An artist’s drawing of the Westcorp Hotel on the shores of Lake Okanagan in downtown Kelowna.
Image credit: Westcorp
December 16, 2019 – 6:00 a.m.
The latest plans for a huge hotel in downtown Kelowna are in the hands of city planners.
Westcorp has filed a document with a long list of changes previously announced, including reduced height, more parking and more housing units.
There is no exact date yet for the construction of the project.
The changes made before the planners include a reduction in the tower height by 4.6 meters to 126 meters.
A third level of underground parking is added, increasing the number of stands from 295 to 331.
Two rows of above-ground parking stands on Water Street have been replaced with hotel rooms.
Westcorp is looking for 36,013 square feet of gross floor space versus the previous 34,680 square feet.
The hotel has been approved with 174 hotel rooms and 40 to 50 units, but the latest design has 185 hotel rooms and 50 to 65 units, depending on market demand for the size of the units.
Changes may need to be approved by the Council.
In 2018 there was a public hearing on another development deviation requested by Westcorp. It made possible a much larger 33-story hotel and condominium complex.
Construction on this iteration of the project should begin before the end of this year. In an earlier version, construction should start in 2016.
In the further course of the project’s history, Westcorp boss Phil Milroy financed a so-called comprehensive development plan for a large part of the city center in 2007, in which the company also owns other properties.
The plan, known as CD-21, would have governed not only the construction of the hotel grounds but also its surroundings, including height and density, but also the placement of city parks and road closures.
The heart of the plan would have been the land-based Westcorp Hotel, acquired in 2003, which the company had originally intended to protrude into Lake Okanagan and which was partly on land in Kerry Park.
Public pressure at the time pushed the company to downsize its original plans and withdraw from the water, but ultimately it was all in vain when the council of the day voted against the plan.
The retreat from the Kelowna real estate market after the recession put the project back on hold.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2019
