Proponents of The Hive in downtown Kamloops are considering a residential tower as part of the development plans.
Renders sent to NL News through a Freedom of Information Act request show that Invictus Properties has considered a 10-storey, 65,000-square-foot residential tower being part of its plan to redevelop a parking lot on Lansdowne Street, between 5th and 6th avenues.
According to renders done on Oct. 17, 2019 by A&T Project Development, the 10-storey residential tower would’ve been part of Plan A, which, across the three lots, would also include 78,600 square feet of office space and 30,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space.
Plan B would be a commercial business park, with 153,600 square feet of office space and also 30,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floors.
Invictus vice president Bryan Pilbeam says a mix of commercial and residential is not off the table for future phases of The Hive.
“Our intent was always to look at different ideas as to what would best benefit Kamloops, and also what would best benefit the project itself. And for us, looking at residential and commercial were ideas that we had and truly the market would dictate what the needs would be and what people’s interest would be. So we looked at both,” Pilbeam tells NL News.
“Obviously our world’s changed significantly since that time, and we continue to realize that market needs and people’s interest will be different. So both are still potentials, I think, for us. So we’re starting phase one and will get into phase one, then determine what’s going to be the best opportunity for phase two.”
Pilbeam says whether future phases include residential or not, the project will be eligible for a 10-year property tax exemption. The Downtown Revitalization Tax Exemption bylaw has always included new residential construction, and in December, Kamloops council began talks to expand what is included.
In January, council approved the bylaw being expanded to include new commercial developments, citing that comparable communities in B.C. have the same rules to their tax exemption bylaws, and that many developers interested in Kamloops have been at a “yellow light.” The next day, plans were publicly announced for the multi-year development of The Hive.
Phase one of The Hive will be a five-storey commercial building at 5th Avenue and Lansdowne Street, with 45,000 square feet. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, construction is expected to start next month, and it would be ready to open in late 2021. It has already secured locally-owned and operated Urban Systems at its anchor tenant for that building.
Past phase one, Pilbeam says nothing is ruled out.
“I think we’ve got a lot of land that’s able to be developed. And I think the overall picture is something we want to have work together on and be real positive for the downtown and The Hive itself. So all options are open still at this point, but we’re certainly progressing on each one.”
The Hive will be first new commercial building downtown since 2007.
Plan B was the rendering that was made public on Jan. 29, but Plan A replaces some office space with 10 floors of residential (larger building on the left, on the first render image below). Both plans are still being considered. #Kamloops pic.twitter.com/LgjvToVxG0
— Colton Davies (@ColtonDavies_) May 8, 2020