The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns - International ...

VISIBILITY
Does the downtown have an integral role in the life of the wider city?
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia and is located on the southern tip of
Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. In 2006 the city’s population was
78,057. Victoria is also part of the Capital Region District (CRD) which has a
population of 345,164 and is comprised of 13 municipalities. 1
Downtown Victoria is strong and visible in the context of the CRD and is the heart
of the region. It stands out because of its unique heritage, particularly its two most
famous landmarks, the British Columbia Parliament Buildings and the Empress
Hotel, adjacent to its spectacular harbour. Downtown has a strong concentration of
office space (58% of the City’s inventory) and employment (24,000 jobs). The
downtown also has a growing residential population that is helping to increase
vitality in the core outside of business hours. This activity is complemented by a
strong tourism sector, which attracts 3.65 million visitors a year, including 200+
cruise ships and 450,000 passengers.
Downtown Victoria has experienced some challenges as it serves as the
‘downtown’ core for the 13 municipalities that comprise the region. This can place
a lot of pressure on downtown facilities and services. Furthermore, given that most
aspects of public administration are managed separately by these municipalities,
efforts to increase and coordinate investment downtown are often
undermined. Growth happening across the region is under the
leadership of many planning authorities and this division of power can
create challenges for the provision of large scale infrastructure.
Regional cooperation will be critical to manage this challenge, as all of
these municipalities are interdependent and rely on each other’s
strengths to draw economic growth to the region.
Downtown comprises
5%
of total city area (98.3ha)
2%
of the population lives
downtown (1,485)
58%
of Victoria’s office
space is downtown
(4,910,075sf)
Downtown has
244 jobs/ha
or ~24,000 jobs
Overall, downtown Victoria is striving to be unique and attract a
diverse range of new residents, businesses and tourists. This will
assuredly create a sustainable base for the future.
“Victoria doesn’t feel like a small version of Vancouver, it feels
totally different. It feels like its own thing. We are trying to
cultivate our own unique, niche here.”
1
Capital Region District. (No Date). Statistics. Retrieved from: http://www.victoria.ca/cityhall/pdfs/sustainability-census-population.pdf. Accessed 2012 May 14.
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