MAPPING VICTORIA - January 2026

Capital Culture District Approval - Posted January 9, 2026

As reported by CHEK TV, last night Victoria City Council unanimously voted in favour of the Capital Culture District proposed by Reliance Properties with final rubber stamp approval to follow once all the legal and planning requirements are in place. Other details emerged in the council meeting not reported by CHEK; for example, clarity on the number of housing units. In response to a Councillor Krista Laughton's question Reliance Properties president and CEO Jon Stovell stated current plans called for 484 strata condo and 157 rental suites for a total of 641. Stovell also indicated a possible build out of the full project within 7-10 years depending on market conditions with a new home for the Greater Victoria Art Gallery included in the first phase.

Reliance Properties is contributing the land as public amenity at no cost; however, now it's up the Art Gallery to raise the funds necessary for construction. Current contingency plans are to extend the public plaza to include the proposed gallery footprint if they are unable to do so. The Gallery's 2025-2030 Strategic Plan references a new home as one of five goals, but no other information has been made available at this time including costs. In April 2022 the Gallery named Nancy Noble as the new Director and CEO which is significant because as the director of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia from 2016-2022 she led an international design competition for their new waterfront gallery and raised $110 million towards its $140 million capital campaign. The new Nova Scotia Art Gallery was paused indefinitely by the provincial government in June 2022 citing concerns about spiraling construction costs which would have pushed the budget far beyond the initial $137 million.

The July 27, 2022 Global News story also reported "the province had committed $70 million to the project, the federal government $30 million and Halifax Regional Municipality committed $7 million. As well, the Donald R. Sobey Foundation and the Sobey Foundation pledged $10 million for the project in November 2020." Ah yes, Sobeys, the Nova Scotia based grocery firm that bought out local Victoria chain Thrifty Foods in 2007. Should be interesting to see to what extent they contribute to the fund raising effort as the Sobey family are well known art collectors and their private art collection was featured at the Victoria Art Gallery in 2024.

As for the the cost of a new Victoria art gallery in 2026 dollars, a conservative estimate would be in the $120-150 million range as the initial plans are not as ambitious as the Halifax design by KPMB. Which leads us to the final consideration - all councillors and Mayor Alto spoke positively about the proposal and it's impact on the northern edge of downtown, but there was little to no mention of the actual architecture and design of the buildings. Discussion did occur about pathways, site access, street level issues, commercial space, plazas - all very important considerations to be sure: however no one was wowed by the buildings themselves. While the age of wacky art gallery and libraries is hopefully behind us, the building itself is very utilitarian as are the residential and light industrial buildings. Overall the look will be cohesive, the surroundings pleasant but not inspiring or a draw in themselves. What's your take - agree or agree to disagree?

Victoria Rising: My Crystal Balls 2026 Forecast - Posted January 2, 2026

With so much uncertainty in the development and real estate market I decided I needed not just one, but two crystal balls to predict what lies ahead in 2026. But like all crystal ball visions (and hotboxed cars) expect puffs of smoke, hazy views and a bit of confusion. Now that I've lowered expectations it can only go up from here.

Yates Street Cooking

The Cook and Yates street intersection will be an interesting one to watch in 2026 - of interest to some will be the opening of Popeye's Chicken in the Nest. Hey now, finally an appropriate location for Popeye's - better than Tuscany Village, no? Across the street at 1101 Yates we won't see anything rising, but possible approval of Jawl Properties' 19 and 6-storey buildings; however, don't expect construction until 2027 at the earliest. On the west side of the intersection we'll see 1050 Yates start to pile on the storeys above ground while 1045 Yates will be fully excavated and the concrete will flow as the underground parking is built.

1050 Yates with The Nest condo in the background - photo Dec 26, 2025

1101 Yates St Proposal

1045 Yates St - photo Dec 24, 2025

Design Reveals

2026 will see the design unveiling of two massive projects - the new $209 million Crystal Pool replacement and the $416 million Belleville Terminal. While work is underway with the removal of the existing Clipper Terminal building and dredging to remove contaminated soils, the design of the new terminal building has yet to be finalized. Indications are it'll reflect an Indigenous design and a low building height to preserve harbour views. As for the Crystal Pool the last quarterly update on October 27, 2025 stated "schematic design kicked off in mid-October and preliminary technical site studies have wrapped up". The City plans to take over the YMCA Broughton Street location by Fall 2026 for the five year construction period; hopefully we'll see the plans for the new before they demolish the old. Is it me or is five years a crazy long time for a pool/recreation facility?

Another building set for a final reveal is UVic's 17-storey student housing on Sinclair Road which will be released in early Spring 2026 with construction to follow shortly after. We can only hope the initial renderings by highly respected Diamond Schmitt Architects were more concept/massing studies or misplaced drawings for a medium security prison facility.

September 20, 2022 CHEK story on the project

Design to be determined - image © City of Victoria

Douglas Street Corridor

We're beginning to see some action on the various master plans around town many of which have been in the works for years with big name developers and political support behind them. Perhaps more interesting is long anticipated densification of the Douglas Street corridor from the north side of downtown through to Mayfair Shopping Centre and linking up to Saanich's Uptown Douglas Plan.

The rezoning by Saanich is already having an impact as plans for a Mercedes dealership were dropped in favour of 23 and 21 storey residential towers at 816 Cloverdale Avenue. The stretch of Douglas street from The Crystal Gardens to Whole Foods at Uptown is 4.2 km in length and has been discussed as a future light rail transit route. The Burnside neighbourhood section is about to undergo a long overdue transformation while the City aims to retain light industrial land in the area. While not quite a stroad, coming into downtown via Douglas is not the greatest introduction to Victoria and hopefully the changes incorporate pedestrian friendly street level and neighbourhood design in addition to the inevitable residential towers.

The Douglas Street Corridor will be the subject of a future deep dive here on MappingVictoria, but for the 2026 Crystal Balls forecast we present a visual overview proposed or under construction projects along the corridor. Before we get to look at pictures let's start with a longer term residential development strategy on the route as reported by CRBE in their Victoria Industrial Figures Q3 report:

In Q2 2025, Jim Pattison acquired a portfolio of three car dealerships in the Midtown area and included two adjacent properties, Campus Infiniti and Campus Nissan, with Campus Honda located separately. Subsequently, at the end of Q3 2025, Jim Pattison finalized the acquisition of Campus Acura, which is also adjacent to the initial two co-located properties. The three contiguous dealerships (Campus Infiniti, Campus Nissan, and Campus Acura) are reportedly being considered for redevelopment into a residential site, while simultaneously providing substantial holding income.

1961 Douglas St - Under Construction

2659 Douglas St - Nearing Completion

584 Burnside Rd E - Completed in 2025

611 Speed Ave - Nearing Completion

3075 Douglas St - Proposal

760 Tolmie Ave - Proposal

816 Cloverdale Ave - Proposal

For a deeper dive into 2026 check out MappingVictoria's Project Listing page for proposed and under construction projects.

Uptown Residential - Proposal

McClure St - The Samuel Proposal - Posted January 2, 2026

Not the Samuel Maclure - perhaps the developers are confused on the origins of the street name; hopefully not a harbinger of things to come. Check out MappingVictoria's project page for 915 McClure for clarity on the naming confusion but more importantly the building info for this 6 storey rental building by Harbinger Properties.

Project plans were submitted and received by the City on December 23, 2025. The Christine Lintott Architects designed slim apartment building replaces a duplex on the edge of downtown in the Fairfield neighbourhood.

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