A chunk of waterfront property slated for part of a massive Oak Bay condo development is up for sale.
The two vacant lots at 1069 and 1101 Beach Drive were listed on realtor.ca for $52.5 million on Aug. 15.
“With the land already professionally cleared and surveyed, along with comprehensive geotechnical, environmental, traffic, and servicing reports complete, these parcels are primed for development be it a high-density mixed-use community, a creative new subdivision, or an opulent personal estate,” reads the listing.
This comes just one month after plans to develop the 5.17-acre stretch, along with an adjacent 0.93-acre Beach Drive lot, were made public.
The proposal earmarked the land, which sits near the Oak Bay Beach Hotel and across the road from the Victoria Golf Club, for three residential towers, with a total of 582 units.
Once locals caught wind of the plans, details about the development began to circulate online, which Logan Wilson – a Sotheby's International realtor who represents the B.C. numbered company that owns the lots – told the Oak Bay News “resulted in some unsolicited offers.”
“That started them thinking about possibly selling the properties,” he added.
Three parties – one from Canada and two based in the U.S. – inquired separately about the land, one of which Wilson explained wanted to know if the home could be built across the two lots “for maximum privacy.”
The realtor explained the property caught the interest of the prospective American buyers because of the lots’ status.
“It … provides an opportunity for foreigners to purchase because there are no foreign buyer bans on raw land,” he said. “That's something that’s of interest to these people because if they want to buy and live in Canada, they're very limited on what they can purchase and where. Raw land opportunities, especially in really nice neighbourhoods like Oak Bay, are hard to find.”
According to Wilson, the owner took these offers seriously, prompting Friday’s realtor.ca listing. The company (1459498 B.C. Limited) has also been contacted by developers interested in raising multi-family homes on the lots. So far, over 20 parties have reached out.
The realtor added another factor that prompted the listing was that “the rezoning process is taking longer than anticipated.”
“When there’s this much money involved, there's lots of lost opportunity, interest payments and huge costing to produce these reports and get the land ready,” he added. “So then [1459498 B.C. Limited] start to do calculations on what the risk is of holding the property versus if it was liquidated.”
According to Oak Bay, Wilson first submitted a rezoning application for the lots in May 2025. Staff soon responded regarding what it called “deficiencies” in the application, which it won't consider submitted until complete. The application was then re-submitted in July, and staff responded again, noting “deficiencies” that had not been addressed. The realtor expects the district will ask for additional details about the project’s designs before the application is approved.
In July, Oak Bay manager of communications Hayley Goodgrove told the Oak Bay News, “Once the application is deemed to be complete by staff, the application would be formally opened and posted on the district’s development tracker, which provides all of the updates on where the application is in the process.”
After staff review the application, Mayor Kevin Murdoch explained the development would require changes to the district’s zoning bylaw, in addition to an official community plan amendment, both of which would trigger a public hearing, if council first decides the application has enough merit. Afterwards, the district could opt to decline or approve it, or send it back to the developer for changes.
As for the length of the application process, Murdoch said he can't comment on what the owner would consider typical timelines for the project, adding the advisor the housing minister appointed to the district in January “found our development application timelines pretty typical for the region.”
“We do have a small staff, so timelines can vary quite a bit depending on the number and complexity of applications at any given time,” he added.
If the lots are sold and plans to build the 582-unit project scrapped, Wilson said “there will be some disappointment.”
“But at the same time, I'd be happy to see them at least used again,” he added. “Those properties have been sitting vacant for years and years.”
Wilson, however, framed the development as one way to help Oak Bay meet its provincially mandated housing targets.
"This development offers an opportunity for Oak Bay to avoid infill that could change the community’s overall fabric by consolidating provincial housing requirements in one location," he said.
The realtor added the owner has not given up on plans for the three towers along Beach Drive, with the rezoning application remaining with Oak Bay as it gauges interest in the property.
