A development including a hotel, towers and about 700 homes is planned for the northern edge of downtown Nanaimo, B.C., a city setting records this year for building permit values.
The project, which has yet to go to public hearing, would replace the now-closed Howard Johnson hotel, some older buildings and a surface parking lot on a seven-acre site near the Millstone River.
Riverfront improvements, a park and a public multi-use trail are among plans for the property.
Nanaimo council gave second reading to the proposal on Monday.
Mayor Leonard Krog said the development would be “transformational” for the area.
“That is a site that has cried out for redevelopment and improvement,” he said.
Project master planner Franc D’Ambrosio of D’Ambrosio architecture + urbanism said the project is aimed at completing downtown Nanaimo.
He said previously that development costs would top $200 million.
The property was created by reshaping an island off the mouth of the original Mill Creek then filling it in for various uses, most recently in the 1970s.
Plans include a variety of housing types on a network of streets, with pedestrian paths, traffic calming and commemoration of the area’s Indigenous history.
The goal is to “leave behind a much richer landscape than we found,” D’Ambrosio said.
This project is among several major developments that have come before council in recent months, illustrating the appetite for investment in Nanaimo, where there is a strong demand for housing.
The city has been growing at a rate of about 2 per cent annually and now has a population of close to 100,000.
In the first half of this year, the value of building permits reached $319 million, a record for those months. Of that figure, $238 million was for multi-family residential projects.
Last month, council heard that 16 new projects in various stages of approval would bring nearly 690 new housing units to Nanaimo’s downtown.
A total of 760 residential units would be allowed if the project was approved.
