Through a partnership with UBC Okanagan, archival photos displaying the historic mill site over the years have been digitized on the British Columbia Regional Digitized History (BCRDH) portal. Read more about this exciting initiative on the UBC Okanagan website.
By December of 2021, planning for the mill site redevelopment was underway. The major waterfront property was thought to be full of promise by the city council, neighbouring businesses, and the downtown community as a whole. Read more about the community response to the redevelopment plan in this Global News story.
The redevelopment of the mill site into a master-planned community has the potential to forever reshape Kelowna’s downtown core. Community consultations are a key part of the urban planning process. Read more about the community consultation process in this KelownaNow article.
In the summer of 2021, over a year after the Tolko mill in downtown Kelowna officially closed, the Thorlakson family sought approval for the redevelopment of the former mill site. The Kelowna Daily Courier wrote a piece highlighting the new proposal for the usage of the land. Read the full story.
Tolko announces the closure of the Kelowna mill due to log costs, market conditions, and cumulative policy burdens. Operations ceased at the 90+ year old mill site as of January 8, 2020. Kelowna Capital News wrote a wonderful in-depth article about the history of the mill and the economic impacts it had on the region. […]