Artist rendering of Canary Lofts/via canarylofts.ca
The City of Kamloops has unanimously approved a Development Permit for a new eight-storey multi-family building at First Avenue and Columbia Street.
Canary Lofts is going to include a mix of 141 new condo and rental units, including bachelors, one-and two-bedroom suites in addition to a renovated 30-unit structure that is currently on site, for a total of 171 units, with a 178 stall underground parking structure.
“We have been working for years on Canary Lofts and were so pleased to receive approval at the public hearing,” said Sheila Minten, the Manager of Total Concept Developments, the group behind the project, said in a news release.
“The extensive work of our development team to create something special for this neighbourhood is so appreciated and made even better with the excellent feedback we received from our project’s stakeholders – neighbours, downtown businesses, and community members.”
“We now have the opportunity to revitalize the property, which is currently occupied by an old, vacant apartment building.”
In a report, Kamloops City said that they support the need for more housing in the downtown core, though they also had two concerns with the project – traffic flow and neighbourhood fit.
At Tuesday’s public hearing, councillors heard from residents both in favour and against the project. Some said while they weren’t opposed to developing the property currently occupied by Upland Apartments, which has been boarded up for some time – they were not in favour of the density proposed.
People in favour said the location was ideal given its proximity to Royal Inland Hospital and other downtown businesses, leading to potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars in development permits, property taxes, and development cost charges, used to fund growth.
Those opposed to the development said it was due to concerns about traffic congestion, parking, a loss of privacy as they felt neighbouring homes would overshadowed by the development, and an increase in density.
“I appreciate that the neighbours may not want the change, but it’s been a just a terrible eyesore for years and somebody’s willing to put something forward. I think that this is a good proposal for Kamloops and for the neighbourhood.”
Minten previously told NL News that if everything goes to plan, they hope to have shovels in the ground by this summer, with a potential opening in the summer of 2025.
“As a team we will be meeting to start confirming our timelines for the development to get underway and look forward to keeping the public informed,” Minten said.
