Vancouver Island developments have not been immune to the challenges the rest of B.C.’s new-housing market has been facing, but that hasn't stopped Seacliff Properties from moving forward on several phased projects.

When fully built out, the projects will add thousands of homes on thousands of acres on the island in coming years. 

"It's been a challenging market in many ways over the recent months,” Georgia Desjardins, vice president, development at Vancouver-based Seacliff Properties, told RENX in an interview. "I think predominantly, many buyers are just still sitting on the sidelines. In the face of economic uncertainty, we are seeing some resilience, I would say, in the Island market, though it is . . . dependent on the sub-market and buyer profiles."

She told RENX affordable housing remains in demand, and Seacliff continues to see “movement” in its projects targeted toward first-time buyers. “We also are still seeing some continued activity with some of our more unique projects in more of those coastal locations that often are targeting . . . the downsizers or retiree markets.” 

Nanoose Bay resort community has been active

Fairwinds, a resort-style community in Nanoose Bay, just north of Nanaimo, has been active over the last two years, Desjardins said. 

The community includes a marina, a golf club and wellness centre, and will eventually have 2,000 new homes, including condos, townhomes and houses. Desjardins said the team completed its reconstruction of the marina two months ago. 

It also completed 17 hotel units at the site located in the commercial building overlooking the marina. Seacliff is also working to renovate and reopen the restaurant at the golf club within the next month.

"We've (also) been preparing to launch sales for a 51-lot, single-family-home subdivision, which we're actually going to be formally launching sales on this weekend," she said. 

Seacliff additionally has a six-storey, 40-unit condo building located behind the marina at Fairwinds that was completed and sold out within the last two years.

"Since that time, we have zoning in place for another 310 units . . . in and around that marina area, predominantly in multifamily and attached housing forms,” she said. 

The goal is to be selling a couple of different housing types at any one time, Desjardins said. 

Beachlands near Victoria also moving ahead

Meanwhile, work continues at The Beachlands, a collection of neighbourhoods that would eventually total 2,850 homes, including houses, townhomes and apartments as well as hundreds of job spaces in commercial and retail buildings. The development, in partnership with Reliance Properties, is located in the City of Colwood, just outside of Victoria.

The site features 135 acres of oceanfront land along 1.4 kilometres of shoreline. More than 47 acres will be dedicated to public parks and greenspace.

Desjardins said Seacliff completed the first phase of the development, including a 15,000-square-foot community discovery centre which will eventually transition to other commercial uses when the sales space is no longer required.

"Concurrently with that, we are . . . constructing our first market phase, which is two, six-storey wood-frame market condos and some townhomes (for) a total of 181 homes," she said. "So that project is not actually launched for sale yet, but we have gone ahead and commenced construction on it."

Massive industrial-residential project in Nanaimo continues

The team has also been busy at Sandstone. It's a 726-acre master-planned community that could eventually add 2,200 homes and more than three million square feet of industrial space to the southern edge of Nanaimo near the Trans-Canada Highway.

The Sandstone master plan was adopted in 2021 as part of the city’s official community plan. The project is to include various housing types, including single-family homes, attached homes and multifamily buildings. The master plan could take up to 20 years to fully build out.

Seacliff's latest focus there has been on engineering work and critical infrastructure work.

"We've also formally submitted our first subdivision application as of March . . . and that is for a 10-lot industrial subdivision,” Desjardins said. It has also been working with the city to finalize "off-site transportation upgrades and design projects required in connection with the development."

Market not free from uncertainty and instability

Seacliff remains active on those three major projects and others despite a broader housing market that continues to be dogged by economic uncertainty and instability, Desjardins said. 

She said, though, she's optimistic new leadership in Ottawa will provide some stability and she emphasized new GST relief for first-time homebuyers will also boost the market. 

While macroeconomic uncertainty remains, those challenges are global in nature, Desjardins said. "Canada is looking like a . . . safe haven and (a) stable place to be investing," she said, adding Seacliff trusts the economic fundamentals in Western Canada and Vancouver Island, in particular. 

By virtue of its lengthy projects, Seacliff takes a long-term view on the market, she said, noting the company tries to be "extremely disciplined" in the early phases to understand what the market is looking for, and what it can bear.