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AUGUST 2018 | 83 Penticton Nissan – Satikw Crossing Retail Centre PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY GTA ARCHITECTURE LTD. Penticton Nissan – Satikw Crossing Retail Centre by STACEY MCLACHLAN F or Penticton's latest development, big is definitely beautiful. Satikw Crossing retail centre includes more than 60 hectares of development land next to the Penticton Regional Airport, so even a building the size of Penticton Nissan's brand new 17,500-square- foot state-of-the-art dealership with its roof terrace still has plenty of room to breathe. Alongside Highway 97, it's an ideal location for an auto showcase – and an ideal collaboration for the Penticton Indian Band Development Corporation (PIBDC) and Nissan. "The property has great exposure from the highway and I feel we will have a great long- term relationship and support from the Penticton Indian Band," says John Kot, president of Penticton Nissan. The dealership is part of a larger retail and commercial project intended to create wealth for the Penticton Indian Band and the individual land owners. "Through the generation of lease and tax revenues, develop- ment cost charges and other revenue streams, such as the provision of ser- vices from their wholly owned utility company, the Band will strengthen its position in the regional economy," says Chris Scott, previous project consul- tant and business advisor to PIBDC. Site preparation on the Nissan deal- ership began in April 2017 (the first business lease of the PIBDC's Satikw Crossing project), but the prepara- tion for breaking ground began long before. This development is thanks pri- marily to a new bridge that crosses a 60-year-old man-made channel. "The channel originally alienated valuable Band lands and was a source of friction between the Band and the province for over 25 years," says Scott. "The bridge design was a collective effort of engineers and bridge designers who wished to ensure the bridge could manage all the traffic on the full build- out of the 120-plus acres of land." It required approval from regional, pro- vincial and federal parties, who signed off on the numerous regulatory mat- ters affecting a project of this magnitude. Once the bridge was in place, the possibilities for development were endless. The Penticton Indian Band then consulted extensively with local biologists to assess the grassland and wildlife to confirm that any construc- tion would have a low environmental impact on the painted turtles, gopher snakes and nesting birds who call the area home (these observations con- tinued throughout the construction process). And then, when it came to creating the landscaping plan, GTA and landscape architects at Outland Design worked with local ecologists at Columbia Environmental Consulting to devise a selection of native plant vari- eties that could unify Penticton Nissan with its natural setting. In addition to meeting the specific design needs of Kot Auto Group and Penticton Indian Band, there were Nissan's brand standards to consider. "We followed Nissan NREDI 2.0's stan- dards with the help from the local architects to put our own personal feel and requirements [into the design]," says Kot. Nissan's New Image pro- gram sets out the expectations for Nissan's exterior and interior designs, with the intention of delivering great experiences and service in a beautiful modern facility. "The branding is all about simple, clean lines creating a modern look without distracting from the show- cased vehicles," says Zachariah White, project manager for GTA Architecture. "Nissan's aim to be open and trans- parent in dealing with customers is reflected in the extensive use of open space and clear glass. The space planning encourages easy and intui- tive flow through the dealership." The open-concept presentation area, bathed in natural light, makes up the core of the building, with a customer lounge, kids' play area, and personal- ization studio offering the opportunity for more intimate interactions. But the beauty of this building isn't just skin-deep: what lies at the core of this dealership is what makes this proj- ect one-of-a-kind, explains structural consultant Greg Wylie, principal for R&A Engineering. "We have worked on numerous car dealerships through- out B.C., and usually on these types of buildings the structural challenge is to find an appropriate lateral load resist- ing system to stabilize the street side, which is usually 100-percent glazing," he says. "For this Nissan Dealership we chose a steel cross brace frame set back into the building and hidden within the architectural interior partition system." The steel roof diaphragm cantilevers over this frame line out to the glazing line, requiring no further bracing. In addition to the brand-standard LED lights used throughout the space, electrical consulting firm Falcon Engineering outfitted Penticton Nissan with special connections to equip- ment such as hoists, grinders, and tire machines, as well as electric vehi- cle charging stations. The rest of the building was a fairly straight-forward structural steel and masonry design . . . though not one without its challenges. An Okanagan Valley building boom added a hurdle to the project, with deliv- ery times for steel trusses, rooftop HVAC units, ACM panels for exterior cladding clocking in at two- to three-times the normal speed, which drastically delayed the construction schedule. Nissan's global team also changed the prototype specifications mid-design, though fortu- nately the contractors were very flexible and were able to also adapt to changes during construction. The schedule dur- ing construction was often delayed additionally due to site servicing issues with the overall development as well as various utilities. Luckily, a professional team helped make even the road bumps manageable. "Working with the construction team made a potentially very difficult project run smooth," says Loïc Letailleur, prin- cipal for Falcon Engineering. Though the building isn't expected to be fully complete until the sum- mer, it's already in operation. "Kot and his staff were very understanding and accommodating," adds Gord Singbeil, general contractor at Planview Developments. "They were anxious to start sales and service to the town of Penticton as soon as possible, so focus was shifted to completing the service shop to be operational for March 1." This created another unique expe- rience: "Sales was operating out of construction trailers and service was operating out of their completed shop, while the rest of the building was an active construction zone." It's solid evi- dence that this dealership is something special already. A LOCATION 2317-2335 Okanagan Highway, Penticton, B.C. 151 Satikw Cres, Penticton, B.C. OWNER/DEVELOPER Penticton Indian Band Development Corporation / Kot Auto Group – Penticton Nissan ARCHITECT GTA Architecture Ltd. GENERAL CONTRACTOR Planview Developments Ltd. STRUCTURAL CONSULTANT R&A Engineering MECHANICAL CONSULTANT Delta T Engineering ELECTRICAL CONSULTANT Falcon Engineering LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT Outland Design CIVIL CONSULTANT Ecora Engineering & Resource Group TOTAL SIZE 17,500 square feet TOTAL COST Undisclosed 10:56 AM 11:28 AM 2:59 PM 8:38 AM

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