Tenant buys Westbank Shopping Centre
The mall that started the building boom on Westbank First Nation land is now owned by City Furniture’s Ray Kandola
For the Àrst time in its 21-year history, Westbank Shopping Centre is under local ownership.
A company controlled by Ray Kandola, the co-founder of City Furniture & Appliances, has purchased the 74,000-square-foot mall at the corner of Highway 97 and Gosset Road for just under $14 million.
The previous owner was King Sett Capital, a real estate investment Àrm in Toronto.
“Westbank Shopping Centre has been through several owners, none of them local, since it first opened in 1996,” said Coldwell Banker realtor Bill Raine, who represented Kandola in the purchase.
“So, the big difference now is local ownership.
“Tenants are happy they can deal with someone in West Kelowna instead of having to get in touch with someone they don’t know in Toronto. What is interesting is when we began the buying process early in 2017, there were a signiÀcant number of vacancies. Now we are nearing 100 per cent occupancy with new tenants moving into the centre.”
Raine will continue to work for Kandola as the leasing agent for Westbank Shopping Centre.
The mall was the Àrst major project to be built on Westbank First Nation land when it was completed over two decades ago.
Since then, several more shopping centres and big-box stores, including Walmart, Real Canadian Superstore, Canadian Tire and Home Depot, have been built on band land along Highway 97.
Westbank Shopping Centre has tenants such as Landmark Theatres, TD Canada Trust, Wendy’s, Tim Hortons, Blenz Coffee, Lammle’s Western Wear, Liquor Depot and White Spot. The property is really three parts. The former Zellers building toward the back of the plot has a separate owner and is now a big U-Haul depot.
The former Extra Foods building was purchased by Kandola and turned into a City Furniture and Appliances store several years ago.
In the same building, Dollarama has a store.
Kandola said having his City Furniture store in the mall gave him the opportunity to see the rest of the property would make a good investment.
The Kandola family used to be based in Prince George and that’s where the City Furniture business started.
The family moved to West Kelowna several years ago and continues to own and operate 14 stores throughout B.C.