Kelowna won’t reveal Prospera Place operator details yet

The City of Kelowna says it is not ready to reveal which company will take over operation of Prospera Place when the current agreement ends in 2029.

The response comes after GSL, the arena’s outgoing operator, publicly questioned the city’s procurement process and raised concerns about the company selected to run the facility.

The city says its competitive process is still underway and it will not release information while that process continues.

“To abide by our obligations under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and the general integrity of the competitive process, information is not released while the process is underway,” the city said in an email response to a request for comment.

The city says it conducted a full review and issued a request for proposals to select an operator for Prospera Place, which is owned by the city.

Once the process is complete and a contract has been signed, the city says it may release high-level details, including the name of the selected operator, the overall contract value and a general description of the services.

However, individual proposals, proprietary or commercially sensitive information, detailed evaluations and scoring, and details related to negotiations will remain confidential, according to the city.

The city did not directly respond to GSL’s concerns, saying only that it had “no response to the media statement issued by GSL.”

GSL is the current operator of Prospera Place and is expected to leave when the new operating agreement takes effect in 2029.