Nicola Wealth Opens Spencer Block, One of Victoria's Largest Purpose-Built Rental Projects

Nicola Wealth has opened the first phase of Spencer Block, a 278-unit mixed-use rental development in downtown Victoria, marking one of the largest purpose-built rental completions in the city's core in recent years.

The project, located at 610 Herald St. and 635 Chatham St. on a 1.5-acre site bounded by Chatham, Government and Herald streets, delivered 278 rental homes alongside approximately 19,000 square feet of street-front retail space wrapping around the building. At the time of opening, 60% of units had been leased.

Project Details and Phasing

Spencer Block is a two-building, mixed-use development situated in the central business district of Victoria, British Columbia. The retail component lines the building's street-facing perimeter, a configuration designed to activate the surrounding sidewalks and support ground-floor commercial tenancy.

A second phase of the development is expected to be completed in January. The project was financed in part through a $112 million MLI Select loan, a federal mortgage insurance program administered through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation that is designed to support purpose-built rental construction.

Josh Anderson on the Mixed-Use Vision

Josh Anderson, Vice President of Development at Nicola Wealth, said Spencer Block is intended to be part of a broader ecosystem of restaurants, cafés and amenities taking shape in the surrounding area. The framing reflects a mixed-use development approach in which ground-floor retail and food-and-beverage uses are used to support residential absorption and animate the streetscape in urban core locations.

The project was featured in the Times Colonist following its official opening, which drew attention to the scale of the development relative to Victoria's downtown rental stock.

Market Context

Spencer Block is opening into a rental market that has loosened materially compared to conditions earlier in the decade. Greater Victoria's rental vacancy rate stood at approximately 3.2% to 3.3% in late 2025, up from historically tight levels in prior years. That shift reflects a wave of new purpose-built rental supply that has been delivered across Canadian markets, with CMHC projecting that vacancies would remain elevated through 2026 as the new inventory is absorbed.

A 60% leasing rate at opening indicates demand is present in the downtown Victoria submarket, though the figure also reflects a leasing environment that is more competitive than it was during the period of near-zero vacancy that characterized many Canadian cities in the early 2020s. Operators in similar markets have responded to softer conditions by emphasizing amenity packages, location quality and mixed-use programming — the same elements Nicola Wealth has highlighted in its positioning of Spencer Block.

At 278 units, Spencer Block ranks among the larger single rental completions in downtown Victoria, and its 19,000 square feet of retail represents a meaningful addition to the neighborhood's commercial inventory. The project's scale and financing structure — including the federal MLI Select loan — reflect a development approach that has become more common among institutional real estate operators seeking to advance large rental projects through a higher interest rate environment.

About Nicola Wealth

Nicola Wealth is a Canadian wealth management and real estate investment firm. Spencer Block was developed through its real estate platform.

Sources: Nicola Wealth