Plans to preserve Kelowna historical building intact; wine centre plans shelved

The future of the old Kelowna Courier building on Water Street remains to be seen but its historical brick facade will remain intact, albeit held up with scaffolding for the foreseeable future.

The Mark Anthony Group embarked on the process of preserving the facade while demolishing the rest of the building more than two years ago.

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Their intention at the time was to erect a “state of the art,” building with a 60-person wine bar, 150-person lounge, 60-person rooftop deck, a 300-person interpretive centre and tasting room, a 30-person education centre and lab and a wine shop with a 25-person capacity for a total of 625 people, according to city documents released at the time.

That plan was shelved in the fall when challenges with the liquor licensing for the project came to the fore, said Ryan Smith, divisional director of planning and development services, on Monday.

“They’re going to take a deeper look into the plan and see if they can do something different? And if so, what would that look like? And in the meantime, they’re also going to take the crane off the property,” Smith said.

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Keeping the historical facade was a requirement of the original project and the scaffolding in place now, holding the brick wall upright, will remain in place while the Mark Anthony Group goes back to the drawing book.

“And the owner fully intends to incorporate (the facade) into any new plan they come up with for the property … We’re gonna hold them to that in any new development,” he said.

The Courier building was built in 1908 and is one of the few structures in Kelowna that has lasted the test of time.

It’s now stood through two pandemics, was central to the city’s Chinatown district, served as a social hub where rich and poor rubbed elbows, then it became the city’s only daily newspaper office and in its most recent ramshackle state, offers a visual reminder of days gone by.

The original structure was just a one-storey building, only half of what is there now. In time, whoever owned it built a side addition and a second floor. Then, some years later, an adjacent building was built.

What is to come beyond the brick face of the building – all that remains standing – remains to be seen.