High-rise boom could soon change Kelowna’s skyline

KELOWNA – Construction cranes could soon be a common site on Kelowna’s downtown skyline if even a few of the potential high-rise projects pitched lately to the city planning department are realized.

There’s been a surge of interest in downtown high-rise developments, urban planning manager Terry Barton says, with some serious discussions of at least 10 possible towers without counting the Westcorp hotel and condominium project approved by council Tuesday, Feb. 20.

Among those considered most serious, Barton counts some that have already been previously announced including an application to build three towers on the former Bargain Shop site on Bernard Avenue owned by the Mission Group and two more at a revised Monaco development on St. Paul and Doyle.

Recent news that the Daily Courier building has been put up for sale by Continental Newspapers has also generated a flurry of calls about the site which could accommodate two towers.

A request for proposals for another high-profile site, the former RCMP detachment on Doyle Avenue, is expected soon, Barton says, and has also spurred strong developer interest.

Rounding out the list is a site on Highway 97 near Gordon, where again Barton says planning staff has seen some serious expressions of interest from qualified developers, making them worthy of further staff consideration.

After years of dormancy, the high-rise renaissance began in 2016 with news that Kerkhoff Construction was reviving the Lucaya project and completing a 21-storey high-rise on Sunset Drive.

Since then, the company has also begun construction on a 36-storey tower at Ellis Street and Clement, while further down Ellis, construction seems imminent on two other high-rises projects, the 14-storey Ellis Parc and 20-storey Ella.

While the planning department has been getting lots of enquiries about high-rises, Barton cautions even the most qualified of developers can advance a project to the application stage and then walk away for reasons unknown.

“High-rises are a huge risk proposition,” Barton said. “We often have six, seven meetings with someone and then never see them again.”

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