The Mission Group plans to build a massive residential highrise on a recently purchased piece of property in downtown Kelowna.
The 19-storey building will feature more than 100 residential condos, with retail space on the ground floor. It will sit on the corner of Ellis Street and Lawrence Avenue on a plot of land across from the Blue Gator Bar and Grill that currently acts as a parking lot.
Mission Group bought the lot for $2.6 million earlier this month from the City of Kelowna.
Luke Turri, the vice president of development at Mission Group, says the building will be an attractive addition to the area, with retail space along the street frontages offering “a nice pedestrian experience” along both streets.
Turri says the new building marks the start of what will likely be a burst of residential development south of Bernard Avenue.
He said with so much commercial activity in the downtown core happening these days, the region around Lawrence and Ellis is a “really good opportunity” for development.
“Certainly that area is transitioning. I’m sure in the future you’ll see other tall buildings on that side of Bernard. This will be the first one on that block, but we would expect in the coming years there would be more,” he said.
Turris said the building will provide enough parking to support the units it’s creating.
More generally, he said as more projects like this one pop up in downtown and density increases, the city will be able put less emphasis on the need for parking as more people are able to live without a car.
Kelowna’s downtown plan calls for this kind of development in the area, and Turri says the Mission Group will essentially only need standard development permits from council to get the project going.
The group expects to make those applications next month, and anticipates starting construction next spring.
He said plans for the exact makeup of the condos are still in the works, but residents will get their first glimpse of the form and character of the building when the project is presented to council.
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