Kelowna's new commercial marina, the first portion of the new downtown marina and pier is expected to be ready to accommodate commercial boats this weekend.
It was expected the marina would be ready two weeks ago, however, a few delays pushed that date back.
"The commercial pier will be open to the public and fully functional this weekend, with commercial boat owners able to sell their tickets from the new building and arrive and depart from the new pier," stated Westcorp's Director of Development, Gail Temple in an email to Castanet News late Friday.
"We are still waiting on some last finishing aspects, but none of this will interfere with the commercial boat owners doing their business from the new location."
Once the commercial boats have relocated to the new marina Temple says the process of dismantling the existing commercial dock will begin.
She expects that process to be complete by the end of next week.
"Work will then commence on the new abutment for the main pier, and over the next few weeks, components of the main marina, including the two other buildings, will be also be floated over and put into place," says Temple.
"Once all of the components are in place, there will be a couple of weeks required to connect fuel and water lines, install railings and lighting, furniture, etc."
Temple says Westcorp, which will construct, maintain and run the $5M pier and marina claims they are now on schedule for an end of July completion date.
It was originally projected the pier and marina would be completed by the end of May, however, Temple admits that time frame was extremely aggressive.
"Many aspects of the design changed in the early months (especially with regard to the quality, complexity, and structure of the marina buildings) and a combination of design and construction factors led to a revised projected completion date," stated Temple.
"Since every day is loss of revenue for the new marina this year, Westcorp and its team are working to get open for business as quickly as possible."
Temple adds the City of Kelowna staff have been "absolutely fantastic" in their efforts to assist during our construction phase, and Westcorp cannot say enough about how much city staff have worked to keep things moving.
If all goes as planned, Temple says the official Grand Opening of the new marina will take place August 10 during the Downtown Kelowna Block Party.