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Aquilini Investment Group Closes on SOPA Square

Aquilini Investment Group’s $29.5M bid for Kelowna’s troubled SOPA Square project received final approval last week, a strong signal that the Okanagan centre's finally on the mend after getting hit hard in the 2008 financial crisis, Colliers AVP Marshall McAnerney tells us.

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SOPA Square—a mixed-use development on 1.7 acres on South Pandosy Street in Kelowna’s Lower Mission area—will include 40k SF of ground-floor retail space, with 23k SF of office space above. The development will also have an 11-storey residential tower and six-storey townhome complex—160k SF of residential in all. The project, originally approved back in 2008, had a rocky recent past, going through several owners before entering receivership last year.

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Aquilini's $30M investment in SOPA Square represents a resounding vote of confidence in Kelowna, Marshall says, noting the project will help transform South Pandosy into a thriving hub with restaurants, shops and services, all within a short stroll of Okanagan Lake. Parts of the commercial space are built and operational, with early retailers like Famoso and Tru Frozen Yogurt. A 7k SF brewhouse is planned. The offices are strata units from 300 to 7,154 SF. Residential tower plans will be tweaked by the new owners and the project relaunched.

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Marshall predicts the area could become Kelowna’s version of Kitsilano. “The neighbourhood around SOPA has been exploding in the last few years, and a lot of it's based on the feeling that this is going to be the place to be.” He even bought a home in the neighbourhood recently. Older houses on his street are getting torn down, replaced with bigger ones. An Urban Fare opened a few years back, and loads of great new eateries, too. “All the trendy restaurants are coming,” says Marshall. “This is becoming a true urban centre unlike anywhere else in the Okanagan.”