Design Revealed and Budget Increased for Kelowna’s Newest Parkade

Kelowna Council approved a budget increase of over $3 million for the parkade by Memorial Arena.

This parkade was a big topic of discussion for Monday’s Kelowna Council meeting. After consultation with partners such as the Kelowna Museums Society and the Royal Canadian Legion, the City is officially naming the new area “Memorial Parkade”. In addition, Infrastructure Divisional Director Alan Newcombe asked council for an increase of about $3.4 million for the parkade’s budget.

The proposed Memorial Parkade on Ellis Street. (Photo Credit: City of Kelowna)

The budget increase is due to changes in the parkade’s plan. The original proposal for the Memorial Parkade was for 438 stalls, 410 for use by staff at the new Interior Health Authority (IHA) office building that’s set to open in 2016. After consultation, however, the number of stalls has increased substantially to 568. This new number includes 139 stalls for general public parking to replace those lost with the closure of the existing parking lot where the parkade will be built. There will be 6 accessible stalls included in the general public parking.

The budget was therefore updated from $15,830,350 to $19,247,850, a difference of $3.4 million.

Artist rendering of the proposed parkade. (Photo Credit: City of Kelowna)

(Photo Credit: City of Kelowna)

Parking Services Manager Dave Duncan says that contribution from the Innovation Centre project will cover the entire increase, meaning that there will not be additional impact on the reserves than previously approved. This money has already been partly received, with more coming with the building permit.

The design for the new parkade was revealed as well, complete with hanging ivy and textured walls. The new parkade will be six storeys high, and will include two floors for City office space. The offices will be directly on Ellis Street, giving a textured, detailed façade meant to go well with the surrounding buildings. Councillor Luke Stack said he appreciated in the design, since the attractive front should help mask the big parkade behind it.

Aerial view of the proposed parkade. (Photo Credit: City of Kelowna)

Council had some concerns about the transit security building and the alley in that area, saying that issues of lighting and safety would have to be addressed. However, Doug Gilchrist, Director of Community Planning and Real Estate said that more information would come for that entire area with the continued Civic Block engagement process.

Mayor Colin Basran said he was happy with the design of the building and pointed out that it’s nice to see the project finally get some traction. “As we know, parking is a hot topic downtown, and this will be nice to finally alleviate some of the parking concerns, although we could build parkades on every corner downtown and it still wouldn’t be enough for some.”

Construction of the Memorial Parkade will start in September 2015 and finish in July 2016 to coincide with the opening of the IHA building.