Central Green urban lie

[Urban Cowboy]

There's good reason why Stober is one of, if not the biggest, player in Kelowna.

I guess the bureaucrats feel obligated to bend over, after Stober covered a lot of the cost of that pedestrian overpass by Parkinson Rec Center.

[Grandan]

I'm puzzled about the "limited in height" comment.

There's a tower right across Hwy 97 that was built in the early 80's. What's it called? I forget right now.

But is the geo-technical area that different from a block away? Sounds like someone just doesn't want to put the money in to building taller or as tall as promised.

Is that where the "low income housing" was supposed to be?

I made a comment a while back that it was the local developers who generally were screwing the city not the out-of-towners.
The MO is to make a deal and then over time whittle away the requirements until they had what they wanted. There is a good chance that city councils will change and memories fade and time will produce a better deal for the developer.
What you see at Central Green is the city was out played. Sad. Oh well, they can take it out on the out-of-towners.

[Omnitheo]

Well, it is the site of a former school. Perhaps broken dreams and crushed spirits don’t make for a good building foundation

[featfan]

There's good reason why Stober is one of, if not the biggest, player in Kelowna.

I guess the bureaucrats feel obligated to bend over, after Stober covered a lot of the cost of that pedestrian overpass by Parkinson Rec Center.

Ya so workers in the area could use the parking lot.

[Urban Cowboy]

There's good reason why Stober is one of, if not the biggest, player in Kelowna.

I guess the bureaucrats feel obligated to bend over, after Stober covered a lot of the cost of that pedestrian overpass by Parkinson Rec Center.

Ya so workers in the area could use the parking lot.

No argument from me.

Stober doesn't make a move unless it strategically benefits him.

If it can be made to appear as a benevolent act then all the better.

[MAPearce]

There's a tower right across Hwy 97 that was built in the early 80's. What's it called?

Executive House .. 777 Leon Ave .

[voice of reason]

the leaning tower of leon

[dirtybiker]

What a sad case of what we have all let happen to our home.

Not any one councilor or Mayor is to blame.

Not any one political affiliation

Just a shame....

[Jflem1983]

What a sad case of what we have all let happen to our home.

Not any one councilor or Mayor is to blame.

Not any one political affiliation

Just a shame....

Wrong. Each one of them is to be blamed. Especially Gail Given

[LANDM]

From the link that was posted:
"While council agreed with the rationale of a pedestrian entrance to the site from that corner, opposed to the retail commercial site, it did decide to defer making a decision to give staff a chance to go over the plans and the site again with the developer."

They did not make a decision and they are still discussing. I suppose the responses will be that nothing will change etc., but the fact is that there is no final decision at this point.

As for geotechnical issues, that is up to engineers and would be a function of cost as per the article. You can build almost anything anywhere...how much will it cost though.

So, what it seems to come down to is that some think the big bad rich developer should be forced to build something that is outside of what the City said they wanted, without the City doing the necessary detailed geotech at the time.

Further, the City does not have the necessary crystal ball to determine market needs years out from when they compiled their "wish list". Perhaps the retail or commercial component would have little chance of leasing? If anyone would have that information, I would suspect it would be the developer.

If anyone thinks that a developer, in the business to make a profit, would willingly build something that will incur a loss, that is a naive thought. The property would then sit there, undeveloped, for longer or be resold.

[dominik]

Just listened to the CBC Interview, they are now implementing Limited Heights to require certain amounts of floors rather than using just using max heights which basically accounted for this Central Green Disaster.

At this point... Central Green is not the Role model for high density living, commercial and entertainment but the exact opposite. It is a perfect example of developers doing what they want after pushing the the city and council to the point of having to choose between a bad choice and a worse choice.

To say that I am getting more than just annoyed would be an accurate description. At this point the *bleep* they are pulling is incredible. You cannot tell me that the way they have built, and are planning to build the last stages can equal the amount of units they agreed upon in the first accepted community design, nor will it have the number of "affordable" rental units or commercial units (in fact I believe there are no commercial units in the plans now, but correct me if I am wrong).

Those wooden constructions are towered above by a 16 storey tower from the 80s showing that high density is possible (and that is while even that tower [executive house] has its own issues). You cannot tell me that if we can build the delta, sunset, sopa, and all these other towers RIGHT AT THE EDGE of the lake that building on the KSS site is more difficult. (again I may be wrong, but then if it is too much/too difficult then don't buy it and perform a bait and switch).

Okay.. so i am disappointed, frustrated and borderline angry after seeing the "Mission Flats Affordable Rental Rates".

[Omnitheo]

Give the property over to Westcorp. You know they’ll be able to increase the height

[plunber]

Its fugly. I blame the planning department. They dropped the ball on this one

[TMBOkanagan]

Just listened to the CBC Interview, they are now implementing Limited Heights to require certain amounts of floors rather than using just using max heights which basically accounted for this Central Green Disaster.

At this point... Central Green is not the Role model for high density living, commercial and entertainment but the exact opposite. It is a perfect example of developers doing what they want after pushing the the city and council to the point of having to choose between a bad choice and a worse choice.

To say that I am getting more than just annoyed would be an accurate description. At this point the *bleep* they are pulling is incredible. You cannot tell me that the way they have built, and are planning to build the last stages can equal the amount of units they agreed upon in the first accepted community design, nor will it have the number of "affordable" rental units or commercial units (in fact I believe there are no commercial units in the plans now, but correct me if I am wrong).

Those wooden constructions are towered above by a 16 storey tower from the 80s showing that high density is possible (and that is while even that tower [executive house] has its own issues). You cannot tell me that if we can build the delta, sunset, sopa, and all these other towers RIGHT AT THE EDGE of the lake that building on the KSS site is more difficult. (again I may be wrong, but then if it is too much/too difficult then don't buy it and perform a bait and switch).

Okay.. so i am disappointed, frustrated and borderline angry after seeing the "Mission Flats Affordable Rental Rates".

I agree with you. The only reason I hesitate - is that the complex at Central Green that was just deferred was meant to be rental housing - and it is hard to ask a rental building to bear increased costs to build higher due to geotechnical issues. That would only put increased costs on rent. I’m not sure what the right decision is here for Council. I’m glad they deferred it to allow more discussion rather than approving or not approving.

[dirtybiker]

The property would then sit there, undeveloped,

You say that like it is a bad thing.