Telus Living - New Market Rentals in Downtown Nanaimo

Here's an exciting development - the old convent site downtown, behind New York Style Pizza - an application has been submitted to the City for building a big rental complex there.

They have some good ideas for this one. There's an enclosed dog park and a kids' playground (with views) out back, plus a common area that includes an outdoor work bar above the street, a social lounge and outdoor dining space. There's even going to be a space for some community gardening. There are two buildings, one 6 storeys high and one 7 storeys. The taller building will have a common area on the rooftop, perfect for watching the fireworks I'm sure.

This development is planned to include 197 residential units, a commercial retail unit and and a shared underground parking level.

Of course it's all just on paper at this point, an application to the city.

Want to see more images of how this is proposed to look? Check out the City's "What's Building in my Neighbourhood" database. Here's the page dedicated to the Telus Living application. Or, see the official page here.

Historic Building Site

This was the site of the old St Ann's church and convent, pictured here. The original church and convent was built in the 1800s but burned down in 1910. The black and white photo shows the original convent.

The photo at the top of this page shows the second convent built in the early 1910s. Many locals still remember attending this school, and their stories vary dramatically between "the sisters were evil" and "I have such wonderful memories".