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GSL Group ramps up development plans for Kelowna properties

Vancouver-based developer proposes 23-storey tower for Capri Centre, revives Water Street plans
gsl-capri-centre
A new 23-storey residential tower proposed for the Capri Centre site in Kelowna would have 269 units.

The next step in the evolution of Kelowna's Capri-Landmark neighbourhood has been proposed.

GSL Group has submitted a development permit application to build a large residential tower on the southeast corner of the Capri Centre property at Sutherland Avenue and Capri Street.

The proposal features a 23-storey tower atop a five-storey podium that includes above-ground parking and one level of below-grade parking. The development would have 269 housing units, including six townhouses, 38 two-bedroom-and-den apartments, 63 two-bedrooms, 64 one-bedroom-and-den apartments, 95 one-bedrooms and three studios.

The area around and including Capri Centre mall is tagged in the Kelowna 2040 Official Community as a comprehensive development zone, so no rezoning or OCP changes are required for a 23-storey tower to be built on the site.

“(The project) is a forward-thinking proposal that responds to the future intentions and objectives of the 2040 plan,” GSL Group wrote in its application. “The intensification of residential and commercial uses in this area is supported by the direction for urban centres in the new official plan.”

Vancouver-based GSL Group, which owns Prospera Place and its parking lot, also recently revived plans to construct residential towers in the parking lot fronting onto Water Street and Cawston Avenue.

The plan is the latest in a series of redevelopment proposals put forth by GSL Group.

The initial redevelopment plan submitted to the city in 2013 included eight to 10 residential towers of varying heights across the property.

The plan changed and evolved over the next seven years with the final plan calling for 14 towers on the site.

Those plans were rescinded in 2020 while GSL worked on making changes to the plans.