Kelowna Construction

[giallo]

I'm in Kelowna right now for the holidays, and my dad has just told me that Interior Health Kelowna is consolidating all of it's office space in one 21 storey tower downtown. Has anyone else heard of this? I can't find anything online, but both my parents swear by seeing it on CHBC news.

Anyway, if true, it's a sure fire build, and will be an amazing addition to downtown.

[Chadillaccc]

There are no 21 story office buildings in BC outside of Vancouver and Burnaby. So perhaps this is a yet-to-be-announced major proposal. If this is true, it will be over 90 meters tall.

[vitc]

The consolidation is true but the height is just speculation at this point. It is a big lot so I doubt it would be that high but one never knows.

[Spoolmak]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

There are no 21 story office buildings in BC outside of Vancouver and Burnaby. So perhaps this is a yet-to-be-announced major proposal. If this is true, it will be over 90 meters tall.

Isn't the Central City tower in Surrey over 21 floors?

[Chadillaccc]

I believe Central City is a educational building. But regardless, none outside of metro Vancouver over 21 stories.

[GORDBO]

Originally Posted by giallo

I'm in Kelowna right now for the holidays, and my dad has just told me that Interior Health Kelowna is consolidating all of it's office space in one 21 storey tower downtown. Has anyone else heard of this? I can't find anything online, but both my parents swear by seeing it on CHBC news.

Anyway, if true, it's a sure fire build, and will be an amazing addition to downtown.

Your Dad is right, check post #715 , it gives some info. But no building details.
I thought it would be about 14 floors, but 21 sounds much better!

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

I just did a projection today... if Kelowna continues growing at this rate, it will be nearly, or over 200 000 people by the next census! Pretty impressive. And I am obviously talking about the metropolis not municipality

No kidding! When I was younger, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Prince George and Kamloops were all pretty close in population but now Kelowna is pretty much twice the population of any of those cities. As far as skylines go, the only one of them that comes close to Kelowna is Nanaimo.

[chris]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

No kidding! When I was younger, Nanaimo, Kelowna, Prince George and Kamloops were all pretty close in population but now Kelowna is pretty much twice the population of any of those cities. As far as skylines go, the only one of them that comes close to Kelowna is Nanaimo.

Kamloops has some office buildings...although I guess they're lacking a little bit in height.

[Phil McAvity]

^Yeah, Kamloops' office buildings are taller than Nanaimo's but Nanaimo's tallest residential buildings tower over either city's buildings, Kamloops' tallest building is 15 stories, Nanaimo's tallest is 26.

It's funny but i've seen a few people here complain about Kelowna City Council, yet Kelowna has two buildings taller than anything in Victoria even though it has about half the population, so if you think your City Council is retarded......

[chris]

Do Kelowna and Kamloops have height limits? It appears most of their buildings don't surpass the 15 storey range.

By the way, what industries are fueling the Interior BC economy? More specifically, who is occupying these office towers in Kelowna and Kamloops? Frankly, I can't think of any company in BC that's not based in Vancouver...so what drives the demand for office space in BC's interior?

[Chadillaccc]

Probaby the same things that fuel any secondary/tertiary city in any province in Canada or state in the United States. Regional banking headquarters, regional health, regional insurance headquarters, etc. Every city in Canada in the US over 100 000 people have office buildings for regional headquarters. Kelowna is now nearly 200 000 people and Kamloops about 100 000, and both of them are the largest cities in their respective areas of the province. Thompson (Kamloops), and Okanagan (Kelowna)... the nearest major cities to them are 2.5 hours (the nearest cities to them are each other in fact).

Just like Lethbridge(Southern Alberta), Red Deer(Central Alberta), Grande Prairie(Peace) in Alberta, Prince George(Northern BC) in BC, London(Southwestern Ontario), Kitchener(Southcentral Ontario), Windsor(Extreme Southern Ontario), and Kingston(Eastern Ontario) in Ontario, Sydney(Cape Breton) in Nova Scotia, Corner Brooke and Labrador City in NFLD, Buffalo(Niagara Frontier), Rochester(Western New York) in New York, Spokane in Washington.... the list goes on and on and on.



and Kelowna has 6 buildings exceeding 15 storys with 7 proposed.

[chris]

Thanks buddy. What's fueling demand for office space in Kelowna in particular? It is the Banking industry? Insurance? I'm trying to get to know the region a little better.

[240glt]

I was just in Kelowna yesterday. That new office building looks pretty good. Especially compared to the the other buildings in that office park, which are starting to look really tired and dated.

Kelowna doesn't really have a tonne of true commercial office space, so I'd say that this building is being built in response to the fat that the city is a lot larger than it was 20 years ago. I'd hardly say there is a huge "demand" for space. Both the commercial and residential real estate sectors are very soft in Kelowna.

frankly, I can't think of any company in BC that's not based in Vancouver...so what drives the demand for office space in BC's interior?

Kal Tire, Tolko, Sun Rype, Flightcraft, SRI, Far West, Nature's Fare, Tekmar, all based in the Okanagan, just to name a few

Kamloops is home base for several companies, as is Prince George.

[Ogopogo Fan]

Originally Posted by Emtee

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/local-news/developers-eager-to-get-moving-on-leon-project.html

From the proposal to council:

Looks like this is moving forward. The building on site was demo'ed yesterday.

[crazytown]

Does anyone know when the next phase of the Central Okanagan Multi-Model Corridor is going to be constructed from Clement's terminus at Spall to Highway 33? I have noticed some new (as of December 2012) maps and graphics under the City of Kelowna’s Document Centre. Is there money being set aside in the annual budget for this project?

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page2702.aspx

[Emtee]

Originally Posted by crazytown

Does anyone know when the next phase of the Central Okanagan Multi-Model Corridor is going to be constructed from Clement's terminus at Spall to Highway 33? I have noticed some new (as of December 2012) maps and graphics under the City of Kelowna’s Document Centre. Is there money being set aside in the annual budget for this project?

http://www.kelowna.ca/CM/Page2702.aspx

Hopes for funding pinned on new bypass name

WEDNESDAY, 14 NOVEMBER 2012 02:00 RON SEYMOUR

A long-sought Kelowna road link designed to take traffic off Highway 97 and speed travel times for commuters has a new name.
Previously known as the Central Okanagan bypass, the hoped-for road is now being referred to as the Highway 33-City Centre Extension.
It would run from the Highway 33-Enterprise Way intersection west along the railway corridor to where Clement Avenue currently dead-ends at Spall Road.
"It's at the absolute top of our infrastructure priority list," Kelowna Mayor Walter Gray said Tuesday.
"But it would be an enormously costly project, somewhere in the range of $60 million."
The city has tried for years, without success, to convince the provincial government to help fund the proposed road.
By now referring to it as an extension of Highway 33, Gray said, the belief is Victoria may be persuaded it is worthy of being funded as part of the provincial transportation network.
City officials last week updated the municipality's long-range capital spending plan, prioritizing projects based on their urgency, cost and perceived benefits.
It was a timely exercise, given that the Federation of Canadian Municipalities on Tuesday launched a new campaign aimed at convincing senior levels of government to help replace crumbling and aging municipal infrastructure.
The FCM is calling for new spending of tens of billions of dollars to fix antiquated water systems, deteriorating roads and bridge and sewage treatment plants.
Traffic congestion alone costs Canada $10 billion a year in lost productivity, the FCM says.
As it was known at the time, the first phase of the Central Okanagan bypass opened along the railway corridor between Gordon Drive and Spall Road in 2008. Its further extension has been effectively stalled since then for lack of senior government funding.
Other top local infrastructure renewal projects, Gray said, include a new bridge on Lakeshore Road over Mission Creek, and improvements to the independently run water systems such as the one serving Southeast Kelowna.
But compared to many other Canadian cities, Gray said, Kelowna's infrastructure is in generally good shape.
"These problems tend to be worse in cities that are much larger and older than Kelowna," Gray said. "We're a relatively young city, so we don't face the same kind of challenges as a Montreal or a Toronto."
Kelowna periodically hires a consultant to assess the state of all municipal infrastructure, from roads to water lines, buildings to bridges.
This year's review found the physical assets of Kelowna, estimated to be worth $2.55 billion, are in pretty good shape, at least when compared to those owned and maintained by other Canadian cities.
The average piece of municipal infrastructure in Kelowna has 28 years' remaining service life, according to consultant Michael Trickey of Strategic Infrastructure Management Inc.
Annual infrastructure replacement costs are estimated to average about $18.5 million in the coming years, which is said to be a manageable percentage of the city's overall budget.
By contrast, some municipalities are "behind the eight ball" in that they are looking at hugely expensive infrastructure upgrades that will consume significant percentages of their budgets, Trickey told council in September.

http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/front-...ng-pinned-on-new-bypass-name-111412.html

Last update on the project in local media was this from November 14, where the city was hoping for provincial funding to help them build it, with no projected time frame for construction.

[crazytown]

Thanks for the article. Fingers crossed Kelowna gets some funding. That extension would be great for pulling traffic off Enterprise and Spall.

[crazytown]

So now that they're done with Westside Road/Nancee Way/Highway 97 interchange, how quickly do you think the government(s) will get on the Boucherie Rd/Horizon Dr/Highway 97 interchange?

[crazytown]

Lots of stuff happening in DT Kelowna for 2013. http://www.kelownacapnews.com/business/186504411.html

[giallo]

Bernard St. is so much better than it used to be. Hard to compare, really.

I love the new streetlights they've installed between Richter and ________ (forget the name), all the new restaurants and coffee shops, the widened sidewalks. It's a totally different pedestrian experience than before.

From the article, here's the list of all the developments on or around Bernard St.

• the new Downtown Public Pier (work to begin in late spring, completion planned for early summer), where people will be able to park their boats and enjoy downtown a gorgeous new two-story glass-fronted Yacht Club

• The expansion of Jim Stuart Park

• The expansion of the Library Parkade along with a new parkade near Memorial Arena

• The new commercial building on Lawrence Avenue near the Kelowna firehall

• Manhattan II, a new eight-level office building on Manhattan Drive

• A new multi-level residential building on St. Paul Street

• The completion of the new three-level building attached to the Streaming Cafe at Bertram and Leon to feature offices, studios and a street-level patio

• The near completion of the Bernard Avenue Revitalization by December 2013 (only the surface paving will be left to finish early in 2014)