KELOWNA — The flags to Kelowna’s brand new 9.5 million dollar yacht club went up Tuesday morning — with a few glitches — minor glitches when compared to the ones that have delayed the opening of the new building.
“We’ve had a few difficulties in a variety of areas. Specifically the spiral staircase had to be re-engineered a bit. That put us back some time,” says Kelowna Yacht Club Commodore, Mike Terris. “We’re still waiting for final hookup of the elevator. It’s been a long time coming and is not operable as yet. We’ve got some issues in regards to the bar. We have a very nice glass top that is going in. It’s got to be cut and that has been delayed as well. Those three issues are kind of key ones that have been setting us back a little bit.”
The new yacht club was supposed to open earlier this month, but the building is nowhere near completion. Terris says the delays are costing the club money.
“We don’t have a restaurant going at this time and we’re just trying to take it a day at a time — working with our general contract to see when they can finish it up for us.”
It’s not just the new Kelowna Yacht Club that is behind schedule. The old Kelowna yacht club was supposed to be torn down a long time ago but everything is on hold because of delays at the new yacht club.
There have also been some budget bumps along the road to building the new yacht club — bumps in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“Some of the estimates that we had earlier — for example the hardscape and landscape around the perimeter of the building — that was a bit higher than we anticipated,” says Terris. “We had an earlier estimate of $65,000 and we were thinking that it had all the paving and everything — the curbwork — it didn’t so little things like that pop up.”
Terris says the level of frustration is growing because the boating season is coming to an end and without an occupancy permit, members have nowhere to go to.
The yacht club’s board is meeting this week, hoping to lock in a new opening date.
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