Design Commercial - Downtown Reimagined!

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Downtown is the heart of Nanaimo. It is the traditional meeting place, commercial centre and transportation hub for our community. Commercial Street was recognized as one of the Great Places in Canada due to its mix of historical buildings and lively commercial activity.

The City has made significant investments in Commercial Street over the past 10 years with the construction of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, securing the new Marriot Hotel and acquiring key redevelopment sites at Commercial and Terminal Ave.

While Commercial Street has many positive attributes, the public realm has become tired and there is an opportunity to refresh this important area of downtown. This project will develop an action plan to enhance the public realm space on Commercial Street. The action plan will incorporate the needs of local businesses and enhance opportunities for community events. Features such as public art, surface finishes, street trees and lighting will be reviewed through this process.Design Commercial is relying heavily on an engagement process which has included meetings, walking tours, interviews, and design studio open houses with public participants, key stakeholders, Mayor & Council and City staff.

Engagement outcomes are being used to develop and evolve ideas into design options which will be integrated with the technical aspects of the design process to produce the final master plan design elements.

design.commercial@nanaimo.ca

Phone 250-756-5321

Downtown is the heart of Nanaimo. It is the traditional meeting place, commercial centre and transportation hub for our community. Commercial Street was recognized as one of the Great Places in Canada due to its mix of historical buildings and lively commercial activity.

The City has made significant investments in Commercial Street over the past 10 years with the construction of the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, securing the new Marriot Hotel and acquiring key redevelopment sites at Commercial and Terminal Ave.

While Commercial Street has many positive attributes, the public realm has become tired and there is an opportunity to refresh this important area of downtown. This project will develop an action plan to enhance the public realm space on Commercial Street. The action plan will incorporate the needs of local businesses and enhance opportunities for community events. Features such as public art, surface finishes, street trees and lighting will be reviewed through this process.Design Commercial is relying heavily on an engagement process which has included meetings, walking tours, interviews, and design studio open houses with public participants, key stakeholders, Mayor & Council and City staff.

Engagement outcomes are being used to develop and evolve ideas into design options which will be integrated with the technical aspects of the design process to produce the final master plan design elements.

design.commercial@nanaimo.ca

Phone 250-756-5321

  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Design Commercial Survey

    222 responses

    Introduction

    The purpose of this survey is to collect feedback on proposed concepts for the Commercial Street corridor, the front portion of Diana Krall Plaza and Dallas Square Park. Each of the concepts have been developed based on what we heard in the engagement activities held from November 2021 to February 2022, reflects the priorities set out in REIMAGINE NANAIMO and the needs and wants of the community. Feedback received from this survey will be used to refine the designs and address any concerns or ideas, as best as possible, before presenting the concepts to Council.  All feedback is welcome and appreciated as we create the final concepts for Nanaimo’s historic downtown.

     Survey Format 

    The survey is separated into five sections and should take approximately 15 minutes to complete. Each section will build on the previous, beginning with important themes identified through public engagement, specific feedback on the proposed designs, overall impressions and additional comments. It ends with a little information about yourself. The information gathered is used only to understand the demographics of respondents and will not be used for anything other than the review of the survey responses.

    Project Next steps

    Following the completion of this engagement activity, the project team will review all responses and incorporate any changes required into the final design concepts. The final concepts along with an implementation plan, preliminary cost estimates and a master planning document will then be presented to City Council in June 2022.


    Take Survey
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  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Place Assessment Survey

    127 responses

    Take a virtual downtown tour with 360 degree images and answer some questions about each area. 

    Take Survey
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  • CLOSED: This survey has concluded.

    Quick Feedback Survey

    287 responses

    We are in the process of getting feedback from the public, key stakeholders, City Council, and members of City Staff. Information shared in this survey and at the open houses will guide the direction of concepts and design drawings.

    Quick Commercial Street Survey
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Page last updated: 09 May 2022, 11:01 AM