Property owner Sobey’s is staying rather mum on its plans to develop the former Belmont secondary property on Jacklin Road in Langford.
But a Victoria real estate company is already putting out the feelers for tenants that could accompany anchor Thrifty Foods in the major commercial project, a 200,000-square-foot development tabbed the Belmont Market Shopping Centre.
Site plans on an online marketing brochure on the website of CBRE Victoria illustrate a “Town Centre” style layout with a roadway running through the centre of three main commercial sections. The Thrifty Foods store is shown on the east side of the property, roughly where the skate park used to sit.
The brochure lists Belmont Market spaces as offering “high ceilings and attractive storefronts” and sizes from 1,200 square foot units up to a 38,000 sq. ft. anchor tenant space.
It estimates the expected occupancy date for the first phase of the development to be July 1, 2017.
Asked to comment on the project given the presence of the detailed online marketing materials, Kari Scobie, Sobey’s communications manager for Western Canada, shed little extra light on the project.
“We are excited about the new Belmont Thrifty Foods location and look forward to sharing more information on the development with the community and our customers further into the planning process,” she wrote in an email.
The brochure also shows a series of residential buildings rimming the commercial development on the eastern edge of the land Sobey’s purchased in spring 2014 from the Sooke School District. It states that 330 residences are proposed to be built adjacent to the shopping centre.
Langford Coun. Denise Blackwell, informed of the online marketing campaign for the property by the Gazette, admitted it’s been some time since she has looked at the comprehensive development zoning that council approved around the time the sale was announced. But she was not aware that the company had made the City aware of any concrete plans at this point.
Nonetheless, she said, hearing that Sobey’s plans for the land might be getting closer to becoming reality is a good sign.
“It is definitely an exciting prospect for the city, so the sooner we see it getting going, the better as far as we’re concerned,” she said.
The plans and renderings of the proposed shopping centre can be found at cbrevictoria.com.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com