With a vacancy rate of just 0.6 per cent, the demand for new apartments in Kelowna is there.
So a local company, which has built residential buildings across Western Canada over the last few years—particularly in Alberta—but never here, is stepping into the market.
Highstreet Ventures says it has a plan to build two apartment developments in the Central Okanagan—one in Kelowna and one is West Kelowna—and in doing so says it will make one of the biggest private investments in renewable energy in multi-family development construction in Western Canada at the same time.
Highstreet president Scott Butler said both the developments, which will feature a total of 528 units, will feature solar power and a host of other energy saving features.
The Kelowna development will be located on KLO Road adjacent to Immaculate High School and the West Kelowna development is slated for land between Majoros Road and Carrington Road in Westbank. He said both project still require permits from both cities.
Butler said while the West Kelowna development will feature one- and two-bedroom units in several buildings on its site, the Kelowna development will have the same, plus a number of three-bedroom units in townhouses on its site. The developments will contain a total of 240 and 288 units respectively.
Because the Kelowna's vacancy rate is so low, the city is offering developers of rental housing a tax break to build new rental residential units.
In total, the two developments will cost the company around $113 million to build—$63 million in Kelowna and $50 million in West Kelowna and Butler said he hopes to start construction before the end of the year. The developments would take about a year to complete, he added.
The company turned its attention to Kelonwa—where it is headquartered and where Butler lives— after the recent economic downturn in Alberta.
There it has built more than 2,000 homes. This will be the first time Highstreet has built in the Okanagan.
"Our rental communities, in addition to the other 600 apartments proposed for Kelowna, should help put a dent in the need for quality rental housing in Kelowna and West Kelowna and help increase the local vacancy rate, making housing more attainable for people," said Butler.