Architect's rendering of a proposed 44-unit housing building at 404 Tranquille Road. (Photo via City of Kamloops/Richard Hunter Architect Inc.)
There could finally be progress on a long standing plan to build a new six-storey affordable housing building in North Kamloops.
Announced two years ago – and first presented to city council in May 2022 – the new building at 404 Tranquille Road will include a mix of one, two, and three bedrooms units located above a main floor of commercial space with rents geared to a person’s income.
“It’s going to be about 44 units and Interior Community Services has donated the land for this project,” ICS Associate Executive Officer Sadie Hunter said on NL Newsday.
The building is slated to rise on a plot of land next to the Interior Community Services Family Programming offices at 396 Tranquille Road. That vacant piece of land is currently used for staff parking.
“It is exciting for the organization,” former ICS CEO Kelly Kelland – who has since retired – told Radio NL in 2022. “That project is for seniors and for families as well as adults with diverse abilities.”
“It is an expansion in the housing department at ICS and it goes along with the beautification of the North Shore and its going to be a great project.”
Kelland also told Radio NL that the main floor of the new building is expected to eventually house the main administration offices for Interior Community Services, which are currently located at 765 Tranquille Road.
The new building has been in the works since 2018 when Interior Community Services got provincial money to work on plans that were derailed by COVID-19.
“This project right now has provisional project approval and we won’t have final project approval from BC Housing until all of the development permits are completed,” Hunter added. “Right now that approval is sitting with the city.”
“We are hoping to have the building permit soon and then there will be a tender period, a bid book all of those pieces still need to happen.”
If all goes to plan, Hunter says construction is expected to begin this fall, with the new building ready for occupancy sometime in 2026.
