More than 200 storeys of housing planned for this short downtown Kelowna street

The latest development proposal for Bertram Street in downtown Kelowna calls for 16 storeys and 133 rental housing units.

This is the 11th tower to be proposed between Bernard Avenue and Cawston Street on or near Bertram Street since the Mission Group started building its three-tower Bernard Block project a couple of years ago.

The new 16-storey tower is also planned by the Mission Group but at the opposite end of the street, near Cawston Avenue.

It calls for two-storey townhouses, a three storey parking garage which actually provides more spaces than required, and 13 storeys of rental units in the tower, for a total of 16 storeys. It’s on three single family lots consolidated into one, bearing the address of 1333 Bertram.

“Architectural design for 1333 Bertram is inspired by a ‘Bauhaus Modernism Aesthetic,’” states a letter accompanying the rezoning and development permit applications posted by the City of Kelowna March 23, adding it will harmonize “with the residential tree-lined character of Bertram Street.”

That part of Bertram is three blocks long, ending at Bernard Avenue where the old Bargain Bin/Woolworth’s store has been torn down in preparation for the second of three highrises (one office tower and two residential) that mostly face onto St. Paul Street and Bernard Avenue.

Bertram Street actually continues south of Bernard Avenue but there is a jog in the road at that point.

The Bernard Block will have residential towers of 34 and 26 storeys and a 23-storey office tower.

A 46-storey residential tower is proposed just beside it facing on Bertram Street.

Across Bertram Street, B.C. Housing has proposed a 14-storey residential tower and, at the other end of the block, on the corner of Doyle Avenue and St. Paul Street a 41-storey tower is planned.

Across Doyle Avenue to the north, on the St. Paul Street side, are three towers to go with the planned UBCO downtown campus. Tower heights are not yet known but are expected to be in the range of 20 storeys.

Just behind that campus, on the Bertram Street side, Pathways Abilities Society is planning a six-storey affordable housing project at the corner of Fuller Avenue.

This latest project by the Mission Group moves the development further to the north.

If everything gets built as proposed, there will be at least 1,500 new housing units in those three short blocks on or near Bertram Street.

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