611 Chatham Street / 610 Herald Street

DENCITI DEVELOPMENT CORP has assembled nine Downtown lots and hopes to build a five-storey 274‐unit market rental building with ground floor commercial space fronting Chatham, Government and Herald Streets. It will contain suites ranging in size from 334 square feet to 842 square feet; 143 or 52 percent are studio units; 87 units (32 percent) 1-bedroom, and 44 (16 percent ) 2-bedroom. 

Its development application went to the City in September 2020.

In a December 2020 letter to City council, the Downtown Residents Association stated: “The DRA [Land Use Committee] encourages Council to fully support the City of Victoria’s Old Town Design Guidelines and requests this proposal be reconfigured so that it is not at odds with the historic architectural rhythm that makes Chinatown a National Historic Site. In our opinion, it is not compliant with existing policy nor would it be in the public interest for this application to be approved in its current form.”

Site coverage of 73 percent is proposed. Besides expressing concern about the height variance required, the DRA noted: “The sheer size of this proposal with its extremely long, and repetitive facade is out of context with the typical rhythm of historic development in Old Town and particularly the Chinatown local area and is offside with the recently updated Old Town Design Guidelines.”

Return to Development and Architecture