Kamloops council has approved an 11-storey apartment tower to be built downtown.

The building in the 600-block of Lansdowne Street will have 115 rental units and ground-floor commercial space. It’s set to rise on a large parking lot near the Kamloops Curling Club.

Council members unanimously approved a development permit for the project.

Councillor Mike O’Reilly said this will be the first tower that will be built downtown since Victoria Landing, barely a block away at 619 Victoria Street, which was built in 2000.

“To have 115 new rental units built in our downtown core is exactly what we’re looking for,” he said. “This is something that hasn’t been built in Kamloops in over 20 years, we haven’t had an 11-storey building built (downtown).”

Part of the project will include a two-floor underground parkade, with 92 parking spots. There will be 17 above-ground parking spots as well.

City staff had affirmed to council that parking for users of the Kamloops Curling Club and Thompson Hotel will not be affected by the project.

“Overall, Kamloops has one of the highest rates of empty parking lots in the downtown core for any similar-sized city in British Columbia. And so these empty parking lots are getting developed on, as they should be. And that’s what we want to see, people living, working and playing in the downtown core,” O’Reilly said.

A timeline and cost for the apartment tower were not immediately clear.

The project is part of a changing area in downtown Kamloops.

On the other side of the alley, at 6th Avenue and Victoria Street, a 112-unit apartment for seniors is almost finished, which will also have ground-floor commercial street.

And just west on Lansdowne Street, Invictus Properties has started building “The Hive,” with a five-storey commercial building at 5th and Lansdowne.

The project will eventually have three buildings between 5th and 6th Avenues, replacing parking lots.