A notorious eyesore along Highway 97 near ѻýѻý airport will be replaced by a 364-unit rental housing complex.
Lake Country town council on Tuesday issued permits allowing for the redevelopment of the former Airport Inn Lakeside, which had been the focus of both aesthetic and safety concerns for many years.
“Everybody in this community will be very happy to see that old building go away,” Lake Country Mayor Blair Ireland said Wednesday in an interview.
“My question to staff at the end of the meeting was, ‘Do you think we can get it knocked tonight?” Ireland said.
Once demolition is complete, the new project will see the construction of four six-storey buildings.
“Itѻý a fairly standard site redevelopment,” Ireland said. “Thereѻý still a few issues with traffic to be worked out, but council is pretty happy with the overall design.
“And itѻý great to see so many new rental units coming to Lake Country, because thatѻý something we need in the community,” he said.
The old motel was moved onto the site at Petrie Road in the mid-90s from a previous location in ѻý. Lake Country, which was not then incorporated as a municipality, was not the intended destination.
“The intention of the owner was to move it to Vernon, but he couldn’t get it past Lake Country because the old highway was so twisty and narrow,” Ireland said.
Directors of the Central Okanagan Regional District authorized the motelѻý placement in Lake Country, despite some misgivings that it would be a good fit for the area. There were already concerns about the appearance of the motel, some of the fixtures of which came from an old ѻý nightclub called the Cave.
In recent years, the site has been the focus of much community concern, both for the deteriorating condition of the buildings and for the safety of long-term residents who lived in the motel.
The town and previous owner Raif Fleihan repeatedly sparred over the siteѻý condition. Disputes centred around such things as the quality and authorization of renovation work, health and safety conditions, bylaw infractions, and the frequency of police being called to the motel to deal with criminal investigations.
The town finally ordered the motel to close in 2019 after helping long-term residents find new places to live. Fleihan sold the 5.5 acre property to a Calgary-based developer for $3.5 million, more than $1 million above its assessed value, in May 2021.
According to the permits granted by the town on Tuesday, the developer has two years to begin construction on the new rental housing project, but Ireland expects work to start well before then.