Kelowna city council has given the developers behind a plan to expand Kelowna’s Manteo Resort unanimous approval to proceed.
Following a public hearing Tuesday night, council gave the plan, which will see the addition of 18 townhouse units this year and construction of a 12-storey, 69-unit hotel and a 10-storey, 77-unit apartment-hotel in 10 years time, the green light by approving an application to amend the city’s official community plan as it pertains to building height.
Manteo asked for the increase to allow for the two towers in an exchange for a 12-metre strip of land along the lakeshore required by the city to secure public access from Rotary Beach to the mouth of Mission Creek.
While Manteo did not apply for an increase in site density, the additional height will allow the developers to reconfigure the building layouts to keep the project feasible and accommodate the public waterfront amenities sought by the city, they say.
Currently, the OCP says building can only be six-storeys high in the area of the Mission.
Manteo is located on Lakeshore Road at Cook Road.
“We’ve worked and re-worked this proposal to ensure we’re not only making sound business decisions, but most importantly responsible ones,” said Adrian Block, president and founder of The Rykon Group, developer of Manteo Resort.
“We have an amazing piece of real estate and take our stewardship of the land seriously and applaud city council for its collaboration to ensure a win-win for everyone.”
On Wednesday, he called the outcome of the public hearing “just good planning, adding it was the result of the developer and the city working well together.
“The city definitely wanted that strip (of land along the lakeshore) and we wanted the architecture that makes the site work,” said Block.
The first phase of the redevelopment will take place on the former Lakeshore Inn property, adjacent to the existing resort, and will include the 18 lakefront townhouse residences.
The developers say it’s their intent to start marketing the townhouses in late spring. The townhouses would be completed in 2014.
Specific details about the construction schedule of the townhouses project will be announced late April, says the developers.
Phases two and three of the expansion of the resort will include the 12-storey hotel and the 10-storey apartment-hotel building. Those buildings are not slated to be built until after the existing leases on the property expire in 10 years time.
City planner Danielle Noble said while the project has been approved through the public process, finalization of the land issues, such as the dedication of the strip of lakeshore land to the city, has yet to take place. But she described them as formalities.
