Kinash Real Estate Group
129 Nanaimo Ave W V2A 1N2 Penticton, BC, Canada

In the last 2 minutes scrolling through my Facebook feed I came across articles on 1. not enough rentals in Penticton, 2. Subsidized housing is too expensive in the Okanagan, and 3. The proposed development on former Kampe property is too large in scale - some want it to be a park or small rise residential. If one took a little bit of time to study Penticton’s online mapping service, one would conclude that Penticton’s land mass is extremely small. In order to create more ren...tal housing and reach more affordable rents, densifying Penticton’s largest remaining parcels is one small factor in the way to do it - especially when these properties are adjacent to high traffic corridors. Why only build a small number of townhomes when you can get x4 in apartments units. Developers are looking for economies of scale, the city of Penticton is looking to meet demand for housing units (for locals and inward migrants), and the public / consumers / prospective tenants are seeking more housing options. It appears that the proposal for Kampe property meets a lot of the stakeholders objectives. So why are people against this development? I feel the reason could be because this development is uninspiring. It looks like every other rental building erected in BC over the last 10 years - a large mass wrapped in hardie board with an adjacent parking lot. Having worked with developers in the past they like to develop a product that they know, that they can budget for and one that meets a certain time frame. This results in the same building being duplicated over and over again in the city. How uninspiring?!?!?! Having grown up in Europe in the 1990s and 2000s, densification of cities (medium-high rise) was also resisted until Developers began to engage more with Architects, Landscape Architects and the public. Scale of buildings became less of an issue because good architecture can embed into the fabric of a community. In England, whenever a development is proposed the City asks the developer what are you giving back to the community and surrounding areas. This prompts developers to design features in to the development to engage residents of that building with the public. It results in a dynamic and active public realm - walking paths in and around the property, bike lanes, kids parks, preservation of ecologically valuable areas (e.g environment near oxbow). These developments are well considered and importantly become landmarks for the city in which locals / neighbours are proud of. I’m all for development, I’m all for creating more housing options in our small city, but most importantly I feel the standard of architecture needs to improve so that when we drive by these developments we smile and not shake our heads in disappointment. I respect that everyone has their own opinion on this topic, I just wanted to give my feedback from the perspective of a local realtor / building designer. #TarasKinash #PentictonRealty See more

Legendary home and man right here in Penticton! Geoff Orr Far Out Orr