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The developers behind the proposed Aqua project in Kelowna’s Mission Creek neighbourhood have been working for nearly a decade to bring it to fruition, so they have no problem being patient as they search for a new financial partner.
Mission Group CEO Jonathan Friesen said it is common for financial partners to exit a project once the entitlements have all been secured, which is what happened last year.
“The most typical way that a financial partner exits is for them to wait until the project is sold and closed, and then the profits are divided according to pre-agreed terms,” Friesen said. “But quite often a group will say, ‘Our exit is not at the end of the project when it’s sold. It’s somewhere in the middle.’ And a very common time to do that is after entitlements but before construction because it’s a nice line in the sand.”
The land, which is just south of Hotel Eldorado, has been listed with Colliers International, and Mission Group will be buying back into the project along with another group that chooses to help finance the construction of the lakeside residential resort complex. Friesen expects the new financial partner to be in place this spring, which means construction could start in March 2020. The asking price is $60 million.
“We plan to stay in, but we want to make sure our financial partners are treated above board and fairly,” Friesen said. “To do that we need a market-price sale. That doesn’t mean at all that we’re not into it. We’ve been with this project for almost a decade. It means so much to us. It’s probably one of the most exciting projects that we could ever have in Kelowna, and we have every intention of staying with this thing.”
Friesen said not all of his company’s projects operate in this manner but some of them do. Aqua is a large venture, as it is scheduled to house 319 units, spread across three apartment hotel towers, perched atop a four-level podium and flanked by townhomes. It will also have a four-storey boat rack that will allow residents to store their boats and use them all year round.
Along with the amenities for residents, the project would also make space for the public through a waterfront boardwalk and access to a restored shoreline. Mission Group received exemptions from Kelowna city council that will allow the towers to be 12, 14 and 16 storeys high in a neighbourhood where the maximum height is six storeys.
“It’s been a long process for us, but it’s just so worth it,” Friesen said. “I don’t think that there is another project that Mission Group has right now that we’re more excited about and more invested in.”
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