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Home / 2022 / December / 06 / School Board approves sale of Kelowna property to UBC Okanagan
Campus Life, Campus News

School Board approves sale of Kelowna property to UBC Okanagan

580 Doyle Avenue to be purchased by UBC Properties Trust

December 6, 2022

The Board of Education recently approved the sale of Central Okanagan Public Schools’ property located at 580 Doyle Avenue in downtown Kelowna. The McWilliams Centre currently comprises staff and teaching resource spaces for the District’s K-12 online education program, eSchool23, and does not contain student spaces or classrooms. The property is suitable for an administration building but is not large enough to accommodate construction of a school.

The site will be purchased by UBC Properties Trust on behalf of UBC Okanagan, which has already invested in the UBCO Downtown building at 550 Doyle Avenue, immediately adjacent to the McWilliams Centre.

“This sale allows our district to focus on priorities of sustainability and providing 21st-century learning opportunities without interruptions to services or loss of classroom space,” said Lee-Ann Tiede, Chairperson for the Board of Education. “The agreement will allow for this property to continue to support education services in the future with our community partner UBCO.”

“The sale of the property will help the District fund renovations to the existing Hollywood Road Education Services (HRES) to improve building efficiency, enhance services to online learners, and accommodate the online learning program’s staff, while continuing to access the space at Doyle Avenue until the renovations are complete,” said Delta Carmichael, Secretary-Treasurer/CFO for Central Okanagan Public Schools.

With construction on UBCO Downtown at 550 Doyle Avenue expected to begin in the first quarter of 2023, the University says the McWilliams Centre site is ideally located as a long-term investment to help service the needs of its new downtown presence. UBCO also says there are no immediate plans to develop the site given that the District is set to lease the space until renovations at HRES are complete.

“This land acquisition offers UBC the opportunity to remain responsive in the years ahead to the evolving needs of the community regarding academic programming and services in downtown Kelowna,” says Lesley Cormack, Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for UBC’s Okanagan campus. “We are pleased to be able to help Central Okanagan Public Schools pursue its priorities for other locations while maintaining this site’s existing use as a place for education in the heart of the community.”

“This is an important investment by UBC in its presence in the Okanagan and proof positive of the tremendous potential we see in UBCO Downtown.”

Media Contact

Nathan Skolski
E-mail: nathan.skolski@ubc.ca

Content type: Media Release
More content from: Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Principal (Office of the), University Relations

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About UBC Okanagan

UBC’s Okanagan campus is an innovative hub for research and learning founded in partnership with local Indigenous peoples, the Syilx Okanagan Nation, in whose traditional, ancestral and unceded territory the campus resides. The most established and influential global rankings all consistently place UBC in the top five per cent of universities in the world, and among the top three Canadian universities.

The Okanagan campus combines a globally recognized UBC education with a tight-knit and entrepreneurial community that welcomes students and faculty from around the world in British Columbia’s stunning Okanagan Valley. For more visit ok.ubc.ca.

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We respectfully acknowledge the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples, in whose traditional, ancestral, unceded territory UBC Okanagan is situated.

 

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