Lights strung across the street, wide sidewalks and a front-facing fragment of history are enough to save a boutique hotel plan in downtown Victoria.
Facing challenges, developers of the Duck Block – at 1312 to 1324 Broad St. and 615 to 625 Johnson St. – looked to increase density on the site in the city’s Old Town District.
First approved as a six-storey build in 2021 city council (sitting as committee) OK’d eight storeys during its April 10 meeting.
Construction on the site started in 2023, with demolition, deconstruction and maintenance of two historic facades.
The heritage walls were in poorer condition than the original assessment suggested and the heritage abatement and restoration budget alone shot up from $1.6M to $5.1M, according to the application seeking increased density.
The original proposal included requirements to retain, rehabilitate and designate two heritage facades that remain, a publicly accessible laneway of Johnson Street, an $80,000 contribution to the Victoria housing reserve and reuse of materials on-site.
Those remain with the addition of a $50,000 cash contribution for the purchase of local art to be used in the interior of the proposed hotel; access to interior meeting space for the use of not-for-profit artist groups on a no-charge basis available quarterly for a maximum of eight hours per quarter for 10 years; and street lighting on Broad Street powered from existing city infrastructure. While providing a hotel with 167 rooms (13 tailored toward families), and commercial space it would appear to be three buildings from the street.
“Eight storeys in Old Town is pushing it a little bit, but I’m willing to contemplate heights up to that,” said Coun. Jeremy Caradonna.
“It’s a part of town that needs some love, it needs some investment.”
He credited staff and the proponent for collaboration to “stickhandle a somewhat tricky site”, specifically mentioning lights strung on the street, and a step-back solution pitched for the top two floors.
The height is inconsistent with those proposed in the official community plan, and was among the key reasons the Heritage Advisory Panel recommended council decline the rezoning request. That spurred work between staff and the proponent, landing on two storeys stepped back and a change in materials to flank those floors to minimize the impact on the historic streetscape.
It’s an opportunity for the rejuvenation of downtown, particularly Broad Street, noted Coun. Chris Coleman.
“I’m aware there are some folks who are not enthusiastic about what they would describe as ‘facadism’ but I think it does have a role to play in some instances, and this is one of those,” he said.
Coun. Dave Thompson, acknowledging there have been those who voiced concerns about heritage values and height, agreed the changes were supportable, and local businesses need the customers that hotels bring.
“People are used to seeing new and old buildings combined… they’re no longer surprised,” he said. “We get a lot of views, and we hear them all … we have to make decisions in the best interest of the city overall.”
