Imagine this: The airport in 20 minutes. Farms and wineries at your fingertips. Red Fish Blue Fish just a ten-minute drive. And everything you could conceivably shop for, a five-minute stroll to the south.

Ready for move-in this January, the first phase of Uptown Place has become a point of pride for the surrounding neighbourhood. Rising at the corner of two quiet dead-end streets, the twin buildings offer an eye-catching mix of clear cedar and metal paneling. Clever architecture creates a variety of roof levels, giving the building’s exterior a sophisticated, textured appeal. “The feedback from the community has been great,” says Tri-Eagle president and developer Travis Lee. “The public is really happy with what we’ve been able to do here.” Centrally located just north of the junction of the Pat Bay and Trans-Canada highways, and a quick pedal to the Galloping Goose Regional Trail, Uptown Place offers convenient living in the middle of it all.

You can get anywhere within fifteen minutes,

says sales associate Oliver Tennant. With much larger square footages than similarly-priced downtown offerings, Uptown Place caters in part to the in-town worker who wants to skip the heavy Westshore traffic. Uptown shopping is a five-minute walk on a paved pathway. Five minutes in the other direction (yes, on a paved pathway) takes residents to one of the best-known community gardens in the city. Main floor units boast a surfeit of usable outdoor living space, with a mix of patio and landscaped area offering up to an extra 1000 square feet. Assigning the majority of the exterior landscaped area to the townhouses was an intentional decision, says Lee, with Uptown Place being the only condominium development in the city that offers exclusive yard area in this way. “There’s no sense in leaving all the exterior property as a common lawn, because nobody uses it,” he says. All yards are fenced and maintained by the strata; exterior doors on ground floor units provide a second entry point into the home. Green thumbs on the upper levels haven’t been forgotten: they can get their dirt on just down the road a ways, or in Uptown Place’s own community garden, at the south end of the property.

Roomy and well-lit by floor-to-ceiling windows, upper units on every side boast stunning views to Swan Lake, Mount Doug and Mount Baker, or toward the sunset over the Sooke Hills. All units have plenty of plug-ins for modern living, large walk-through closets in the master suites, and islands or wrap-around kitchens with a breakfast bar. Units on the fourth floor enjoy 11-foot ceilings in living and kitchen areas; select units have high ceilings throughout. Worry-free hot water is supplied by an on-demand boiler located underground, relieving residents of the worry of a hot water tank leaking. So far, Uptown Place’s purchasers intend to live on-site, and comprise a vibrant mix of retirees, students, empty-nesters and first-time homebuyers from across Canada as well as offshore. With Saanich being Greater Victoria’s next evolving urban centre, Uptown Place is perfectly poised to capitalize on convenience. BC Transit has purchased land at Uptown as its preferred location for the region’s transit hub. “Uptown is really maturing nicely, and is accelerating its growth,” says Lee.

It’s what Metrotown did for Burnaby. It is fast becoming the region’s second downtown.

Prices start at $249,900 for a one-bedroom condo; two-bedrooms start at $329,900. Units in Phase One (the Huxley) are 80% sold; Phase Two (the Rowland) is 25% sold. An assortment of one-bedroom and two-bed two-bath units are available, including the townhouse units on the main level, but only one top-floor three-bedroom unit remains. Prices include GST. Learn more about Uptown Place.