CRD purchasing Brentwood Bay strip mall for housing

A strip mall in Brentwood Bay long identified for redevelopment is being eyed as a potential location for an affordable-housing project by the Capital Regional District, which says its offer to buy the property has been accepted.

Central Saanich Mayor Ryan Windsor said the location at 1183 Verdier Ave., which is close to transit and other services, had long been marked for densification in the municipality’s official community plan.

Developers had pitched various ideas for the site over the years but none had been realized — including a three-building development around 2008, he said. “That was right before the financial crisis hit.”

Windsor said the CRD purchase will help support Central Saanich’s goal of increasing its housing supply.

He hopes the development will be complete by 2026 or 2027. “We have a housing crisis, let’s get on with it,” Windsor said.

No rental housing was built in Central Saanich between 1977 and 2013, but the municipality has added hundreds of rentals in the past decade, he said.

The CRD said on Friday that $5 million from the Regional Housing First Program had already been committed to the purchase, but it is still seeking additional funding partners.

Besides affordable housing, the proposed development is expected to include about 2,000 square feet of commercial space intended for a daycare, it said in its Friday statement.

A CRD spokesperson did not provide a sale price or further details of the proposed development, but said the regional district is hoping to partner with provincial and federal governments on the project.

A pizza shop, a cannabis store and a dollar store are among the current tenants of the one-storey commercial building just off the Brentwood Bay village roundabout.

The property is owned by a numbered company and was assessed at just over $5 million as of last July, with the B.C. Registry office listing James Liu of Victoria as company president.