It’s official – the Aquilini Group’s offer to buy the stalled SOPA Square development in Kelowna’s South Pandosy area has been accepted.
After a six-week wait to see if any other interested parties would match the $29.5 million Aquilini offered for partially built mixed-use commercial-residential development on Pandosy Street which is in receivership, the receiver handling disposal of the property issued a certificate allowing the Vancouver-based company to proceed with its purchase and informed the courts of the move.
The sale is expected to close by mid-February.
The troubled development has been beset with problems since it was first approved by the city in 2008. In addition to the original developer, which ran out of money trying to build the ambitious project, a second developer only managed to complete the two-storey commercial space fronting Pandosy.
An 11-storey residential tower was put on hold and has yet to be built on the property., as was a six-storey townhouse portion of the development.
The Aquilini Group, owners of the Vancouver Canucks hockey team also has another development planned for Kelowna, the residential high rise tower dubbed 24, slated for BernardAvenue.
That project was halted when the recession hit and has yet to be built.
