Two new downtown towers get green light

Kelowna council has approved the downtown UBCO campus, which at 43 stories, will be the tallest tower in the city.

It will be built at the corner of St. Paul Street and Doyle Ave. and will include 10 floors of academic use, 473 units of apartment housing, ground floor commercial and underground parking

Kelowna council has approved a development permit for a 33-storey tower at 289 Queensway.

The proposal by Westcorp will include 175 hotel rooms and 65 residential units.

The city says council supported the project in 2020 but it did not move ahead due to circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, so the developer needed to seek council’s support again.

In other Kelowna council news, council supported a liquor application as part of a new event venue at 1383 Ellis Street.

The proposal includes a café, an events hall, and a music hall with capacity for 685 people.

The application will be forwarded to the Liquor and Cannabis Regulation Branch for approval.

And a development permit and several variances were approved by council for a six-storey development at the corner of Drysdale Boulevard and Glen Park Drive in Glenmore.

The project would include 30 one-bedroom units, and seven two-bedroom units.