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vin

French windows with juliet balconies & flowers:
http://www.mytravelingjoys.com/2014/...-in-Paris.html

If you like Paris so much, why don't you move there? This is Victoria, not Paris

Vin · #**1782** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 12:45 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Exactly

I don't care how old Customs House was, it was fucking ugly so this rebuild is a massive improvement and we should be ashamed of that? I don't fucking think so. If anyone should be ashamed it should be you with your abominable opinion. The city obviously agrees with us here too

If you like Paris so much, why don't you move there? This is Victoria, not Paris

Chill it mate, some people, geez.

"MASSIVE IMPROVEMENT", as per Phil McAvity. Must agree, otherwise please move to Paris

:

Quote:

Originally Posted by zoomer

This view shows the new addition with the original in the background - photo by Citified

aastra · #**1783** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 4:57 AM**

I can't find it over at vibrantvictoria.ca but the other chapter of this saga was the proposal to strip the 1990s faux facade and tack on a more convincing one. My memory is hazy re: how serious the plan was. I also can't remember if a rendering was ever produced.

osirisboy · #**1784** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 2:28 PM**

What's wrong with a faux historical facade? They can look really good.

aastra · #**1785** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 6:08 PM**

Yep, they can. Victoria has a few modern things posing as older, and the quality ranges from very convincing to very unconvincing. This customs house building's costume was one of the lamest, yet it occupied an exceptionally prominent site. And the notion of extending the plastic surgery saga for another few decades by doing yet another reworking of an otherwise irrelevant building was really quite insane. Victorians are notorious for not fully coming to terms with their past mistakes (Centennial Square being the prime example, if we just spend another million here and do another tweak there... give me a break). In this case the tragic 1950s mistake needed to be finally and fully addressed. It's being wiped clean as we speak.

The Stickey Wicket addition to the Strathcona Hotel is very good, both in design and materials. Most people don't even realize it's modern construction, and some people who should know (because they were there when it was built) tend to forget.

pic from https://www.hotelscombined.co.kr/Hot...l_Victoria.htm

The addition at the back of Christ Church Cathedral is pretty good.

The hotel addition at Johnson and Broad is okay but not as good as it could have been.

pic from http://greatervictoriahotels.com/cat...n-plaza-hotel/

New condo building in Chinatown isn't fooling anyone, although you could make the case that it isn't trying to fool so much as fit in.

pic from https://bccondos.net/

Some of the more recent work on the Empress Hotel is rather weak, but it tends to get overlooked unless you focus on it.

And in Victoria you can't talk about faux without mentioning the Eaton's centre. The Driard replica is beautiful and a high-quality job, for sure (too bad it's only a partial facade, missing the west face). The Times replica just doesn't seem as convincing to my eye. The "all new" faux architecture on the department store section itself is pretty lame.

pic from http://heritageconsultants.ca/colour.../driard-hotel/

Vin · #**1786** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 8:50 PM**

To me this isn`t lame. It just needed to be fixed up to look really good, as it totally matched the original Customs House. Bring in some thick cast-iron windows, etc, and it could`ve been transformed.

1990s faux-historic remodelling:

Thanks for posting the other faux additions aastra: they look good and their existence actually made Victoria retain its heritage look.

mintzilla · #**1787** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 9:50 PM**

Not exactly construction related but I am wondering if any of you victorians have electric cars. I might be moving there for work and was thinking of going electric. How’s the I frastructure? Do you regularly take your car on the ferry? I will probably get an ebike
So I wouldn’t drive too much but nice to know if I did I can get a charging station.

Also where are all the new condos and apartments being built. I looked around on google street view and find there are not that many at all. The whole city seems like all single family homes which I am not a fan of.

Mininari · #**1788** Posted **Sep 20, 2018, 10:53 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mintzilla

Not exactly construction related but I am wondering if any of you victorians have electric cars. I might be moving there for work and was thinking of going electric. How’s the I frastructure? Do you regularly take your car on the ferry? I will probably get an ebike
So I wouldn’t drive too much but nice to know if I did I can get a charging station.

Also where are all the new condos and apartments being built. I looked around on google street view and find there are not that many at all. The whole city seems like all single family homes which I am not a fan of.

Hi, to answer your first question, you can easily find level 2 charging stations scattered around town on both private and public sites. There are some level 3 stations as well (See the Greenlots App). Once you figure out where the relevant ones to your life are, you're never really that far from one. I drive one of the many hundreds (thousands?) of Nissan Leafs around town.

As for the second comment, I think maybe you need to physically come over and have a look around as google street view may be a bit out of date. There are a number of large condo & apartment building projects scattered throughout downtown, as well as in Vic West and along the inner Harbour. Victoria has only recently approved a "taller" condo tower downtown (24 floors; The Hudson), which is part of a larger development.

Otherwise, you are right about the widespread single-family housing. Many established neighbourhoods are VERY anti-development (see Rockland in Victoria), and are doing everything they can to reject density. NIMBYs. Hence why do much development goes to the Westshore, where councils and neighbourhoods are more development friendly. Its a real shame because the neighbourhoods to the East of downtown Victoria should densify to provide housing closer to the downtown core.

aastra · #**1789** Posted **Sep 21, 2018, 12:08 AM**

In Victoria CMA the majority of condominiums are in lowrise buildings, so if you're searching for condo tower neighbourhoods you won't find them.

Victoria CMA is actually less SFD-focused than you might think. Detached houses account for just 40% of the dwellings in the metro area. Only Vancouver CMA and Montreal CMA are lower.

In the city proper the apartment numbers are higher, of course: ~50% of the city's dwelling are apartments in lowrise buildings (fewer than 5 stories), ~18% are apartments in buildings taller than 5 stories, and ~14% are detached houses.

osirisboy · #**1790** Posted **Sep 21, 2018, 3:35 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by aastra

In Victoria CMA the majority of condominiums are in lowrise buildings, so if you're searching for condo tower neighbourhoods you won't find them.

Victoria CMA is actually less SFD-focused than you might think. Detached houses account for just 40% of the dwellings in the metro area. Only Vancouver CMA and Montreal CMA are lower.

In the city proper the apartment numbers are higher, of course: ~50% of the city's dwelling are apartments in lowrise buildings (fewer than 5 stories), ~18% are apartments in buildings taller than 5 stories, and ~14% are detached houses.

Thanks for the links. Love this kind of info. Got me wondering though. I wonder how many ppl said they lived in a sfh when they rent out a suite or portion of it. I could see many ppl claiming it's a sfh when in fact it's not

Edit. They seem to call it single detached. So I guess it's still counts even if the house has a couple of partments?

aastra · #**1791** Posted **Sep 26, 2018, 2:15 AM**

Pic from Citified/Vibrant Victoria's Twitter feed from August:

Quote:

The downtown Victoria skyline as seen from the McKenzie and TCH intersection. Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Transportation.

https://twitter.com/VibrantVictoria/...69097596645376

*****

Skateboarding on the rings of the new Johnson Street Bridge:

pic by Gary Hoyer at flickr.com

*****

rambaldi over at vibrantvictoria.ca has posted some pics from the Victoria Clipper (Seattle-Victoria high-speed ferry):

Dylan Leblanc · #**1792** Posted **Sep 27, 2018, 4:15 AM**

nice post

found some renderings of a Nigel valley project - http://www.greatervichousing.org/all.../nigel-valley/

mintzilla · #**1793** Posted **Oct 6, 2018, 9:58 PM**

Some more questions from a potential future Victoria resident.

Why do you have to go all the way to the airport to take ferry to Vancouver? How come there isn’t a ferry right from the bay beside victoria city?
Also is $350k reasonable for a 1 bedroom condo in or near downtown Victoria?

city guy · #**1794** Posted **Oct 7, 2018, 2:37 AM**

there is a seasonal passenger only service from downtown to downtown but it takes 4 hours...the ferry from Schwartz Bay (north of airport) takes about 1.5 hours to Tsawwassen and then another hour drive into Vancouver

you can also fly downtown to downtown on harbour air or helmet and it takes 30-45 minutes

as for condo prices...that sounds like a bargain to me

city guy · #**1795** Posted **Oct 7, 2018, 2:38 AM**

that should have said 'helmet' not 'helmet'...that darn autocorrect

city guy · #**1796** Posted **Oct 7, 2018, 2:40 AM**

again! its HELIJET

Dylan Leblanc · #**1797** Posted **Oct 7, 2018, 3:21 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mintzilla

Why do you have to go all the way to the airport to take ferry to Vancouver?

Because the ferry is slower than driving on a highway it makes sense to make the ferry route as short as possible. If the ferry were right downtown then it would take an extra hour of sailing to get to Vancouver, instead of 30 minutes to drive to the Swartz bay terminal.

And $350,000 sounds alright for a decent one bedroom condo. You can get listings of condos and their asking prices on realtor.ca

mintzilla · #**1798** Posted **Oct 7, 2018, 10:04 PM**

I have to admit I had no idea the ferry was so slow. Makes sense now. Maybe getting a nexus pass and taking the plane would be faster overall.

aastra · #**1799** Posted **Oct 9, 2018, 5:38 PM**

Quote:

How come there isn’t a ferry right from the bay beside victoria city?

You're asking why ferry terminals like Swartz Bay or Tsawwassen aren't in the heart of downtown Victoria or downtown Vancouver?

Phil McAvity · #**1800** Posted **Oct 9, 2018, 10:16 PM**

If I remember correctly this building was controversial for it's height of 6 stories even though it's downtown. Residents were also concerned over the increase in traffic the building would bring

The oldest McDonald's in Victoria across the street is either undergoing the biggest renovation in history or it's no more

A friend of mine that lives next door to the Wade said that the wall along Johnson St collapsed which means this project will take longer than expected

989 on floor number 9

PS-city guy needs to turn off his autocorrect