Penticton expanding land holdings around events centre

The City of Penticton is selling off a downtown property and purchasing another next to the South Okanagan Events Centre.

Peter Weeber, the city’s chief administrative officer, said the time it is coincidental for the sale of 98 Ellis St. and the purchase of 902 Creston Ave. “We have a land reserve we draw out of when we find something strategic. That Creston property is a definitely a key piece of the SOEC campus,” said Weeber. “We didn’t sell a piece of land to get a piece of land. The city has a fair amount of money to invest if we have to.”

Weeber describes the Ellis Street property, which is currently serving as a parking lot for the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber of Commerce, as a property the city will never use. Money from its sale does go into the land acquisition fund, for purchasing land that benefits the city.

The purchaser, Ellis Street Ventures, approached the city with an offer to buy the property, with an intention to create a residential development. The purchase price was $623,000. “We received an offer and then we countered with quite a bit higher offer, which they accepted,” said Weeber. “We did very well on that piece of property. There is some very exciting development going on in that area, so they were motivated buyers.”

The property near the SOEC, on the corner of Creston Avenue and Alberni Street, sits across the street from an off-SOEC campus parking lot. Weeber said he isn’t sure how it will be used, noting there is an ongoing parking study. “We are trying to figure out the best way to reconfigure that whole area to take advantage of every square foot for use of the facility itself and parking,” said Weeber. “We don’t know what the future holds there, but the more property in and around the area the better.”

That property is costing the City of Penticton $480,000. The city also owns nine lots nearby along Eckhardt Avenue and earlier this year purchased another four Eckhardt Avenue properties for $1.5 million.

Related: Penticton making $1.5-million land purchase