Infilling of Nanaimo’s urban lots could bring a 211-unit multi-family and townhouse development to the Boxwood and Northfield roads intersection.
The development application for the Midtown Gateway residential project, submitted by Path Developments, came before the City of Nanaimo’s design advisory panel at its meeting Thursday, June 26.
What’s proposed is a phased development with two six-storey multi-family apartment buildings, plus three-storey townhouses on the west side of the of the 2.15-hectare property at 2330 Boxwood Rd. The full project would bring 211 residential units of various types and sizes that will range in size from 506 to 1,570 square feet, according to the city staff design comment report.
The buildings proposed are described as a modern, flat-roof design. All multi-family units feature weather-protected balconies with clear glass or picket guardrails.
The townhouses will have similar design style. Each unit will have an individual garage, generous glazing and a coloured front door to provide visual interest, the report noted.
“The development forms part of the Midtown Gateway improvements,” said Payton Carter, city planner, who noted the property is zoned as mixed corridor and is on the site of former mine workings.
“One of the key consideration in this design was the ability to phase this development, both above grade and below grade,” said Neil Banich, WA Architects Ltd. design director.
He said access to the property will be through a new connector road that will run north-south between the Northfield and Boxwood roads on the east side of the development site to allow access to surface and underground parking. Banich said surface parking is expected to be “very low-volume … with mostly visitors.”
The city’s parking requirement for the development is 264 stalls, but the developer asked for a variance of 37 fewer stalls and proposes making up for the difference by incorporating an electric vehicle car share service on the site.
“Even with the variance the project still maintains a one-per-unit ratio and this really seems to align with ongoing trends we’re seeing in many municipalities, both on the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island, so we’re pretty confident this project will be well served with the ratio we’re proposing,” he said.
Banich said the project will incorporate design efficiencies to keep building costs down while maintaining individual character for each unit.
“We really want to deliver an efficient and economically viable project … We want to ensure that this product is attainable for everybody trying to get into the market,” he said.
Units fronting public streets will have direct street access, while units facing the inner plazas will have added landscaping and separation from the parking and all units facing streets will be slightly above grade.
“The northwest plaza provides barrier-free public access and a clear wayfinding to building entries … which is a flexible space to provide a range of informal uses, seating, gathering and passive recreation as well as observation,” said Nigel Gray, landscape architect with McDonald Gray Consultants. “The southwest plaza provides additional landscape buffering from the busy Northfield Road intersection … The programming is similar to the northwest plaza with addition of a more reflective space that embraces a public art installation.”
A proposed sculpture entitled Stqe’ye (Wolf) by Snuneymuxw artist Eliot White-Hill, Kwulasultun, has been selected for the site.
Staff recommendations included considering a pedestrian connection from the main site entrance through the site and from surface parking areas to building entrances and from the townhouses to Boxwood Road. Staff also asked for additional trees and shrubbery for the outdoor plazas.
The design advisory panel supported the parking variance and recommended that the project move ahead to the next stage of the development application process.
