UBCO and the Mission Group are signalling to the City of Kelowna they’re ready to put shovels in the ground for a new downtown campus.
The UBC Properties Trust submitted a development permit application to the city on Dec. 23, seeking to rezone the former home of the Daily Courier at 550 Doyle Avenue from C7 - business commercial to a comprehensive development zone to allow for a new vertical campus.
There will be three towers included in the project that stretches over two lots. The first tower will have underground parking for 260 vehicles, a ground floor that features an atrium, cafe and medical clinic, an eight-storey ‘academic podium’ with a larger footprint that acts as a stage for 24 storeys of student housing on top. Approximately 352 units of student housing will be available. The tower will be 34 storeys in total.
The tower will be designed with a diagonal cut that opens the building to the corner of St. Paul street. That will create a courtyard that welcomes students and the public to the building. The facade will feature materials and colour palettes inspired by the surrounding area.
“Within the material, textures, and program studies we found that the tones of brown and light grey provided a good quality pattern of earth and stone,” the proposal reads. “To bring a sparkling touch of colour to the design, the material proposal will incorporate focalized touches of bronze and corten steel, as the metallic version of the brown colour, in featured elements of the design.”
In total, three towers will be developed — two of which will be for Mission Group developments.
“Right now, the heart of the city is going through an evolution. We are seeing more people living and conducting business downtown with an emerging tech industry and a passionate entrepreneurial spirit in the community,” Mission Group CEO Randall Shier said. “UBCO having a presence downtown goes hand in hand with the maturation of the community. We cannot wait to get to work on helping to bring this new campus and surrounding development to life.”
UBCO has said they hope to break ground on the project in 2022.
READ MORE: Kelowna’s new downtown campus to help alleviate UBCO’s space crunch
READ MORE: Proposed design unveiled for UBC Okanagan downtown Kelowna campus
@SchislerCole
cole.schisler@bpdigital.ca
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