UBCO downtown may get 41-storey neighbour
A 41-storey tower with 353 homes is proposed for the southeast corner of Doyle Avenue and St. Paul Street in downtown Kelowna.
The proposal, now under review by city planners, is being advanced by Kerkhoff Construction, builders of other highrises in the downtown core.
“The project will have a modern aesthetic, setting a benchmark in the neighbourhood,” the developer's architect, Mark Aquilon, writes in an application to the City of Kelowna.
But the site where the 122-metre tall building is proposed currently has C-4 zoning, which limits building heights to only 15 metres, so city council would have to grant a substantial height variance.
Kerkhoff Construction justifies the request for such a variance, in part, by noting C-7 zoning is already in place on three of the four properties around the proposed highrise site.
If approved by council, Kerkhoff’s new tower would be built immediately south of a new UBC Okanagan downtown campus, the construction of which on the former site of The Daily Courier newspaper is expected to start within two years.
Since Aquilon says soil conditions would make construction of an underground parkade impossible, the proposed 41-storey tower’s parking would be provided inside an aboveground podium.
Parking podiums at other Kelowna highrises have often been disguised — for example, the Ella building’s parking levels are made to look from the outside as if they are offices.
But the new project proposed by Kerkhoff Construction proposes “to celebrate, rather than disguise this prominent feature of the building,” Aquilon writes in his submission to the city.
The podium would have a “green space” on its roof, Aquilon says, providing an amenity to building residents, and a variety of commercial premises are planned at street level.
“Overall, the podium is seen as an opportunity to create an element of beauty in the university district’s fabric,” Aquilon says.
There is currently no date for when city council will consider the necessary zoning change that would allow the project to move forward.