Saanich’s McKenzie and Shelbourne area near the University of Victoria will be transformed over the coming years with several high density projects now under construction, nearing completion, or in the development pipeline, according to Citified’s real-estate data.

 

 

Due for full occupancy later this year is the approximately 600-unit University Heights redevelopment from South Carolina-based Greystar, which took over from Vancouver-based Wesbild Holdings to transform the University Heights Shopping Centre into a mixed-use residential and retail hub along McKenzie Avenue between Cedar Hill Road and Shelbourne Street. The first phase completed in 2025.

 

More information on University Heights is available here in a recently published Citified article.

 

Kitty-corner from University Heights to the southwest is a newly started social housing rental investment from the District of Saanich, BC Housing and the Capital Region Housing Corporation on the former site of the Library of Greater Victoria’s Nellie McClung branch, at 3950 Cedar Hill Road and McKenzie Avenue.

 

Starkly different from the typical lowrise format of new residences in that part of Saanich, the below-market build will rise as two towers of 18 and 10 storeys. 210 homes will be spread between them, with 20% rented at shelter rates, 50% offered with rents geared-to-income, and 30% categorized as near-market rentals, according to a statement from the District of Saanich.

 

The budget of $158.8 million also includes a new 29,000 square foot replacement for the Nellie McClung library. Completion is targeted for 2030.

 

On the block east of the rental and library project and directly south of University Heights, Vancouver-based Nicola Wealth is well into its construction program at 1555 McKenzie Avenue, where the company is redeveloping the former site of the McKenzie Professional Centre into just over 380 rental units and approximately 19,000 square feet of retail space. The six-storey low-rise, known as Podium, is expected to reach occupancy in 2027 or 2028.

 

 

The Capital Regional Housing District (CRHC), meanwhile, has submitted fresh plans for the Willowdene-Rosewood housing community along the 1800-block of McKenzie Avenue, between Shelbourne Street and the UVic campus. CRHC currently operates 59 units at Willowdene-Rosewood, and plans to redevelop the land into 259 homes across a trio of six-storey affordable apartments. Construction is likely to start by the late 2020s and complete by the early 2030s.

 

And last but not least, the CRHC is also involved in Campus View, a former 12-unit affordable townhome site on McKenzie Avenue just past Gordon Head Road opposite UVic’s northwest entrance, where nearly 120 below-market apartments in a six-storey block are under construction and expected to reach occupancy in 2028.

 

This cumulative project pipeline represents nearly 1,600 rental homes across the full spectrum of the housing market, from shelter-rate units all the way to top-of-market rental suites.

 

Side note: also in planning, albeit ‘re-paced’ according to the provincial government, is a 17-storey dormitory tower with 510 beds at UVic envisioned for Sinclair Road (McKenzie Avenue becomes Sinclair Road at the main entrance to UVic’s Ring Road at Finnerty Road). Funding has not been confirmed, nor have concrete construction or occupancy timelines been released by the Province. It is estimated, however, that construction could get underway in the early 2030s, despite occupancy being originally expected by 2029. C

 

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