Building permits for two of the three towers in the Mission Group’s Bernard Block were valued at more than $ 100 million and helped push the total number of permits granted by the city to the $ 1 billion mark so far this year.
Image source: liveatbrooklyn.com
For the first time in a single year, the City of Kelowna has issued more than $ 1 billion in building permits.
And only until October 27th, when permits worth $ 1.057 billion were issued.
This was led by permits for the The Block and Bernard skyscraper towers being taken out by the Mission Group. These are the two towers that will complete the company’s three-tower Bernard Block project.
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Taken together, those permits totaled more than $ 100 million, Mo Bayat, director of development services for the city of Kelowna, told iNFOnews.ca.
“That was the mega project,” he said. “After that we have so many other projects, so many apartment buildings with construction values of 1.5 to 40 million US dollars.”
In addition, more than 400 permits have been issued for single-family homes.
This permit value only applies to the construction costs. It excludes the cost of things like roads and services, and does not include development costs that are paid to the city. These amount to more than $ 40,000 for each unit.
The high figure was helped by the fact that the cost of building materials has skyrocketed this year, especially for sawn timber earlier in the year.
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Construction slowed dramatically due to COVID, with permits for all of 2020 being only $ 492.4 million. That was a decrease from $ 887.5 million in 2019 and the record year 2019 of $ 912.8 million
But while COVID hurt the city in 2020, it’s one of the factors driving growth this year and beyond.
“Kelowna was rediscovered during COVID,” said Bayat. “People from California and other places come here because they don’t want to be in a crowded city. If they can work from anywhere, why not come to a place like Kelowna, which has a great lifestyle and services, and proactive and visionary advice and management? ”
“The supply cannot keep up with the demand and the demand just keeps rising, so in 2022 I don’t see a decrease in demand. It’s hard to predict beyond 2022, but 2022 will be another very busy year for us. ”
There are already three skyscrapers approved by the Leon Avenue Park Project for Water Street. This includes a 42-story tower that, when built, will become the tallest building in Kelowna.
At one point, requests were made to the city for 200-story skyscrapers in a dozen or so towers along Bertramstrasse, but one 46-story proposal was rejected by the city council and a few others have yet to be rededicated.
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