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“We see it as an opportunity to continue our investments in downtown Victoria,” Chard said. “It would be our intent to redevelop it and create a diversity of housing and employment opportunities.” The official community plan includes a target for a “quite a large plaza for the site, which we are looking to incorporate into our design,” Chard said. He envisions a mixture of employment from retail to offices and other opportunities, but is not being more specific. Chard Development is in discussions with several groups around what is needed in that part of town, he said. The pending sale comes as the White Spot at 710 Caledonia Ave. closed permanently after about 50 years in that location.
“We are saddened to advise that our Caledonia White Spot in Victoria will not reopen,” it said. Last year, the Caledonia Avenue restaurant closed for several months as a result of provincial health orders affecting dine-in service, the company said. It reopened in March but then closed again. Indoor dining is banned in B.C. until at least Tuesday as part of the province’s “circuit breaker” restrictions to reduce new COVID-19 infections. The location is next door to the Capital City Centre Hotel, which was recently purchased by the province for almost $25 million to provide 94 temporary supportive housing units. The province had been leasing the space for about a year, although many people were displaced by a fire last November.