[Emtee]

Aquillini's purchase SOPA



An offer by the Aquillini Group to purchase the stalled SOPA Square project has been accepted.

The $29.5M bid was accepted by the courts earlier this week.

As part of the process, other prospective developers now have six weeks in which to put in their own bid for the SOPA development.

Any new bid would have to be higher than the Aquillini bid.

The SOPA Square project, approved by Kelowna City Council in 2008, has been beset with financial problems nearly from the outset.

The project stalled after the original developer ran out of money.

A second developer from Alberta took over the project but they too were unable to fund the project to its completion.

It went into receivership late last year.

Only two floors of the 11-storey project have been completed.

The Aquillini's, owners of the Vancouver Canucks, also have a large stake in the 24, a proposed Bernard Avenue development which has yet to get off the ground.

http://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna...-purchase-SOPA