A rezoning application that would allow for a 620-unit BC Housing affordable rental project at the south end of Penticton has been filed with the city.
The city's general manager of development services, Blake Laven, confirmed in an email that the city's planning department has been working with BC Housing since the application was submitted in December .
"We anticipate presenting the file for Council's consideration for first reading of the zoning bylaw within the next few months," Laven said.
According to BC Housing's webpage on the Skaha Assembly project, as they call it, the current plan is to break ground and begin construction in 2026.
That could mark almost five years since the four different properties, which include the Mayfair, Meadowlark and Sun Valley motels, were bought in May 2021.
Across the combined five acres of land, there were 103 units of housing when the purchases were made. However, BC Housing demolished several buildings in 2024 due to deterioration and fire damage.
The current plan proposed by BC Housing would create just over six times what was there in 2021, with 620 units built in three phases starting in 2026-27.
There would be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units, a 4,500-square-foot child-care facility, a rooftop garden, more than 10,000 square feet of retail space, and both indoor and outdoor amenities, according to BC Housing.
The 519 parking spaces would be located primarily underground across the property.
The project would be one of the largest in the city, smaller than the 1,500-unit Health and Innovation District on Government Street, and close to the 700 units expected from the North Wiltse Block Development.
