Big Plans Proposed for City Core
Starlight Investment, a Toronto-based real estate development firm, plans to redevelop the 900 and 1000 blocks of Yates Street, currently home to a number of businesses including Bin 4 Burger Lounge, Market on Yates and London Drugs. The group plans to redevelop the site, located in the Harris Green neighbourhood, to include five towers of between 15 and 25 storeys each, with 1200 to 1500 purpose-built rental units, 100,000 square feet of retail space and a half an acre of community space, including green space and a plaza. Starlight will submit a redevelopment and a rezoning application to the City of Victoria in January. At a Community Land Use Committee meeting on December 3, representatives from Starlight said the project, which will be rolled out over several years, hopes to make provisions to keep current commercial tenants as the site is built out.
Harbour Air Gets Ready for Electric Test Flight
Following the successful installation and testing of the magniX propulsion system, Harbour Air and magniX will unveil the world’s first Beaver seaplane retrofitted with a 750 horsepower all-electric magni500 propulsion system for the inaugural test flight on Wednesday, December 11. The prototype will take flight from Harbour Air’s Richmond (YVR South) location.
Public Says No to Raise for Council
Respondents to a City of Victoria online survey voted against raising Victoria council salaries to $71,000 a year, a 55 per cent increase. Eight six per cent of respondents voted in strong opposition. Councillor Ben Isitt first proposed this change early November and at the time said the current salary for councillors is not adequate for the time requirements. More than 5,000 Victoria residents and business owners responded to the survey.
Victoria Named Most Bikeable Canadian City
Redfin, a real estate brokerage, has named Victoria the number-one bikeable city in the country. The brokerage’s scoring system measures how cyclist friendly a city is and takes into account several factors including access to bike lanes, road connectivity and “hilliness.” Victoria’s score was 80/100, followed by Vancouver with 79 and Montreal with 73. Victoria was rated the highest due to the network of bike lanes and bike paths, including the Galloping Goose Regional Trail.
Victoria Hand Project receives $1 million grant
The Victoria Hand Project has received a $1 million grant from The TD Ready Challenge, an annual North American initiative that gives grants to catalyze innovative solutions for a changing world. The Hand Project is a UVic initiative that provides 3D-printed prosthetic hands to amputees in seven developing countries around the world. The groups says they will now be able to extend their reach to help people in underserved and remote communities in Canada and the US.
This web article is from December, 2019.
