Developer trying a second time to build hotel near Kelowna Airport

There are now two applications heading to Kelowna city council for a third hotel in the Kelowna Airport Business Park.

Last week, Argus Properties submitted an application to rezone land on Fleet Street in order to build a 160-room hotel next to its two existing hotels (Four Points by Sheraton with 120 rooms and the Hampton Suites with 140 rooms).

Yesterday, Jan. 30, Northland Properties submitted its own rezoning application for land on Kel Mac Court and Pier Mac Way for a 200-room, six-storey Sandman Signature hotel. The current zone only allows four storeys.

It was Northland that applied for a Sandman hotel on the same site in 2018. The letter promoting the change is virtually identical to the letter submitted two years ago.

The new letter says there is one airport hotel room per 17,333 passengers in Kelowna versus, 3,689 passengers per room in Calgary and 5,147 in Toronto. The estimates do not take into account the Hampton Suites that are just about to open.

The 2018 application was rejected by city council which said, in part, that a hotel at that site would not fit in with neighbouring uses.

It will take several weeks before either application reaches city council.

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