The District of Saanich will proceed with a two-tower design at the site of Greater Victoria Public Library’s Nellie McClung branch on Cedar Hill Road at McKenzie Avenue, according to municipal documents and architectural designs from HCMA Architecture + Design.

 

 

After two years of public consultation and planning, the district has issued a development permit for the project, paving the way for a construction start as early as this year and completion targeted for 2029.

 

Building heights will reach nine and 18 floors at the 3950 Cedar Hill Road site, with a 29,000 square foot library at the base of a shared podium and 210 residences in the towers above. The housing make-up is currently described by the municipality as “affordable rental housing units.” Earlier communications from Saanich noted the suites would be allocated as 70% affordable, and 30% of homes will be priced at or just below market rental rates.

 

Housing management will fall under the auspices of the Capital Regional District’s Capital Regional Housing Corporation (CRHC), while funding support will be extended via Building BC’s Community Housing Fund grant program. Both the District of Saanich and the CRHC are partnered on the redevelopment.

 

Meanwhile, back in March the Nellie McClung library opened at a temporary location at 3561 Shelbourne Street to allow for demolition of the existing structure.

 

 

The area of upper Shelbourne Street at McKenzie Avenue is undergoing significant densification that will infuse a plethora of primarily rental homes within arm’s reach of UVic’s campus. Kitty-corner from the library development is University Heights Shopping Centre, currently undergoing a transition into a mixed-use residential and retail hub that upon completion in 2026 will deliver approximately 600 market rentals homes, the first of which are expected to reach occupancy later this year.

 

Immediately to the south of University Heights, a former medical office centre will be replaced with approximately 400 rental homes as part of a market rental investment. In the immediate area, several high density projects have completed in recent years, and others are proposed.

 

By 2035, Citified estimates approximately 2,000 high density housing units will be added to the Shelbourne/McKenzie community since the 2010s. C

 

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