After remaining idle for months, a redevelopment project in Nanaimo’s Departure Bay neighbourhood is expected to move forward, but not as originally planned.
A development permit application has been re-submitted to the City of Nanaimo for 1400 Wingrove St., a commercial building once home to the popular Indian restaurant Amrikko’s By the Sea, which closed after a fire damaged large portions of the restaurant in 2013.
Plans for the building were first submitted in 2016 and originally called for the construction of a new two-storey building that would be home to four residential units and four commercial units, with Amrikko’s being the anchor tenant.
The new plans, submitted to the city in August, call for a three-storey building with 12 residential units and four commercial units and Amrikko’s remaining as the anchor tenant. The existing building, which is currently home to Ian Niamath Architects and the Sand Dollar Café, would be demolished.
Niamath, architect for the project, said the decision to increase the building’s height and add more residential units was due to economics, adding that constructing a two-storey building would have been far more economically feasible 20 years ago than it is today.
“It doesn’t make sense to put a two-storey building up because it is just not economically viable,” he said. “The building has got to make enough money to pay for itself.”
An artist rendering of the newly proposed three-storey building for 1400 Wingrove St. (News Bulletin file)
The original blueprints for Amrikko’s remain unchanged. They include a street-level open-concept patio in front of the Indian restaurant, which faces towards Departure Bay beach. Previously, Amrikko’s patio was enclosed and much further back from the sidewalk.
The proposed building fits in with the current zoning as well as Departure Bay’s neighbourhood plan according to Niamath, who said the only major change is the addition of a third floor, which he said will make the building look nicer.
“The architectural features are still there except this time around it is much nicer because the scale is there. By adding that little bit of extra height it gives the building more presence in the Departure Bay area,” he said.
Niamath said the addition of more residential units should help create a more vibrant neighbourhood. He said the increase in height also means the building must include a percentage of affordable housing units, as well as more environmentally responsible construction practices.
The project is expected to go before council sometime in October, according to Niamath, who said he’s unsure as to when the project will be completed.