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Damaged buildings demolished in downtown Kelowna

Ground settling started to cause damage to nearby buildings as early as August 2023
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The deteriorating buildings around the University of B.C. Okanagan downtown Kelowna campus construction have been torn down. The fate of 1360 Bertram Street, captured in the background, is still unknown.

After more than a year of sitting empty and being unsafe to enter, the CoLab building and the Royal Canadian Legion branch in downtown Kelowna have been demolished. 

The buildings were ordered to evacuate in the fall of 2023 after the University of B.C. Okanagan's downtown Kelowna campus construction at the corner of St Paul Street and Doyle Avenue caused the ground to settle and neighbouring buildings to shift and crack. 

On March 5, UBCO announced excavation of the site was complete after a revised plan for underground parking was made to include two storeys instead of the original four. 

Construction was voluntarily halted on March 31 after the Kelowna Fire Chief ordered the evacuation of the apartments at 1360 Bertram Street. 

Residents at the low-income, accessible apartment building Hadgraft Wilson Place were ordered to evacuate the building by Apr. 2. The building remains standing, but is not safe for entry. 

Black Press requested engineering reports from the University of B.C. on 1360 Bertram Street from January to September 2024. The request was denied under the Freedom of Information Act, citing sections 14 and 17 - and . 



Brittany Webster

About the Author: Brittany Webster

I am a video journalist based in Kelowna and capturing life in the Okanagan
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