A Vancouver company has applied to construct 151 rental units on three lots covering a 5.8-acre site at 2700 Mission Rd., near the new hospital in Courtenay.
OrrMoniz Projects Corp. is proposing a 39-unit apartment building on the first lot, a three-storey, 84-unit apartment on the second lot and 28 townhouses in four separate two-storey structures on the third lot.
The unit mixes are subject to change, says Tim Orr, a principal at OrrMoniz.
鈥淲e鈥檙e working on the 84-unit building right now, the studios and one bedrooms,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e want to create more family-sized units, so add some three bedrooms and some two bedrooms in there. That unit count will actually go down. It will probably be more in the 70 range.鈥�
The company has hosted an open house with neighbours, and spoken with North Island College and the hospital.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e having some serious issues keeping staff and keeping students, so we thought that may be a good mix (of units),鈥� Orr said, noting one of the lots will be 鈥榓ffordable鈥� and the other two will be market rental.
At this stage, he said rental rates are difficult to target because unit mixes are changing.
鈥淎nd you just don鈥檛 know what the market is going to do. It鈥檚 going to be market-driven.鈥�
The OrrMoniz property is directly across Veteran鈥檚 Memorial Parkway from a similar project at 2600 Mission Rd. The latter, from Woodsmere Holdings of Victoria, is a combined 94 apartments of varying sizes in a pair of four-storey buildings. Courtenay council has approved second reading. Several area residents spoke against the Woodsmere project at a public hearing in November. Some neighbours are unhappy about the height of the complex. Others are concerned about traffic congestion, safety and decreased property values.
Orr said about half the attendees at the OrrMoniz open house had positive comments about the project while the other half does not want change.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a growing area, and housing is a major need,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 totally understand both reasonings. We鈥檝e incorporated a lot of the input.鈥�
