Kelowna Construction

[vitc]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

^The Shore is going to be 6 stories which is taller than most buildings downtown so once again I ask, do the city councillors have any idea how to design the city?

Damn, for a second there I thought I was still on the Castanet.net forum that is full of bitchy, complaining, blah negative, blah negative people.

This is part of the mission "downtown" area and is the perfect place.

[KevD]

Originally Posted by vitc

Damn, for a second there I thought I was still on the Castanet.net forum that is full of bitchy, complaining, blah negative, blah negative people.

This is part of the mission "downtown" area and is the perfect place.

Or commonly referred to as "south pandosy". But yes it is a perfect place for this type of project. South pandosy is a solid and quickly densifying neighborhood in its own right. Totally separate from downtown but has a small downtown feel of its own. The city of Kelowna has a 30-50 year plan to grow each of the main 5 neighbourhoods of the city into densified areas of there own to help control traffic congestion, create dense community feel, etc. South pandosy, Downtown, Landmark-capri(Midtown), Glenmore, and Rutland.

[KevD]

On another note, has anyone heard anything about when Ellis Parc will resume construction after they caused the road to split open?

[Pejamu]

Haven't seen this on here yet: https://www.kelowna.ca/homes-buildin...ments/z18-0004

Another building on the same street as the Aqua towers, this one 12 stories.

[KevD]

Originally Posted by Pejamu

Haven't seen this on here yet: https://www.kelowna.ca/homes-buildin...ments/z18-0004

Another building on the same street as the Aqua towers, this one 12 stories.

This area still seems a bit odd to me to have so many highrise proposals. Not a very detailed rendering so far but at least it's something.

[DKaz]

That peninsula's a hot spot.

Too soon?

[Phrescata]

Early bird sales for the second One Water Street tower started yesterday and are going quite well I think. 75 units sold before noon yesterday! Regular sales begin this afternoon.

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelown...lure-BC-buyers

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by vitc

Damn, for a second there I thought I was still on the Castanet.net forum that is full of bitchy, complaining, blah negative, blah negative people.

This is part of the mission "downtown" area and is the perfect place.

Originally Posted by KevD

Totally separate from downtown.....

Like I said, this project, like so many other high-rise projects in the city are allowed anywhere with no plan for the downtown. The problem is, that if the city planners and councillors had any idea of what they were doing, Kelowna would actually have a skyline but because they don't have any idea of what they're doing, there are high-rises all over the place.

As for your little temper tantrum over my observations, I can only imagine it was fueled by your complicity in this matter.

[giallo]

I think Kelowna is trying to go for as many regional centers as possible. While it would be nice aesthetically for Kelowna to have all of its highrises in the downtown core, road infrastructure in the city was simply not built to accommodate the amount of people that live here now, and there's really nowhere for it to expand. Having all of the city's office towers and condo towers in the downtown area alone would put a lot of pressure on an already taxed road system.

The Mission area should definitely be a place for low-to-midrise development. It's become pretty sustainable as a district, and if it keeps people living and working there, and not commuting across the city to downtown, then that's a benefit to everyone.

[millerman]

[QUOTE=Phil McAvity;8201445]Like I said, this project, like so many other high-rise projects in the city are allowed anywhere with no plan for the downtown. The problem is, that if the city planners and councilors had any idea of what they were doing, Kelowna would actually have a skyline but because they don't have any idea of what they're doing, there are high-rises all over the place.

Actually there is a strategic plan for epicenters of growth within the City of Kelowna, as Giallo mentioned about the south Pandosy area, and constraints downtown. Planned areas for high density (following the urban planning concept of "Vancourverism"), is to develop nodes of commercial/office/residential that can support a substantial population with (i.e. grocery stores etc), while minimizing cross traffic throughout the city.

Downtown is on a major development path that was started back in the early 1990's. This has resulted in a massive change over 25 years and continues through a number of incentives established by the city council over the years. Three other areas that will see nodes of high density/commercial development include:

1) South Pandosy/Mission area;
2) Capri Centre and surrounding area - commercial/office and residential;
3) Landmark area - continued commercial/office and more residential.

All these areas will see high rise development over time, with the area of most activity, downtown.

There is a strategic plan, and the City of Kelowna is following through with it, following decades with minimal management of growth. If you would like references for these planning documents, let me know and I'd be happy to provide the links.

[240glt]

When they first started building those office buildings in the Kirschner road area I thought it was unfortunate for those buildings to not be in the downtown area, but now I'm actually glad they didn't. Now with all the residential and mixed use development going in the area it's a much more interesting and lively place than it would've been if all the office development had been consolidated there

[Phrescata]

According to this Global article around half of the units in the second tower at One Water Street were sold within the first few hours of sales!

https://globalnews.ca/news/4232269/h...owna-highrise/

[240glt]

Impressive.

36 & 29 stories for that development is pretty impressive as well. That's big city height.

Interesting to note that the article states that most of the buyers are from the Okanagan and around BC.

[Metro-One]

Soooo, looks like demand should not be an issue for Westcorp regarding the new 15% out of province tax???

[240glt]

^ If that development fails to move ahead I'd say that it will have nothing to do with the buyers tax and everything to do with Westcorps' inability to execute the project. The tax is just a convenient excuse IMO

[KelownaResident]

I am surprised they want to continue pumping out so many units. With the market being cautious as it is, and so much housing inventory already in the works, one would think it'd be safer to wait and see before adding more inventory.

However, more inventory would certainly help our housing shortage.

I actually think right now is a great time to buy in Kelowna, considering the income one can generate from rent due to the extremely low vacancy rate.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^ If that development fails to move ahead I'd say that it will have nothing to do with the buyers tax and everything to do with Westcorps' inability to execute the project. The tax is just a convenient excuse IMO

Seems bizarre to jump through all those hoops to get such a project green lit in Kelowna just to bail.

[DKaz]

It seems like the shortage is alleviating with lots of rental units coming on the market, and actually on the low end of the real estate market there is downward pressure on prices. It's the mid and high end that's in demand around here.

[KelownaResident]

A beautiful view of Kelowna from this past weekend.

[giallo]

Kelowna Now did a video on high rise living in Kelowna. They talk with Mission Group about Brooklyn and downtown's revitalization.

• Video Link