Victoria Construction - #7

[Phil McAvity]

I take the bus to Schwartz Bay sometimes and every time I get a little tour of Sidney and there's been a few 6 story residentials pop up recently. Sidney's actually developing a little bit of a skyline. The Star theater got demolished and there's plans to rebuild it inside a 7 story residential as well

[vicdevelopments]

That’s too bad that Sidney lost their movie theater. 7 stories would have to be their tallest building.

[Apey]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Insightful post! I lived in Vancouver for 22 years which doesn't have any more 24 hour establishments than Kelowna did, so I never wondered about 24 hour dry cleaners lol. The one I did count on every once in awhile, Shoppers Drug Mart, ended the 24 hour format nationwide so I was kind of sad about that.

I wasn't aware that Toronto had 24 hour businesses. I know New York City does, I went to the Fifth Ave Apple Store at 2 in the morning once just to say I did, more a novelty than anything. The subway system ran 24 hours although not the express trains just so they could do maintenance on 2 of the 4 tracks. I think that's one issue in Toronto and Vancouver, no parallel express tracks to continue running some trains while being able to do maintenance.

I'm in Edmonton right now and I find it overwhelmingly big sometimes. I like my small big cities. I found myself gravitating towards communities in the Edmonton area that felt like small cities within the city. Ritchie is a great one, same with 124 St district. But I'll be back in Kelowna in a couple of months. I wish I realized how dry Victoria was and looked there as well especially since I'm a motorcyclist who loves to ride year round if possible, but I loved Kelowna dearly so it's certainly a good choice.

Upon further reflection most of my memories of living in Toronto are at a young age. After talking to my dad he did say that we took frequent trips to New York to go catch different games, and my memories were most likely of that time being in the greater New York area and finding somewhere open on the way home at early times in the am.

[Apey]

Originally Posted by vicdevelopments

I agree Melissa. I saw the crane at the Hudson condo coming down today.

Crazy! Mind blown!

BTW my name is April! Nice to meet you Vicdevelopments!

[Apey]

Originally Posted by aastra

Vivid on Johnson Street by Biro over at vibrantvictoria.ca



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Customs House also by Biro at vibrantvictoria.ca




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1400 Quadra with Vivid/Yates on Yates in background, also also by Biro at vibrantvictoria.ca

Didn't realize Custom's House was under construction! I remember when I used to clean there years ago as one of my first jobs in Vic!

[Apey]

Originally Posted by aastra

The rust cladding on IronWorks (pic by MarkoJ at vibrantvictoria.ca)



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Hudson Place One (pic by MarkoJ at vibrantvictoria.ca)

These projects seem to be moving quite quickly now! Nice to see such progress!

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by DKaz

Insightful post! I lived in Vancouver for 22 years which doesn't have any more 24 hour establishments than Kelowna did, so I never wondered about 24 hour dry cleaners lol. The one I did count on every once in awhile, Shoppers Drug Mart, ended the 24 hour format nationwide so I was kind of sad about that.

Victoria has a 24-hr Shoppers Drug Mart (Uptown/Saanich) and has for a while. Victoria also has at least a couple full-size 24-hr Thrifty (Sobey's) grocery stores. After that though, it's down to 24 hour places that seem to be everywhere else - convenience stores, Anytime Fitness, Tim Horton's, McDonald's and Dennys (lol).

I also find it really hard to believe that a small city like Kelowna would have as many 24 hours establishments as Vancouver!

[Apey]

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Victoria has a 24-hr Shoppers Drug Mart (Uptown/Saanich) and has for a while. Victoria also has at least a couple full-size 24-hr Thrifty (Sobey's) grocery stores. After that though, it's down to 24 hour places that seem to be everywhere else - convenience stores, Anytime Fitness, Tim Horton's, McDonald's and Dennys (lol).

I also find it really hard to believe that a small city like Kelowna would have as many 24 hours establishments as Vancouver!

Unfortunately Shoppers Uptown now closes at 12am so it makes it hard to find an all night drug store now besides Thrifty Foods Cloverdale. Which on a 15 to 30 min break when you don't drive is too far to go!

P.S. Shoppers Uptown just changed from 24hr as of January 1st 2020!

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by melissasandever

Unfortunately Shoppers Uptown now closes at 12am so it makes it hard to find an all night drug store now besides Thrifty Foods Cloverdale. Which on a 15 to 30 min break when you don't drive is too far to go!

P.S. Shoppers Uptown just changed from 24hr as of January 1st 2020!

Oh crap - you're right. It looks like it closes at midnight now. The pharmacy part wasn't open 24 hrs anyway AFIK - just OTC sales. I don't get the grocery stores being open either - we stopped at a Thrifty's @ 1am to get some stuff after at late flight arrival back from a vacation (which was convenient but not necessary), there were more staff than customers! The cashier did say that they get a bit of a 'rush' when the Hospitals/Police/Ambulance change shifts.

You actually need a 'drug store', in the middle of the night and can only go on your 15-30 min break and don't drive/bike? Hmmmmm.... lol

[zahav]

There's definitely still Shoppers locations in Metro Van that are 24 hours, including the one on Davie

[vicdevelopments]

Nice meeting you Aprill.

I also noticed that shoppers at uptown had changed their hours. I go there quite often late at night. Every time there was hardly any people in there and I was always wondering if it might shut down. I am not sure how busy it is during the day. I hope it doesn’t close but closing at midnight makes total sense to me.

When you drive down Douglas Street now heading downtown you can see Chards building starting to be visible in the skyline. It’s going to add to it nicely once the two towers are completed. Exciting

[aastra]

Some pics of Hudson Place One by Gary Hoyer at flickr.com:

From earlier this week:


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From late January when the crane was still up:

[vicdevelopments]

Fantastic photos! 😀

[Vin]

Love the shorter and heritage buildings defining Victoria, although the corner where the Hudson tower is can see a few more taller structures. That ferry coming in to be retrofitted is a bonus.

[craneSpotter]

Originally Posted by Vin

Love the shorter and heritage buildings defining Victoria, although the corner where the Hudson tower is can see a few more taller structures. That ferry coming in to be retrofitted is a bonus.

That's one of the two new Hybrid/Electric ferries! They are both still sitting at Point Hope shipyards, in the upper harbour.

The Island Class ferries are battery-powered ferries. When electric charging technology matures to make electricity in the quantities required, we will operate these new ships as all-electric ferries, using clean energy. In the interim, these ships will use an on board low sulphur diesel hybrid system.

The new Island Class will carry 47 vehicles and 300 - 450 passengers and crew depending on configuration. Double-ended for easy loading and unloading, the ships will also feature wide vehicle lanes, dedicated pedestrian paths, and bicycle parking spaces.

Passenger lounges and washrooms will be situated on the main deck for easy access. Lounge areas will be built for comfort with a variety of seating choices and charging stations for electronics. An overhead sundeck with seating, windbreaks, and an accessible washroom will provide a comfortable space to sit outdoors.

here is a video of them arriving in mid-January from Romania:

https://youtu.be/x_7LbG1RAk0

Another of them getting offloaded:

https://youtu.be/J7fZICrVdcw

[Phil McAvity]

That rust look on the outside of Ironworks is the architectural equivalent of "derelicte" from Zoolander

Not a fan

[aastra]

I'm generally not a fan of the purpose-built dilapidation esthetic. But for one small building I can appreciate it as a unique treatment. It's better than the bland modern sidings that the CoV seems to want more of in the old town (and no, I'm not joking).

[aastra]

There's been a revisionist attitude in recent years re: denying that many of Victoria's old industrial/warehouse/waterfront buildings were actually half-decently ornate. It was only after WW2 that blandness and dilapidation came to prevail.

But, just as we've seen re: the old commercial district, Victoria's supposed preservation movement seems to be much more concerned with preserving how things were in the 1950s rather than how things were in the 1890s. I'll use the analogy of a before-and-after image. In Victoria's case it's the "after" image (after gutting and modernization) that many people wish to preserve, rather than the "before" image.


pic from https://archives.victoria.ca/1921-go...-lager-brewery
(this building was actually torn down in ~1980, but you get my point that the industrial district's notable buildings were often more impressive and attractive than we like to suppose today)

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pic from https://archives.victoria.ca/victori...-and-rice-mill

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pic from https://archives.victoria.ca/1832-store-street-1
(the Capital Iron buildings were eventually restored in the 1980s, a rare case of Victorians demonstrating some willingness to undo a modernization mistake)

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pic from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmus...reets-victoria


pic from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmus...reets-victoria

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pic from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmus...treet-victoria

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pic from https://search-bcarchives.royalbcmus...ton-collection

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[aastra]

Speaking of old industrial buildings, here's an encouraging project:
http://lefevregroup.com/powerhouse.html

I just hope they ultimately aspire to build a legitimate district around there, rather than having the restored buildings standing in isolation.

Pics from January by Brantastic at vibrantvictoria.ca

[vicdevelopments]

Such a shame. That luck lager building was beautiful. Thank you for sharing these pictures.