In 2017, the decrepit Highland Motel and adjoining Park Royal RV Park, situated directly across Riverside Drive from the Penticton River Channel in the northwest corner of Penticton, were annihilated.
To most, the news of the demise and the grand plans of the new property owner were welcomed with open arms. A high-end development in an area with such promise? An area that had stagnated - even regressed - for decades? Yes please.
Then in mid-2018, a monstrous pile of fill appeared on the 2.2-acre site. And that's the way it's been ever since. No machinery, no activity.
Until yesterday, when the big equipment returned. Turns out the past few months were all about compaction. That huge mound of fill needed time to settle. And from here on in, it's full steam ahead for the 35-unit luxury development known as Riverside.
"Work began yesterday on removing preload," confirmed Ewen Stewart, president of developer Azura Management (Kelowna) Corp, adding that the preload (essentially the top layer of fill) is currently being cleared for just the first two of seven planned "phases."
"It should take ten days or so to remove it. We're only going to pull the first two phases of preload now, and then the next phase in a few months once we get the first part going."
According to Stewart, work on the foundations of the first two phases - one with four residences, the other with ten - will begin as soon as the preload has been fully cleared and geotechnical reports are complete. "By May 1st, to be safe," he said.
As to when we'll see the first finished products, Stewart said, "It takes between eight and eleven months for each phase to be built. And it should go pretty quick because we've done an awful lot of prep work. The first units should be close to being finished by Christmas."
And he paints an impressive picture of the final build. "They're all large units," he said. "2200 feet inside. We're not talking the cheap seats. They're basically like single-family homes."
And, he says, "Every unit will have a double garage and two stalls outside the garage. There should put no pressure at all on city parking."
But the slickest feature may well be what sits up top. "Each unit will have either an 800- or 900-square-foot roof deck," said Stewart, "that's set up and structurally sound and plumbed and wired for a hot tub."
At the property Monday afternoon, along with a large Hitachi excavator and a stream of dump trucks coming and going, was site supervisor Jack Neufeld. Neufeld was happy with what's gone on in the past few months.
"The fill has settled dramatically. We're looking at starting quickly now. As soon as we get the preload removed, we'll get the geotech done, and make sure the compaction is where it needs to be."
He also explained where all that preload is going. "We're taking it over to the Naramata project," he said, referring to an expansive 165-acre, 300-home development just getting underway at 880 Naramata Road.
Interested parties can learn more by heading to the Riverside website.
