Colwood corners construction delay expected to end come September

CHEK

WATCH: Colwood Corners is meant to be in the midst of a complete transformation but a construction project slated to be in full swing on Sooke Road is instead at a standstill. But as Luisa Alvarez reports, the delay may soon be done.

It’s been in the works for more than ten years. A site on Sooke Road is envisioned to be the core of a new downtown Colwood combining hundreds of apartment units and commercial space.

But when the first developer, League Assets Corp ran out of money in 2013, the development hit its first halt.  Then the Onni Group took over in 2014 and construction was expected to begin in the fall of 2017 yet it’s remained seemingly at a standstill.

Now in 2018, the question is still the same: when will it start? According to Brent Molnar, manager of development for the City of Colwood, the project has.

“They?ve been actively working with water that’s been building up in the lands and they?ve already received work permits to do that and they’re actively working on it. Very subtly below ground, they are working on it each week and getting closer to ground activity that we can see,” said Molnar.

As for that above ground action, Molnar says the city has done its part in issuing the building permit and now it’s up to the developer to get started.

“They?ve outlined to us that it will be the fall of this year to allow all of the groundwork to be in place and then that’s really up to them and securing in trades,? said Molnar.

CHEK News contacted the Onni Group to find out where exactly they are with the project but were told in an email there weren’t any updates available.

However, we were able to find out from Molnar that they’re in the midsts of getting permits to begin construction on the first four buildings.

“We are literally dotting the eyes and crossing the t?s to be able to issue those permits,” said Molnar.

Molnar adds once construction begins in September the project should move along swiftly.

“They are planning to move quite aggressively from one building to the next. They have four buildings under issuance right now but there are six, seven, eight buildings proposed for the entire project in the next seven years,” said Molnar.

Phase one will provide the eight buildings with 276 residential units and around 14,200 square meters of commercial space.

Luisa AlvarezLuisa Alvarez

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