Live in Capri-Landmark
The largest office cluster in the Interior and the mall behind it — an Urban Centre being rebuilt from strip retail into apartments, and the most central address in Kelowna that is not downtown.
Capri-Landmark is the middle of Kelowna in the most literal sense: the blocks around Gordon Drive and Harvey Avenue where the city's arterials cross, with the Capri Centre mall on one side and the Landmark office district on the other. It is not a neighbourhood anyone romanticises. What it is, is the third of the City's five Urban Centres and the one with the furthest to travel — a place designed in the 1960s around parking lots that the 2040 Official Community Plan has now designated for mid- and high-rise housing. Landmark Centre VII, twenty-three storeys and finished in 2022, is the tallest building in the city outside downtown and sits at the centre of roughly a million square feet of office space, the largest concentration between Kamloops and the border. Behind it are the older residential streets north of Sutherland Avenue, Kelowna Memorial Cemetery, Mill Creek, and Parkinson Recreation Centre — the City's central recreation campus, currently in the middle of a $242-million replacement. If you work in an office in Kelowna, there is a fair chance it is here. This is what living here is actually like.
Where Kelowna goes to work, and where it is about to start living
Broadly the blocks between Highway 97 (Harvey Avenue), Gordon Drive, Springfield Road and Burtch Road, taking in the Capri Centre mall, the Landmark office district on Dickson Avenue and the residential streets around Parkinson Recreation Park — the City designates it the Capri-Landmark Urban Centre but publishes no neighbourhood boundary.
Capri-Landmark is the middle of Kelowna in the most literal sense — the blocks where Gordon Drive meets Harvey Avenue, which is Highway 97. Nobody romanticises it. What it is, is the third of the City's five Urban Centres and the one with the furthest to travel: a district laid out in the 1960s around parking lots, now designated in the 2040 Official Community Plan for mid- and high-rise housing.
The offices. The Landmark district on Dickson Avenue is the largest concentration of office floorspace between Kamloops and the border. Landmark Centre VII finished in 2022 at 23 storeys and 90.9 metres — the tallest building in Kelowna outside downtown — and Landmark Centre VI reached seventeen storeys in 2013. If you work in an office in this city, there is a fair chance it is here, which is the practical argument for living within a walk of it.
What else is here. Capri Centre, one of the valley's first enclosed malls, still holds a grocery and everyday services at Gordon and Harvey. Parkinson Recreation Park — 19.5 hectares of track, diamonds and courts — sits at the centre with the City's main recreation building on it. Mill Creek runs through the middle. Kelowna Memorial Cemetery, at 25 hectares, is the largest piece of quiet green on this side of the city, and Munson Pond Park adds eleven hectares of restored wetland south of the mall.
The honest version. Two things dominate the next few years. The first is the $242-million Parkinson Recreation Centre replacement, under construction from 2025 to 2027 on the north side of Mill Creek — a real amenity when it lands, and a construction site in the meantime. The second is that this Urban Centre designation means the surface parking around you is development land: what is a car dealership today is an approved six-storey building tomorrow. And Harvey Avenue is a provincial highway carrying the valley's through-traffic. This is not a quiet neighbourhood, and the blocks that are quiet are the ones furthest from everything that makes it worth living in.
- The 2040 plan designates much of the surface parking here for housing — check what is approved and what is applied for on the blocks around any address
- Parkinson Recreation Centre is a construction site until late 2027, with demolition and courts following in 2028
- Harvey Avenue is Highway 97; frontage on it is loud and the noise does not show in listing photographs
- There is no beach within a walk — Gyro is seven to eleven minutes by car, and the lakeshore path does not reach here
- Orchard Park, Capri Centre and the Landmark district put almost all the city's retail and office within five minutes
- Tree canopy is thin outside Parkinson Park and the cemetery, which this part of the valley feels in July
How Capri-Landmark got here
- 1900s–1950sOrchard and farmland between the townsite and Mission Creek. Gordon Drive and Harvey Avenue are rural roads; the Kelowna Memorial Cemetery, opened on Bernard Avenue's eastern extension, is one of the few permanent things out here.
- 1958The Okanagan Lake Bridge opens and Harvey Avenue becomes Highway 97 through the middle of the city. Everything that follows in this neighbourhood is shaped by that decision.
- 1960s–1970sCapri Centre opens as one of the valley's first enclosed shopping malls, and the blocks around it fill with motels, car dealerships and the low-rise commercial strip that still lines Harvey Avenue.
- 1970s–1980sParkinson Recreation Centre opens on Parkinson Way, becoming the city's central pool, gymnasium and seniors' facility for the next half-century.
- 2000s–2013The Landmark office towers rise on Dickson Avenue on former industrial land, drawing head offices, professional firms and back-office operations out of downtown and creating the Interior's largest office cluster. Landmark Centre VI reaches seventeen storeys in 2013.
- 2022Landmark Centre VII completes at twenty-three storeys and 90.9 metres — the tallest building in Kelowna outside the City Centre — and Council adopts the 2040 Official Community Plan, which names Capri-Landmark one of five Urban Centres and rezones much of the surface parking for housing.
- 2025Construction starts on the $242-million replacement for Parkinson Recreation Centre, built on the north side of Mill Creek while the old building stays open. Completion is scheduled for late 2027, with the courts and demolition following in 2028.
Playing fields, a wetland and the quietest ground in the middle of the city
Parkinson Recreation Park is 19.5 hectares of athletics track, ball diamonds, tennis courts and Mill Creek path, and it is the neighbourhood's back garden. Munson Pond Park adds eleven hectares of restored wetland and a flat loop trail on Burtch Road. Kelowna Memorial Cemetery, 25 hectares on Bernard Avenue, is not a park but functions as one — it is the largest piece of mature, quiet green in this half of the city. Mission Creek Regional Park and the start of the Greenway are five minutes east.
The resident's angle: this is the part of Kelowna with the least tree canopy and the most asphalt, and it is noticeably hotter in July than the lakeshore neighbourhoods. Parkinson and Munson Pond are what make it liveable, which is why the recreation centre rebuild matters more here than the city-wide budget line suggests.
22 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 22 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from a representative point between Capri Centre and the Landmark towers, using straight-line distance multiplied by a road factor and a tiered speed model — honest ranges, not routed times. The walk figures are real but the walking environment is arterial: crossing Harvey Avenue on foot is a signalised affair.
Every gym within reach
Parkinson Recreation Centre at 1800 Parkinson Way is effectively this neighbourhood's own facility, and it is mid-replacement: a $242-million building going up on the north side of Mill Creek between 2025 and 2027, with the existing centre open throughout.
- The replacement adds a 25-metre ten-lane pool, a leisure pool, three gymnasiums, a fitness centre, a running track and a library express branch
- The existing centre remains open through construction, but hours and programme space shift — check before committing to a schedule
- H2O Adventure + Fitness Centre at 4075 Gordon Drive is the fallback, nine to thirteen minutes south
- The surrounding park keeps its athletics track, diamonds and courts, all free and all within the neighbourhood
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Parkinson Recreation Centre open | The City's central recreation campus at 1800 Parkinson Way, effectively the neighbourhood's own facility. A $242-million replacement is being built on the north side of Mill Creek between 2025 and 2027 — a 25-metre ten-lane pool, leisure pool, three gymnasiums, a running track and a library express branch — with the existing centre open through construction. Expect noise, hoarding and shifting hours until then. | 3–5 min |
| H2O Adventure + Fitness Centre open | The City's other aquatic and fitness centre, at 4075 Gordon Drive in the Mission — lane pool, leisure pool, waterslides and a weight floor, operated in partnership with the YMCA. | 9–13 min |
| Parkinson Recreation Park open | The 19.5-hectare park around the centre: the athletics track, ball diamonds, tennis courts and the Mill Creek path, all free and all a walk from the surrounding streets. | 3–5 min |
| Munson Pond Park open | Eleven hectares of restored wetland on Burtch Road with a flat loop trail — the quiet running option when the rec centre construction gets loud. | 5–8 min |
The free option is the Mill Creek path through Parkinson Park and the flat loop at Munson Pond. Neither is scenic in the way Knox Mountain is, but both are lit, level and five minutes from most of the neighbourhood's front doors.
No school inside the boundary, and four within five minutes
Capri-Landmark has no school of its own. A. S. Matheson Elementary at 2090 Gordon Drive covers the western edge and Bankhead Elementary at 1280 Wilson Avenue the streets north of Sutherland Avenue. KLO Middle School on Gordon Drive takes grades 7 to 9, and Kelowna Secondary School — the district's largest — is about five minutes west on Raymer Avenue.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| A. S. Matheson Elementary | SD23 | The nearest catchment elementary at 2090 Gordon Drive, kindergarten to grade 6, on the neighbourhood's western edge. |
| Bankhead Elementary | SD23 | The catchment elementary for the streets north of Sutherland Avenue, at 1280 Wilson Avenue. |
| KLO Middle School | SD23 | The catchment middle school for grades 7 to 9 at 3130 Gordon Drive, south of the neighbourhood. |
| Kelowna Secondary School | SD23 | KSS at 1079 Raymer Avenue, the district's largest secondary school, about five minutes west. |
| Okanagan College — Kelowna | Post-secondary | The main campus at 1000 KLO Road, with trades, business, health and arts programmes. |
This is an Urban Centre being rezoned for housing, and School District 23 has redrawn Core Area catchments repeatedly as it densifies. Confirm the current catchment for a specific address with School District 23 before you buy.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Landmark towers fill on weekday mornings and empty at five; weekends here are genuinely quiet
- The valley floor sits at about 344 metres and January snow rarely lasts a week
- Parkinson's pool and gymnasiums carry the winter recreation load for this half of the city
- Highway 33 out of Rutland is the Big White route, and Harvey Avenue feeds it
- The mall is at its most useful in the months when nobody wants to be outside
- Mill Creek runs through the middle of the neighbourhood and is worth walking in any season
- The Parkinson replacement site restarts in earnest — a fact of life here until late 2027
- Blossom arrives on the benchlands east of Burtch Road
- The Mill Creek and Munson Pond paths dry out
- The athletics track and ball diamonds at Parkinson come back into use
- Blossom peaks across the valley; the drive out through East Kelowna is the local ritual
- The Farmers' and Crafters' Market on Springfield Road picks up
- The Landmark district's restaurants put tables out and the office lunch trade moves outdoors
- Munson Pond is at its best — the restored wetland is loud with birds
- Snowmelt raises the lake through May and June, though this far inland it is somebody else's problem
- Sunset is close to 9pm and the Mill Creek path stays busy past it
- Cherry season starts on the benches and the roadside stands open
- Ball season is fully underway at Parkinson
- This is the part of Kelowna that feels hottest — parking lots, arterials and not much canopy
- 30°C-plus is routine; the valley record is 45.7°C, set in June 2021
- The nearest sand is Gyro Beach, six to nine minutes west
- Wildfire smoke settles in the valley bottom, and this is the valley bottom
- Harvey Avenue is at its busiest with visitor traffic through the middle of the city
- Indoor recreation earns its keep; Parkinson and H2O both get busy
- Warm, dry and empty once the visitors leave — the month locals recommend
- Harvest runs on the benchlands through September and October
- The office district returns to full occupancy after the summer
- The cottonwoods along Mill Creek and through the cemetery turn, which is the neighbourhood's one reliably beautiful fortnight
- Apple harvest closes the fruit season
- First snow appears on the hills above town
- The mall, the rec centre and the office towers carry the month between them
- Big White usually opens in the second half of November
- Damp, dark and unremarkable
- Orchard Park and Capri Centre are five minutes apart, which is the practical case for living here in December
- Snow is occasional rather than reliable on the valley floor
- Stuart Park's rink downtown is a five-minute drive or a twenty-minute walk down Bernard
25 photographs of Kelowna and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Kelowna photo library — not photographs of Capri-Landmark itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 25 photographs.
About these photographs. Openly licensed images geotagged in or near Capri-Landmark, found on Wikimedia Commons and served from there with full attribution. Inline photos elsewhere on the page may still come from the site's shared Kelowna library.