The Westcorp hotel....

[Terris]

Plainly and simply...

It has been obvious from the start of this process that, Westcorp is seeking to build luxury waterfront condos along City Park and downtown. They have stated as such many times publicly and privately.

When their proposal for their CD-21 properties along Abbott was shot was shot down, they concentrated on the "hotel".

With extreme wealth comes extreme arm twisting; and when you have an ineffectual city council and mayor who are largely small business owners with varying degrees of success and failures, and who are essentially yes-men for the real estate entities already operating here, a large international mega corp like Westcorp knows that the public are fickle, and that time and money will get them what they want.

Westcorp is fully aware of the players here in Kelowna and has crossed swords with some of them. Much of their added "costs" in this community reshaping project are the price for joining the Kelowna real estate Kabal.

Ref. the refbc...

Pretty sweet deal for the scions of former BC provincial Nabobs.

Any organization that has a legislated mandate to scoop other people's real estate deposit funds, and collect interest off that money for their own purposes, presents a clear example of the chicanery that is involved in developing real estate here in BC and especially here in the Okanagan.

Add to that, the refbc was legislated into existence by an outgoing, and later disgraced, premier whose interests have long conflicted with the ALR and that the executive boards of the refbc are largely composed of this former premier's family, friends and associates warrants, in my opinion, an investigation for possible money laundering...

[LANDM]

Plainly and simply...

It has been obvious from the start of this process that, Westcorp is seeking to build luxury waterfront condos along City Park and downtown. They have stated as such many times publicly and privately.

When their proposal for their CD-21 properties along Abbott was shot was shot down, they concentrated on the "hotel".

With extreme wealth comes extreme arm twisting; and when you have an ineffectual city council and mayor who are largely small business owners with varying degrees of success and failures, and who are essentially yes-men for the real estate entities already operating here, a large international mega corp like Westcorp knows that the public are fickle, and that time and money will get them what they want.

Westcorp is fully aware of the players here in Kelowna and has crossed swords with some of them. Much of their added "costs" in this community reshaping project are the price for joining the Kelowna real estate Kabal.

"Large international mega Corp"? They are an Alberta developer who also has projects in Kelowna.
As their business is development, they need to build something that results in a profit. Pretty simple.

Ref. the refbc...

Pretty sweet deal for the scions of former BC provincial Nabobs.

Any organization that has a legislated mandate to scoop other people's real estate deposit funds, and collect interest off that money for their own purposes, presents a clear example of the chicanery that is involved in developing real estate here in BC and especially here in the Okanagan.

Add to that, the refbc was legislated into existence by an outgoing, and later disgraced, premier whose interests have long conflicted with the ALR and that the executive boards of the refbc are largely composed of this former premier's family, friends and associates warrants, in my opinion, an investigation for possible money laundering...

The Real Estate Foundation doesn’t "scoop other people’s real estate deposit funds". They simply are mandated to be paid the interest (in such cases that the interest is not obligated to go to the deposit holder), that accrues on brokerage pooled trust accounts in B.C.
If the arrangements are such that the interest on a deposit is specified to go to the buyer or seller, it will go to those people. If it is not specified as such, any trust account interest goes to the Foundation. No trust funds are "scooped" or held by the Foundation.

From the RESA,

91 (1) The board of governors of the foundation consists of the following individuals:
(a) one member appointed by the real estate council;
(b) one member appointed by the British Columbia Real Estate Association;
(c) one member appointed by the Real Estate Institute of British Columbia;
(d) one member, not licensed under this Act, appointed by the minister;
(d.1) one or 2 members, appointed in accordance with the regulations, if any;
(e) the minister or another member appointed by the minister.

Each of the seven board members have been appointed since, at the the earliest, 2013 all the way up to 2018.

Which of them are family, friends, associates etc. of Bill Bennett, who was premier at the time the Foundation was created 33 years ago and is deceased? Since you specifically made the allegation, this should be easy to answer.

I’m sure any or all of them would be very interested in your conspiracy theory regarding them laundering money.

[home1]

good points made here

[Terris]

"Large international mega Corp"? They are an Alberta developer who also has projects in Kelowna.
As their business is development, they need to build something that results in a profit. Pretty simple.

Yes, by any normal standard, a company worth billion$ and which also builds luxury properties in countries outside of their home province of Alberta, CANADA is an international mega corp...

http://www.westcorpmg.com/

[LANDM]

"Large international mega Corp"? They are an Alberta developer who also has projects in Kelowna.
As their business is development, they need to build something that results in a profit. Pretty simple.

Yes, by any normal standard, a company worth billion$ and which also builds luxury properties in countries outside of their home province of Alberta, CANADA is an international mega corp...

http://www.westcorpmg.com/

Come on, even you can do better than this!
It’s not the same company and has nothing to do with the Westcorp from Edmonton that is doing the developments here.

I’m sure that googling "Terris" would bring up totally unrelated things too......

So you are 0 for 2 on your rant about Westcorp and about the REFBC.....did you want to keep trying or just leave well enough alone?

[OKkayak]

Yes, by any normal standard, a company worth billion$ and which also builds luxury properties in countries outside of their home province of Alberta, CANADA is an international mega corp...

http://www.westcorpmg.com/

Ummm, try this one:

https://www.westcorp.net

[Anonymous123]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/261479/Progress-on-waterfront-hotel

"Inside the sales centre, we're not doing just a sales gallery. On the mezzanine, we are also building a model hotel room, a beta suite," said Temple.

"All the millwork for the beta suite is being done in Spain and is being shipped over."

I guess we don’t have a source for millwork locally.

[AlienSoldier]

https://www.castanet.net/news/Kelowna/261479/Progress-on-waterfront-hotel

"Inside the sales centre, we're not doing just a sales gallery. On the mezzanine, we are also building a model hotel room, a beta suite," said Temple.

"All the millwork for the beta suite is being done in Spain and is being shipped over."

I guess we don’t have a source for millwork locally.

It's possible that the type of material required or the engineering required is not available locally, or that it is more cost efficient to design and build the beta suite in Spain and ship it here.

We do have some companies in Kelowna that have grown beyond local small time players such as Kal-Tire. But industry and business go both ways, some local companies go to their markets, and some companies come here.

[60-YEARS-in-Ktown]

You sound like you are maybe in the same camp as Westcorp.
Westcorp said the hotel will be good for Locals and provide jobs, then they turn around and outsource to foreign countries..
Benefits to locals, spin doctor talk .. templespeak & milroyspeak.

Kudos to the Train Station Pub for sourcing their millwork from B.C. suppliers, and using B.C. wood..

[cuba108]

It was also an interesting statement from Westcorp that construction will not begin until they have 50 to 55 sales. If you are a well funded developer the banks or lending institutions will finance immediate construction. This does not appear to be the case here .

[vinnied]

Yeah, not sure what these folks are waiting for, but its been one excuse after another.
Better not wait too long, the water table may be too high again. Oh wait, that will give them more time to make some changes AGAIN.
Wonder if Ill ever see this building in my lifetime

[LANDM]

It was also an interesting statement from Westcorp that construction will not begin until they have 50 to 55 sales. If you are a well funded developer the banks or lending institutions will finance immediate construction. This does not appear to be the case here .

Your claim on financing isn't accurate. Lenders are cautious on everything now.

[GordonH]

I find it interesting that number of condo developments are going up since hotel/condo was approved. They don't seam to be having any problems.

I wonder westcorp is looking for some goodies from CoK.

[bigtimeoperations]

Would be nice to see a NORMAL, modest type of hotel being built there, but that just wont do will it? This is Kelowna! Its got to be some blatant, ridiculous eyesore.

[Omnitheo]

Would be nice to see a NORMAL, modest type of hotel being built there, but that just wont do will it? This is Kelowna! Its got to be some blatant, ridiculous eyesore.

what might be an eyesore for you will become an iconic part of the Kelowna skyline and will appear on every map booklet and tourism brochure for years. This is how it goes for most cities, and it seems Kelowna wants it's own.