[Downtown Victoria] The Union | Condos | 5- and 5-storeys | U/C

[gumgum]

I'm surprised there isn't a thread on this lot yet, so here it is.


Sifting through http://www.businessvi.ca I came across a little blurb on this lot:

Amadon recently sold the property that would have been home to the Bambu condos, and is looking to build a 2,.8 acre residential/commercial development in Mill Bay.

Anyone have any details on this? Who bought it, etc?

[Icebergalley]

I understand that the "Buckerfield" lands currently aka Bambu was sold to Anthem Properties, current owner of Market Square.

Perhaps it would be better to name this thread as the Buckerfield Property and Theatre Alley..

Since Theatre Alley has been blocked for several years now, it might get forgotten..

[gumgum]

That quote from businessvi.ca was from a Feb 10th, 2007 release.
Therefore it's been sold again.

[Dylan Leblanc]

There's still an alley somewhere in there? Or is this one of those things where the city is requiring another through block walkway, even if there's nothing along it?

[Holden West]

It's on the Interweb.

[Holden West]

Holden West risks life, limb and capture by flat-foot rent-a-cops to bring you the inside pics:

[gumgum]

Did you get burnt by security?
Rebel.

[Holden West]

No cop's ever caught me. I'm like mercury on a greased ice cube, baby.

[G-Man]

Theatre Alley is a former walkway that used to be on this property at the far East end.

[Galvanized]

Do the owners of this lot have to pay the city for the lost parking revenue out front due to the cement blocks that are used to help hold up the burnt building?

[Mike K.]

Good question. Perhaps insurance covers that?

[aastra]

Am I misunderstanding something here? Amadon was the Bambu developer, yes? Thus, the reference to Amadon's recent sale of the property must refer to the events of late 2005, when Anthem acquired it.

Regarding that Theatre Alley website and the news item about the plan for a parkade in Chinatown:

Merchants in the Market Square, Chinatown, and Store Street area have suffered from lack of parking, he (Deputy City Engineer Clive Timms) said.

This statement was made in 1987. No new parking has been built around there since then (nothing significant, anyway). So are the merchants still suffering from lack of parking or did the problem magically go away?

[Holden West]

You're right, aastra. AFAIK, the land is still owned by Anthem (owners of Market Square). No new news here.

[Icebergalley]

Originally Posted by G-Man

Theatre Alley is a former walkway that used to be on this property at the far East end.

One morning I was speaking about the former Theatre and Theatre Alley with my early morning associates...

One of them mentioned that he hadn't seen people from a store in Market Sq. come in to "The Bean" since they started the Bambu project - parking lot closed.. Closed pathway means resistribution of the coffee and muffin market eh?

If you look at the sign that the Downtown Residential Assoc has posted to mark mark their work on tarting up the penetenitary fencing around the site you will see that they have noted Theatre Alley..

If any of you have crossed through there when the site was a parking lot, you may have seen Theatre Alley marked out with survey graffitii on the pavement..

It's been there a long time as part of the community...

Earlier this year someone posted a 1910? landuse map which included Chinatown and the Chinese Theatre was shown on it..

Lest we forget... in our haste to disparge mid block walkways...

In thinking about them and their value for a Vibrant Victoria, go look at the floor plan of the Mayfair and Hillside Malls and remember that the designers have incorporated many of them in their layouts.. - just like some of the wonderful urban spaces with lots of (groan) "permeability" for the pedestrian (shopper)...

[gumgum]

Originally Posted by Holden West

You're right, aastra. AFAIK, the land is still owned by Anthem (owners of Market Square). No new news here.

What the hell? That article was dated feb 10th 2007.
Does 2 years ago constitute a recent event? :smt102
Whatever. Sorry for the confusion.

[Icebergalley]

GumGum..

Was good to get site back on people's radar..

[Caramia]

Merchants and businesses are still suffering from lack of parking... for staff as much as customers. Some of the employees at Swans still need to run out every so often to plug metres.

[Holden West]

The alley markings photo and 1910 map Icebergalley mentions are in the history link I posted above.

Vibrant Victorians like good walkways and hate bad ones. I think a revived Theatre Alley could be a good one.

[Dylan Leblanc]

Al walkway through that property would be good as long as there are things in the walkway, like residential entrances or stores. Like Fan Tan alley.

[Caramia]

With retail all the way up the alley I think it would work great. Dragon Alley is nice, and Fan Tan alley is marvelous.

[G-Man]

There is no parking problem in Chinatown there are parkades all over the downtown core. If anything there is an overabundance of surface parkingin and around Chinatown.

Current Parking:
- lot on 600 block Fisgard

- City owned parkade 600 Fisgard

- lot between Herald and Fisgard in the 500 block.

- lot on the old Clicks Parking.

- lot on the corner of Store and Herald.

- gravel lots Store and Chatham

- lot next to Janion building.

I mean if every neighbourhood needed this much off street parking then Victoria would look like Winnipeg.

[gumgum]

People have this perception that there's a parking problem in the d/t core. For a d/t, Victoria doesn't have a problem.

[Caramia]

Still it is hard to tell that to hotel guests who have had to treck two blocks past Streetlink or employees that have been on Robbins waiting list for parking for months.

I'm not a fan of cars. I won't own one myself. But I can sure feel for people who are moving their cars between parking meters while this big empty space sits idle.

[Icebergalley]

It's a lack of "free parking" problem...

When I first moved here I was wondering why all these people trickled out of St. Ann's Academy.. and moved their cars every couple of hours..

I guess it's the same everywhere..

Perhaps someone has a link to the UTNE Reader article of way back when "The Cost Of Free Parking"..

[Caramia]

Well, one woman I am working with has been on a waiting list for a paid parking spot for over a year now. When one finally came up for $120 dollars a month she was delighted! Literally leaping for joy hehe. Maybe what it is, is that we dont have enough of the right kind of parking. I agree, if all you want is to park your car for a couple of hours, you are fine, you can generally find a spot. But if you need to leave your car all day or all night, that's when it seems to get harder to find the spots.

Of course, the best way would be to have a decent public transit system both within downtown and to downtown, as well as having the residential stock in and around downtown being employed within a few blocks of their neighbourhood. But in that awkward time where we have neither, parking is a problem for people working down there.