University Heights redevelopment: Businesses close as construction ramps up

Construction at University Heights is pictured on June 15, 2022. (CTV News)

Saanich, B.C. — The University Heights redevelopment project in Saanich is moving from concept to reality as many retailers have closed, or are about to, including a major grocery store.

Save-On-Foods will be one of the last tenants to vacate the shopping plaza to make way for a massive mixed use development on the block bounded by Cedar Hill Road, McKenzie Avenue and Shelbourne Street.

The sign on the grocery store says it will close on June 25 and will be “gone for a while” during the mall renovation.

Some work has already begun at the site, with demolition of the entire mall beginning coming this fall.

Construction on four new buildings, comprised of rental apartments and commercial retail space, will be phased in over the next four years.

“It’s going to be a total live, work, play community,” says Matt Woodland, the managing director for Greystar Canada, the U.S.-based real-estate and property company responsible for the development.

“We’re delivering 592 rental units, a substantial portion of that is going to be affordable as well.”

Many of the rental units will be geared towards UVic students, offering hundreds of micro and studio sized housing apartments, with such amenities such as common study spaces.

“It’s a pretty chronically under-supplied market,” says Woodland. “So we’re going to cater some of the buildings to look a little bit more like student-oriented apartments and a couple of the buildings more like conventional rental apartments. So we’re catering to both the student demographic and the broader Saanich, Victoria market as well.”

There will also be a daycare up to 11,000 square feet in size, cycling infrastructure, a public plaza, community spaces, a BC Transit hub, electric vehicle charging infrastructure and modern, new commercial space.

“It’s going to be completely revitalized,” says Woodland. “More street-facing retail, grocery store, drug stores, banks, a variety of restaurants and food and beverage operators, so it will feel a lot more like a dynamic community.”

The existing mall was originally built in the early 1970s, then renovated and revitalized in the 1980s with the addition of a four-screen theatre, expanded retail and underground parking.

The redevelopment proposal was initially presented in 2017 and underwent several redesigns, community consultations and public hearings before being approved by Saanich council earlier this spring.

The existing Home Depot store on the same property is expected to remain open during the redevelopment and will also undergo an expansion and upgrades itself.

An Esso gas station at the corner of Mckenzie Avenue and Shelbourne Street will also remain.