Departure Bay Real Estate
Departure Bay is a beautiful oceanside neighbourhood, a bowl-shaped valley rising from a large beach.
It is a highly desirable area owing to its spectacular ocean views, large swimming beach and park, well-kept homes, and central location. Almost anyone who's been to Nanaimo will be familiar with Departure Bay as the large bay where the ferry arrives from Vancouver. (But the ferry terminal is not in the residential area referred to as Departure Bay - it's in the Brechin Hill neighbourhood.)
There are luxury waterfront houses down by the beach of course, but as you go uphill you'll find different types of neighbourhoods. At the southern end are Cilaire and Beach Estates - then further north is the Lynburn neighbourhood, also notable for its mid-century and higher-end postwar homes. There are some strata buildings close to the beach, and then to the north, the land rises as dark basalt bluffs covered in houses of wood and glass. Sherwood Forest is tucked into here (with streets named Prince John Way, Marion Way, Bowstring Close, Nottingham, etc.).
North of Sherwood Forest there is still a lot of undeveloped land (beautiful undulating lands with arbutus and moss and towering firs and hemlock), with multiple ridges rolling back toward the Hammond Bay area. These ridges are still being developed with beautiful newer custom homes, but a large area has also been preserved as hiking trails and protected lakes.
Amenities are very near with several big malls within a 10 min drive. But even closer are the many beaches and rocky shores, most notably Pipers Lagoon and Neck Point, and of course the long sandy Departure Bay Beach, a popular (but seldom crowded) swimming beach with a playground, grassy lawn, driftwood hide-outs and a coffee shop.
Need help buying or selling in Departure Bay? Contact me.
Condos & Townhomes: Stratas around Departure Bay
3217 Hammond Bay Rd - Three-storey rowhomes a few blocks above the biological station.
Barrington Heights - A multi-phase strata built over many years starting in the 1990s with different kinds of townhomes.
Edgewood - Townhomes (attached AND detached) with views, perched above Departure Bay.
Elk Street townhomes - Two-storey townhomes built in 1981, a block from the beach.
Forest Heights - Six 3-storey townhomes built in the mid-90s up Rock City Road.
Fountain Bleu - Two-storey townhomes backing onto the green, built in 1967.
Lancelot Gardens - Built in 1965-1971, these 1- and 2-storey townhomes are beside the highway.
Legasea - Three-storey rowhomes with garages, personal elevators, and rooftop decks.
Maveric Place - Detached 3-storey rowhouses at the top of Rock City Rd.
Panorama Villas - Detached townhomes built 2021-2023 above Departure Bay.
Rockwood Heights (on Manzanita) - These 2-storey townhomes have big views of Departure Bay.
Rockwood Heights (on Ocean Mist) - Twelve 2-storey townhomes built in the 2010s near Rock City Rd.
Seascape Manor - This big building from 1981 has more than a hundred 1-2 storey apartments.
Seaside Place - This 3-storey apartment building has ocean view condos across from the beach.
Village on the Green - Early nineties 1-2 storey townhomes backing onto Nanaimo Golf Course.
Properties for Sale in Departure Bay
New
$2,750,000
2600 Randle Rd, Nanaimo
4
Beds
3
Baths
3,479 SqFt
8,712 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1048867
460 Realty Inc. (NA)
New
Open House
$749,900
3060 Rock City Rd, Nanaimo
5
Beds
2
Baths
2,298 SqFt
0 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1049311
Royal LePage Nanaimo Realty (NanIsHwyN)
New
$698,000
3385 Edgewood Dr, Nanaimo
3
Beds
3
Baths
2,178 SqFt
1,743 SqFt Lot
Row/Townhouse
MLS® # 1049285
REMAX Professionals (NA)
New
Open House
$1,099,995
↓ $9,895,005
122 Bray Rd, Nanaimo
3
Beds
3
Baths
2,520 SqFt
4,792 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1049102
Royal LePage Island Living (PK)
New
Open House
$735,000
2440 Cosgrove Cres, Nanaimo
5
Beds
3
Baths
2,719 SqFt
9,584 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1048418
REMAX Professionals (NA)
New
$999,000
1572 Knight Court Rd, Nanaimo
3
Beds
3
Baths
2,970 SqFt
13,068 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1049338
Sutton Group-West Coast Realty (Nan)
New
$825,000
3260 Fairway Cres, Nanaimo
5
Beds
2
Baths
2,102 SqFt
8,712 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1049226
460 Realty Inc. (NA)
New
$350,000
2554 Highland Blvd, Nanaimo
2
Beds
1
Bath
932 SqFt
872 SqFt Lot
Row/Townhouse
MLS® # 1048471
REMAX Professionals (NA)
New
$1,350,000
1410 Sherwood Dr, Nanaimo
3
Beds
4
Baths
2,752 SqFt
0 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1048852
REMAX Professionals (NA)
New
$739,900
3231 Lauren Mary Pl, Nanaimo
4
Beds
3
Baths
1,975 SqFt
16,989 SqFt Lot
Half Duplex
MLS® # 1048977
Stonehaus Realty Corp.
New
$285,000
2815 Departure Bay Rd 308, Nanaimo
1
Bed
1
Bath
646 SqFt
436 SqFt Lot
Condo Apartment
MLS® # 1048915
eXp Realty (NA)
New
$475,000
3129 Departure Bay Rd, Nanaimo
1
Bed
1
Bath
567 SqFt
13,068 SqFt Lot
Single Family Detached
MLS® # 1048865
REMAX Professionals (NA)
Nearby Schools:
- Rock City Elementary ; 3741 Departure Bay Rd
- Departure Bay Elementary ; 3004 Departure Bay Rd
- Cilaire Elementary ; 25 Cilaire Dr
- Wellington Secondary ; 3135 Mexicana Rd
Did You Know?
The first telephone line in British Columbia was installed here in the 1880s - it ran from the wharves at Departure Bay up to the coal town of Wellington (now part of Nanaimo, between Diver Lake and Long Lake). One of the mining engineers assembled the telephone system based on instructions he saw in a science magazine.
New Developments in Departure Bay
Barrington Heights townhomes
Barrington Heights is a development going back to the 1990s, with newer phases being added sporadically over the decades - the most recent was phase 4, a block of townhomes built in 2022 immediately west of this next phase.
These next phases (5, 6, and 7) will involve 26 townhouse units in 5 quadruplex buildings and 2 triplex buildings. It appears they will be on the north side of a knoll, looking northward, rather than having the south-facing views that many other homes have in this area.
2545 Doctors Road - Townhomes
This 5-unit townhome strata (2 duplex buildings and one detached) is now completed and as of Jan2026, a couple units are still available.
Lauren Mary Place Townhomes
(Development application approved early 2023.) This will be a 13-unit townhome development in the Departure Bay neighbourhood, close to the Edgewood strata development off Rock City Road. The topography slopes upward from the street, toward the south, meaning the homes will face northward toward the Linley Valley. It's not clear to me whether the homes will have ocean views.
Each home will have a garage on the lower floor, with two more floors above that. There will be three buildings (4-5 units in each), with one of those being on the west side, separated from the other two blocks by Mariposa Dr, and the other two blocks to the east will have a landscaped space between them, including "play areas" which may indicate that these will be a great choice for families.
Ridgeline of Cottle Place
Status: Pending(?)
These 24 units (duplexes, triplexes and single family homes) will be built on top of a ridge near Pipers Lagoon and Stephenson Point, near the border of Departure Bay and Hammond Bay. The ocean and island views will be spectacular.
I don't know anything about a timeline at this point - an application was made to the city in 2018 and approved, and then it was renewed in 2020; it expires in May 2024.
1415 Loat St - Rowhomes near the beach
The City has been asked to rezone a 0.77-acre property near Departure Bay Beach - about a block from the playground - so that a cluster of brand new townhomes can be built. The developer appears to be Treelife Properties.
There will be 37 units in total, including 10 studio units of just 312-327 sqft each (but it's possible I am mis-reading the building plans). The rest will be 2- or 3-bedroom units, many with their own garages.
If you'd like to be kept in the loop about this development, just contact me and let me know. I'm guessing this one won't be listed for sale until sometime in 2025.
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