There is a building on the corner of Glanford Avenue and Vanalman Avenue in Saanich, B.C., that is getting a lot of attention.
“I think it looks really cool,” said Maya Berglof. “I really like the colours and the design.”
“It’s great,” said another man who works in the area. “I think they’re doing a great job just building it up and taking it all back down again.”
That’s right, the Slushy Shack isn’t here to stay. It’s part of a film set for the new TV series Reginald the Vampire.
“They started filming last year,” said southern Vancouver Island film commissioner Kathleen Gilbert. “They were filming for a few months, then they broke for Christmas and now they’re back again.”
The series stars Jacob Batalon, the actor best known for his role in the latest Spider-Man movie.
“I heard the guy from Spider-Man was going to be here so I wanted to see if I could catch a glimpse of him,” said one women who lives in the neighbourhood and came to the set to have a look.
With five proposed soundstages in the works on southern Vancouver Island, scenes like this could become more familiar.
“We’re currently in the design stage on the building that will be available for the studio and we will move ahead with construction on that,” said Kevin Johnston, chief operating officer at Strand, the company that is redeveloping the Westshore Speedway property in Langford.
It’s a quarter-billion-dollar project and includes two 20,000-square-foot soundstages.
“We know that there’s a major gap in supply, providing good space,” said Johnston. “Once there is that supply, people will start coming to the island to film.”
The company hopes to have the building completed by the end of the year.
“I would say that we’re on the move,” said Geoff Wilmshurst, vice-president of partnerships at Camosun College.
The college also has big soundstage plans that are close to becoming a reality.
The college has just completed a business study, funded by the province. The results told the college two things.
“The study says that if you can build soundstages on southern Vancouver Island, they’re likely to be very successful,” said Wilmshurst. "There is also a real demand for employees and that there is going to be a demand there for education opportunities for students.”
With that study now out of the way, the college will soon begin the request-for-proposals process.
The process will look for potential partners in building and running the three new soundstages. The stages will be built behind the Pacific Institute for Sports Excellence building on the Interurban Campus.
