232808

Penticton  

New rentals near approval

Funding for a four-storey rental apartment in the heart of Oliver could be approved as soon as next month.

EllisDon is proposing to build an affordable housing complex on a vacant property at 6089 Main Street, which it would then sell to BC Housing.

The proposal currently includes plans for 47 rental units with commercial space on the ground floor.

"The project has been submitted to BC Housing under the Building BC: Community Housing Fund RFP. It is anticipated that notice of project approval will be in November 2018," said EllisDon business development coordinator Jeff Waters in an email.

Apart from funding, Waters stressed "there is still a number of items we need to work through with BC Housing before we can begin construction."

The property has been empty for close to a decade, and the current zoning would enable the rental apartment to be built without needing additional approval from the town.

Oliver council expressed support for the proposal in May, when asked for it by EllisDon in their application to BC Housing.

"If they're talking rental units that are going to be affordable to a community, that's a godsend," Mayor Ron Hovanes said at the time. "There's not much of that being built anywhere. And this being in the downtown core, the site would just fit itself perfectly."



More Penticton News