[James Bay] Crystalview condo | 12- & 9-storeys | Canceled in Sept 2008

[zingzamzoom]

This city really drives me nuts. That article is full of contradictions that have no bearing in reality at all. Of course, they have all been pointed out already by other members.... It seems that a 21 story tower would fit in quite well when opposite of it sits a tower that is 20 stories tall. Most ironic though is the fact that James Bay is home to Victoria's current tallest, so, in fact a matching tower would fit best IN James Bay. These people are silly. Why is height such a scary thing? Move the city forward people, not backwards.

Aaron

[Baro]

Victoria currently has two sort of highrise clusters. There's the CIBC building to the Y-lot in "downtown" and then there's the james bay highrises (the tallest in the city). This building is smack dab in the middle and will act as a conection between the two clusters, which really are only seperated by a few blocks.

so we've got from north to south looking from the harbour a12 story, 14 story, 18 story, 20 story, nothing, 20 story, 17 story, 14 story, 12 story just to name a few.

Hmmmm what number would fit into this pattern in the 'nothing spot' ? Obviously not a 19-21 story building! Totally out of place! 2:1 fsr 3 story only please! What?? The gallery can't be built without the project as a whole? Greedy developer's lies! I demand the city cast a magic wand and the developers simply give the money for no reason, otherwise I rather have nothing or wait 50 years on a vauge assumption that something else will come along some time.

[aastra]

... each floor of the high rise represents a million-dollar profit for the developer and argued that “the gallery would be paid off by the time you got to the 10th or 11th storey.”

So we're saying you can reap a guaranteed $20 million profit by building a $60 million highrise? If true, it seems even the developers themselves don't realize how obscenely profitable the Victoria market is. How else to explain the handful of highrise proposals around town over the past several years?

Heck, if those numbers were even close to realistic, you and I and everyone else would be getting together to build highrise condo buildings.

[aastra]

Crystal Court Motel...is a stone’s throw from several of the city’s most important heritage and tourist attractions – Royal B.C. Museum, Mungo Martin long house, St. Ann’s Academy, Crystal Garden, the Fairmont Empress Hotel and the provincial legislature.

Darned editors. They must have trimmed out the rest of the sentence, the part about how the area around the Crystal Court is being transformed into a high density residential neighbourhood. The transformation has been happening slowly but surely for the past 30 years or so, starting with the Savoy and its immediate neighbours. That faux art deco building behind the QV Hotel was next. Then came City Place, and then Astoria and Belvedere. Aria is under construction as we speak, as is the Falls.

Heck, you could argue the trend started even before the Savoy came on the scene: there's also that ancient junior highrise behind St. Ann's Academy.

When you consider the bigger picture, the notion of introducing a residential highrise building into the mix doesn't seem quite so ludicrous after all.

[hungryryno]

Marg Gardner, secretary-treasurer of the James Bay whatever... sounds like a well educated person to say such smart things... especially about the profit / floor thing and the 21-storey condo wouldn't fit in the area thing!!!

Marg Gardner for Mayor :lol:

maybe she has some stakes in the QV hotel and doesn't want her view of all the other high-rises ruined... for the tourists of course :shock:


Seriously though, why is it that the T-C only interviews or quotes the rally good ones???

[hungryryno]

really (I type too fast. oops :roll:

[G-Man]

^ Actually that was Victoria news

[Ms. B. Havin]

I'm not going to blame Brennan Clarke for the article's title or its blurb ("Developer offers to pay for new art gallery exhibit space in return for '400 per cent' density lift"). That's probably the editor's doing. But I think the rest of the article is pretty biased, too. Out of the 500 words that follow, "density" is used 5 times, and never positively. The middle bulk is taken up by worries and scares presented as "fact." For example, "...Marc Pakenham said the recent spate of tall buildings approved by Victoria council is emboldening other developers to test the limits of city policy," which conjures vandals at the gates, doesn't it? That Mr. Pakenham said what he said is a fact; that he spoke factually, however, isn't. I'm not sure any of us know for a fact what exactly "emboldens" developers. Psychic prognostication (on Pakenham's part) shouldn't be treated seriously (by respectable newspapers). It's the Victoria News, not the Cassandra News, but in the rush to get people excited, anything goes.

At the same time, he manages to miss every opportunity to dig critically, too. If he starts by saying that this proposal asks for a 400% density lift (in scare quotes -- why?, isn't it true?), then why doesn't he pin the traffic consultant to the wall when he insists that traffic will only increase 2-3%? I mean, people want to know. What's that figure based on? What's the 400% based on? Why bandy numbers about if they mean nothing?

[Icebergalley]

At least BClarke didn't take a quote from BARRA's mid April posting which included a traffic planner's opinion..

TRAFFIC! - it is impossible to access this site by car unless you are driving eastbound on Belleville. The current driveway access - so close to an intersection - would never be allowed now, and initial response from one of the traffic planners was along the lines of - "Now way Jose!".

Funny thing, it's impossible to access Roots unless you are driving northward along Government Street -

[Holden West]

Aren't there two west bound lanes on Belleville already?

It seems to me if I were driving to James Bay (which I may have done only once or twice in my life) I'd just as soon take Superior St.

I'm trying, but I'm having difficulty seeing how this project in particular will cause traffic anarchy.

[Icebergalley]

You can check Randall's posting at the beginning of this thread..

Bellville has 4 lanes each way... but....

The Douglas Bellville intersection has turning lanes which reduce the accessibility to the west end of the site...

you're not supposed to cross a double line as well....

ps: There are currently six curb cuts for access to the motel.. I'm sure that the opinion that the No Way Jose' traffic planner expressed meant that a new proposal would not get approval for several of them...

[Ms. B. Havin]

^ I think car access from Belleville is entirely eliminated in the new proposal.

[Icebergalley]

OH!..

Have you got a new site plan?

Are they now planning to access the site from Douglas or Blanshard?

[Ms. B. Havin]

No, no new site plan to (my) hand, but my "inside source" (AGGV friends & supporters who went to the Fairfield presentation of Crystalview a few days back) raved about how Belleville isn't full of driveways. Not sure about whether new exits/ entrances are on Douglas or on Blanshard, though. I guess we could see the updated plan when Westbank presents to the DRA?

[Icebergalley]

I was getting my info from the site plan that Randall posted when he started the thread.. as well as a "site visit" as I walked past..


On the site plan the project had only two curb cuts.. which have arrows on them.... an in and and out.

One can also see the entrance to the parking garage... on the west side of the tower podium..

[Ms. B. Havin]

I see that Rob Randall just posted an announcement of Westbank's upcoming presentation to the DRA on the General Discussion thread, here.

[VicHockeyFan]

Originally Posted by Ms. B. Havin

I see that Rob Randall just posted an announcement of Westbank's upcoming presentation to the DRA on the General Discussion thread, [url=http://vibrantvictoria.ca/forum/viewtopic.php?p=24592#24592:2f9aa]here[/url:2f9aa].

It seems Randall has his fingers in every pie baked around here lately. At some point, it'll all collapse like a house of cards.

[Nparker]

If it gets the tower portion of this project built, could Westbank give the city the equivalent $$$ scheduled to be used for the AGGV satellite, to invest in a proper new gallery and library at Centennial Square. BTW I am going to continue to propose this concept until the City comes to its senses and realizes this is the ONLY logical plan with which to proceed.

[G-Man]

I think that is a pretty good idea because if you add up first the construction costs and second the price of that portion of land you would be able to invest a much larger portion of money on another cheaper option.

[Mike K.]

At the downtown Crystalview presentation last night a Westbank rep mentioned that they are hoping for Advisory Planning Committee and public hearing approval by September. Advisory Design Panel, an oftentimes arduous process in Victoria, will follow public hearing approval as per the Hudson.

[Holden West]

OK, this explains the non-sensical quote in last week's Vic News:

Corrections

An April 18 story about plans to build a 21-storey high-rise on the site of Crystal Court Motel contained an error regarding the comments of Queen Victoria Hotel owner Tony Hartnell.

Hartnell said a seven-storey building on the north side of his building site would block 100 per cent of his hotel’s views of the Inner Harbour.

His statement about blocking 60 per cent of the hotel’s views referred to a building on the south side of the property that was erected in 1998.

[G-Man]

So they are recycling quotes now?

[Rob Randall]

The floorplate of the 19 storey tower is at right. The 21 storey version is a slimmer curve and has more open space around it:



The entrance and exit to the parking can be seen below the scultpture garden:

[zingzamzoom]

oops

[zingzamzoom]

Those watercolors are really nice. The watergarden is really fantastic. There seems to be a quaint simplicity to this design that is quite striking to me. I can't quite grasp the scale of the tower though. It seems to have an outrageously small floorplate, although I am sure that is because I have accustomed myself to Victoria's current standards. Overall, I think ths is very beautiful and I look forward to seeing this project go forward.

Aaron