Seacliff Properties is pursuing its first joint venture and teaming up with Reliance Properties to develop Royal Beach in Colwood, one of Greater Victoria’s fastest growing cities.

Over the 15-year buildout of the master-planned seaside community, the partners plan to inject $1.2 billion into the development. This will be Reliance Properties’ first project on Vancouver Island that is outside of downtown Victoria.

Royal Beach will be a collection of neighbourhoods totalling 2,850 homes (single-family houses, townhomes, and apartments), plus hundreds of job spaces in commercial buildings and retail spaces. The site is 135 acres of oceanfront land with 1.4 kilometres of shoreline. More than 47 acres of the site will be dedicated to public parks and greenspace.

“Royal Beach presents a unique opportunity to develop the last significant waterfront lands in Colwood, creating a new local, regional, and national destination,” said Georgia Desjardins, director of development of Seacliff Properties.

The Capital Regional District’s Growth Strategy identifies Colwood as a centre for urban growth and densification. Its population is currently projected to increase by about 30 per cent by 2038.

For more than 100 years, the site was a rock and gravel mine, one of the region’s largest employers. It ceased operations in 2008. Seacliff bought the site in 2017, and after years of planning and public consultation, the City of Colwood adopted a new sub-area plan and zoning bylaw for Royal Beach last year.

“Other seaside communities in B.C., like Coal Harbour and Olympic Village, were industrial sites that became coveted, world-class communities in which to live, work, play and visit,” added Desjardins. “Royal Beach will be Vancouver Island’s most distinct waterfront community.”

The first phase of construction will start in the spring with the construction of a new intersection at the site’s entrance at Metchosin and Latoria roads.