Proposed condo development offers dramatic shift to downtown housing options

A proposed condo development for First Avenue West is certainly destined to become a popular conversation topic, with a photo presentation currently up for review that provides a stunning look at the footprint that the housing project would offer to the city's waterfront skyline.

The project which was introduced to Prince Rupert City Council on Monday night, and if approved for development, would be located in the lot directly across from the Harbour View apartments sweeping along the First Avenue West area and down along Bill Murray Way.

With Monday's City Council session suffering electronic gremlins, the presentation to Council (as well as the entire Council broadcast) was along the lines of a silent movie, leaving viewers at home with no audio to hear the finer points of the proposed development.

Councillor Blair Mirau however is helping to fill in some of the gaps from those electronic troubles, posting the photo found below to his Facebook page on Wednesday, providing some of the background to the project and asking for input from the community as to what they think of the proposed development.

Conceptual sketch of a proposed condo and commercial
development for 1st Avenue West across from Chances.
(photo from Coun. Blair Mirau's Facebook page)

The project, was outlined for Council by a group appearing at the Monday evening session,  with Jeremy Towning, Vice President and Franz Gehriger the CEO of the SwissReal Group out of Vancouver, along with Frank and Cynthia Pyde, listed as Owners/Parners in the condo and commercial development.

In the presentation Mr. Gehriger provided the background to the project which would provide for 80 units in seven storeys and dominate the waterfront vista in the area directly across from Chances and the North Coast Convention Centre.

The water side view would be one that takes full advantage of the Prince Rupert harbour view, while the city side faces onto a large open space that also features a secondary structure that would change our impression of that end of 1st Avenue West significantly.

Considering the lack of any large scale residential or commercial development in the city in recent years, the proposed development would make for a remarkable shift in focus for the downtown core and perhaps offer up the start of a bit of a rebirth in the long dormant area.

The Vancouver based real estate company has been involved in a number of impressive large scale developments in other British Columbia communities, you can review some of them here.

Those interested in offering their comments to the Councillor can provide them through the comments section of his Facebook page here.

For more items related to discussions at Prince Rupert City Council see our archive page here.

Further background on housing issues can be found here, while notes on commercial developments in the Northwest can be reviewed here.