The Hive delivers something missing from Kamloops market

The Hive, a class-A commercial building, has opened its doors downtown.

Located on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Lansdowne Street, The Hive is the first new high-quality office building built downtown in more than 20 years.

The major project was announced back in January of 2020 by local developers A&T Project Development Inc. and Invictus Properties Inc.

“We saw a big gap for class A office space, there hadn't been a class A office building built in over 20 years,” Bryan Pilbeam, vice president of Invictus Properties said.

“There was none on the plans and we knew that the economy had somewhat stalled or just had capacity limits based on the lack of it.”

On Thursday, the building hosted a grand opening to introduce itself to the community and included a song and blessing from members of Tk’eumlups te Secwepemc as well as a ribbon cutting.

According to the developer, the majority of the units were spoken for even before the building's official opening.

“The combination between leased and sold, we're about 90 per cent on the building, in terms of occupancy,” Gary Reed, a partner at A&T Project Developments, told Castanet Kamloops.

“So, you know, we're really happy with that number. Obviously, we're gonna keep pushing until we're 100 per cent subscribed on the building.”

During the opening, the company announced the main floor will be occupied by a new distillery called Stills House.

Carla Donnelly, the general manager of the future distillery, said the business looked at a lot of spaces in the city but none were quite right for the operation.

“When we found this space and we got to see it, there wasn't a question in our mind that this is the space for us to do it,” Donnelly said.

“This creates the palette that we get to build — what I think will be a really exceptional lounge space.”

While many of The Hive's units will be rented, Pilbeam said, some will be available for purchase to allow businesses to customize the space for their needs.

“As you see in this space we’re in now, you have18 foot ceilings,” he said referring to the first floor, where Stills House will be.

“So really it's a tremendous blank canvas and an opportunity for people to be in a leading building.”

According to the developer, the six storey, 60,000-square-foot building is just the first of multiple buildings in the works for The Hive development, which is expected to see additional buildings go up in the area of Sixth Avenue and Lansdowne Street.