The Station hopes to transform Tranquille into “Commercial Drive” of the North Shore

Jun 20, 2018 | 6:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — It will be nestled in the heart of Tranquille, and the hope is The Station, a 47-unit development under construction, will transform into the “Commercial Drive” of the North Shore. 

“The pieces are going into place. You’ve got Library Square, you’ve got Manshadi, you’ve got The Station. It’s only a matter of time unit all of these developments to start to roll forward,” said executive director of the North Shore Business Improvement Association Jeremy Heighton. “Then we start to look at a whole different fabric of our community. We’re talking about street festivals for next year, we’re talking about making Overlanders Day bigger, we’re talking about connecting to Buskers Day.” 

Wednesday marked a groundbreaking for The Station, which will also include more than 10,000 square feet of commercial space. It’s currently at the midway mark with the concrete foundation for the building and parkade done and the framing for the residential units underway. 

“We’re probably a year away from being done. We’re done with the concrete, and the concrete is extensive. There’s a two-level parkade, then obviously with the commercial we went with concrete as well, so what you see is there are going to be four stories of wood-framed construction. That’s the residential units,” said developer Joshua Knaak from Arpa Investments. 

The Station will house Bright Eye Brewing, which involves Mitch Forgie from Red Beard on the North Shore. It will also be home to the United Way, which is still waiting on the last few dollars of funding to secure its spot in the building. 

“The prospect of being able to move into this fine building is so exciting,” said executive director of the Thompson-Nicola-Cariboo United Way Danalee Baker. “We’ve got our first partner, which is The Stollery Foundation and they’ve committed $150,000 to help us build a community collaboration centre. We’re also working on co-locating with some partners and we’ve got a number of grants out there.”

Baker also bought the last micro suite, and now there are only 10 units left. Kamloops city councillor Kathy Sinclair also purchased a micro suite and she’s excited about moving to the North Shore next spring when the development will be finished. 

“With a number of fantastic restaurants, different ethnic restaurants, some really cool shops and breweries happening, to me it’s the up-and-coming neighbourhood of Kamloops and I’m really excited to be living here,” said Sinclair.

Knaak noted the interest in the station speaks to the beginning of the transforming of the north side of Kamloops. 

“With only 10 units left, 37 units sold, that’s amazing for us to be at this place,” he said. “I think it just speaks to the confidence and the interest that people have in the North Shore, and a willingness to become apart of the community here.”