An artist's rendering of the new Visitor Centre in Kelowna.
Image Credit: City of Kelowna
June 28, 2017 - 3:31 PM
KELOWNA – The province has given Tourism Kelowna half a million dollars to put towards the planned $2.8 million Visitor Centre in downtown Kelowna on Okanagan Lake.
The announcement was made today, June 28, in a media release from Tourism Kelowna. The grant was contingent on the City of Kelowna issuing a development permit, which was finalized this week.
Tourism Kelowna chair Daniel Bibby says the cheque arrived months ago but the board decided to wait for final approval before making the provincial funding public.
“Had council denied the development permit, the money would have been returned,” Bibby says in a media release. “It would have been inappropriate at that time to presume that council would approve the project. There was still work being done drawing up final plans with our architects and council could have voted the project down.”
Tourism Kelowna has a mortgage secured for the visitor centre project and has also been seeking a federal grant along with private sector sponsors. The new visitor centre would replace the current one on Harvey Avenue.
Bibby says they plan to break ground in the fall and hope for completion by next September.
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News from © iNFOnews, 2017