A development permit was issued by Cumberland council which will allow the Vancouver Island and Coast Discovery centre to move forward.

The permit not only allows for the building of the Discovery Centre; but also six ancillary buildings which are expected to include restaurants and tourism related retail businesses.

Trilogy will be developing the six ancillary buildings and it also has the option to purchase hundreds of acres of land that surrounds the Discovery Centre in the Comox Valley.

Trilogy received rezoning approval from Cumberland that will allow for a vast Vancouver Island residential and commercial development on the lands. It is expected that by late September or early October a marketing launch will occur for the Comox Valley residential and commercial development.

John Evans, CEO of Trilogy stated that his company is to donate the land where the Discovery Centre will be situated. Evans’ expects the centre will initiate the larger Comox Valley project.

According to the staff report on the development permit, the Discovery Centre in Cumberland will be just over 7,000 square feet and the ancillary buildings will include 11,500 square feet of retail and 7,500 square feet of restaurant space.

An additional 8,400 square feet of restaurants or drive-thrus are proposed for phase two of the Vancouver Island project.

Construction of the Comox Valley Discovery Centre is expected to begin next month.

To learn more on the Discovery Centre visit the Comox Valley Echo.

The Strathcona Regional District is accepting Tenders from general contractors that are qualified to perform work in order to complete the Aquatic Centre renovations in Campbell River. Tenders for this Vancouver Island project closes on July 15^th, 2010 at 2pm.

Read more about Campbell River at 1stView.ca.

On June 23^rd a public hearing was held in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island regarding a seven unit multi-family residential building designed with a “mariner theme”. The multi-family home project is expected to receive third reading at the July 2st council meeting.

This Vancouver Island real estate project will feature two, three-story buildings that connect a two-storey captain’s house. An official community plan amendment and rezoning is required for this project. The Comox Valley’s town’s advisory design board and planning committee has approved the application.

Construction of this Vancouver Island home project will commence construction as soon as possible once the application receives rezoning development approval.

To find out more about Vancouver Island real estate visit 1stView.ca.

The Comox Valley Regional District (CVRD) board awarded the tender for design and construction of 150 metres of trail at Barbara Road, located in the Huband Road area of the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island to J.A.D. Enterprises Ltd. of Lantzville.

The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure approved that the Comox Valley area at Barbara Road be used as a public greenway trail. This Vancouver Island project will include an escalated boardwalk structure over 134 metres of the 214 metres long path. When completed, there will be an engineered bridge crossing and gravel paths at both ends.

The total cost of this Comox Valley project on Vancouver Island is $73,000.  Part of the funding will come from a Federal Grant for $36,000.

Work crews will be on this Comox Valley site from July 5^th to August 10^th.

Learn more about Vancouver Island on 1stView.ca.

These luxurious Crown Isle golf course homes located in the Comox Valley onVancouver Island include an open concept living area and are exquisitely finished.  Corinthia Estates is located between the 6^th and 7^th fairways with mountain views and glacier views.  These Vancouver Island homes provide underground and above ground parking spaces, with optional golf cart parking and storage lockers.

View these Crown Isle golf course condominiums that are located in the Comox Valley, during their open house hours on Saturdays from 11:30am to 12:30pm.

Excerpted from 1stView.ca.

There has been an application made on Vancouver Island to rezone a parcel of land near the corner of Lancaster Way and MacDonald Road in the Comox Valley, from single family residential homes to multi-family zoned.

Plans for this new Vancouver Island home site will include a 58-unit development consisting of a mix of duplexes and four-plexes.

The Vancouver Island real estate project is presently in the stages of preliminary approval and was received at the Advisory Planning Commission meeting.

For more on Vancouver Island real estate projects visit 1stView.ca.

On July 5^th, 2010, the plans for the construction of a new Costco in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, received the go ahead.

City Council has agreed to issue the necessary development permit allowing the 142,000 sq ft wholesale store and four-island gas bar to proceed in Courtenay. Although, it will be subject to a number of conditions such as storm water management, parking, landscaping and lighting.

There have been concerns made from the Vancouver Island residents of the Comox Valley in regards to noise from the Costco loading dock. In order to address these concerns, there have been arrangements made for an anti-noise wall by the loading dock and along the northern boundary of the development site located in the Comox Valley, a two-metre noise reduction fence.

Costco is planned to go alongside Crown Isle Boulevard off Ryan Road, between Home Depot and the Toyota auto dealership in Courtenay. This land is already zoned for commercial development; but detailed plans needed to be approved by the City prior to the project moving forward.

Costco will be the biggest single retail store in the Comox Valley. It is bigger than either the Nanaimo or Langford outlets on Vancouver Island and offers more full-service facilities. There will be extensive landscaping, including tree planting in and around the 687-stall parking lot in order to alleviate the appearance of the building.

Part of this Vancouver Island project provides for traffic signals at the intersection of Ryan Road and Crown Isle Boulevard in Courtenay.

The development director for Costco stated that a typical Costco warehouse provides jobs for 250 to 300 people, some of which are full-time and others part-time. The average wage is $19.17 an hour, with wages starting at $11.00 an hour to the top rate of $21.35 an hour.  Some of the staffing for the new Comox Valley Costco will be transferred from other stores to provide experienced personnel on site; but they most likely they will be recruiting locally.  The arrival of Costco to the Courtenay location of Vancouver Island will help create jobs for the unemployed in the Comox Valley.

Councillors unanimously supported the plan after asking several questions, in particular about the noise reduction.

To read more on this article see the Comox Valley Echo.

Vancouver Island Real Estate Board (VIREB) released the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS®) sales summary for June 2010. This summary indicates a decrease in Vancouver Island home sales on a year over year basis, while the average residential home sale price is beginning to level out.

In June of 200, the average sale price for a Vancouver Island home across the VIREB region was $345,118 being a 5% increase from the $329,638 which was posted at the end of June 2009.

It seems that the Vancouver Island real estate market is balancing out. It is reported that the inventory levels onVancouver Island are still growing even though the sales volumes have somewhat dropped.

The following statistics are for the period from the end of June 2009 to June 2010 of the average sale prices forVancouver Island homes across VIREB’s six zones:

• Campbell River saw an increase of 12% to $298,126;
• Comox Valley is up 7% to $362,222;
• Cowichan Valley slipped 5% to $350,024;
• Nanaimo is also up by 7% to $362,018;
• Parksville/Qualicum is up 1% to $396,488; and
• Port Alberni increased by 27% to $242,752.

At the start of 2010, the Vancouver Island real estate market began to recover from the recession and as we proceed into the second half of the year, the market has started to level out due to supply and demand. For sellers of Vancouver Island homes this means that proper pricing is required and buyers have more of an inventory of residential homes to choose from.

Excerpted from 1stView.ca