A Kamloops city councillor says he is excited to see what the Kelson Group has in store for downtown Kamloops with a new $140-million housing development announced this morning.
“Part of what excites me about this as well is the Kelson Group has committed to going out to the public and asking what they want to see as a new development in the downtown core,” Mike O’Reilly told NL News. “So that really excites me that people are going to be a part of this process.”
“Noting has come official to council by any means. What we’re seeing today is a vision that has been presented and its exciting to see there is this belief in Kamloops that we can build an 18 and a 22 storey tower which you know even five years ago was somewhat inconceivable.”
O’Reilly notes there is still a lot of work to be done including public hearings and rezoning of the land before construction can begin. But he noted that this project is a step towards densification in the downtown core.
“When we look at the announcements we’ve had over the past five years including doubling of the Royal Inland Hospital, and the Hive commercial development downtown, that is a lot of jobs that are going to be coming to the downtown core,” he added. “However, there hasn’t been residential announcements to the same scale, so this starts to complete that picture.”
Kelson Group President Jason Fawcett tells NL News they’re in talks to buy a portion of Nicola Street to incorporate it into the project, as well as a laneway between Nicola and Battle Streets. He anticipates that his company would cover the costs to relocate civic infrastructure, like water and sewer.
“We will continue to allow pedestrians and cyclists to use it, but road and vehicular access would be limited to the site, and we think that Nicola Street between these blocks is not well used by traffic and this will just allow us to build out more green space and just make it a better development,” Fawcett told NL News.
Fawcett says they will be working with current residents in the houses on Nicola and Battle Street to ensure they can make alternative housing arrangements before construction begins. The first phase is estimated to get going in Spring 2022, with the project expected to take between six and seven years to complete.
