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Development permit for future 33-storey downtown Kelowna hotel nears expiration

The company will be back before Kelowna council next month for a new development permit
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A rendering of the new hotel from the Kelowna lakefront. (Contributed)

Time has run out for an Alberta-based developer’s 33-storey hotel proposal on Kelowna’s Water Street.

The city issued a two-year development permit to WestCorp for the proposed hotel and convention centre on Feb. 20, 2018.

Unless a building permit is attained and substantial progress is made, including foundation work, the development permit will expire next month.

City planner Adam Cseke said the company will be back before Kelowna council on Feb. 4 in pursuit of a new development permit.

Cseke said the new application is more or less the same project with slightly better variances and minor tweaks.

“There are few key differences,” he said. “They’ve added a third floor of parking underground and they’ve reduced the top podium from parking and turned it into hotel units.”

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Despite holding the permit for nearly two years, development on the project is still in the early stages. The province’s controversial speculation tax, on property owned by out-of-province residents and B.C. residents who own more than one home that is not rented out long-term, is believed to have played a part in slowing plans for the hotel project.

-With files from Alistair Waters


@michaelrdrguez
michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com

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