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Residential real estate is hot stuff these days,
but it represents only a fraction of available
Canadian acreage. Home and cottage owners
sometimes forget that there's a lot more real
estate out there to consider if they are looking
for good investments. Here's an example that may
inspire some buyers to think as big as this
country is.
One Canadian has earned a reputation for
buying towns. Rudy Nielsen, founder and
president of Niho Land & Cattle Company of New
Westminster, BC, turned his love and
understanding of British Columbia's interior
into a 33-year (and counting) appraisal and real
estate career. He buys BC ghost towns and
resells them as RV parks.
"I buy towns myself, but most are without
buildings -- they go without machinery," said
Neilsen, explaining the attraction is that these
old towns are already divided into individual
properties. "In the old days, lots were small,
so I sell to RV people."
At the turn of the last century, mining was a
boom business and towns grew up around mines.
Throughout BC, and in many of Canada's other
provinces and territories, mining companies
continue to own abandoned towns long after their
mines close. Some ghost towns still have
standing hotels and buildings.
Neilsen has bought many towns -- but there's
always the one that got away.
About 10 years ago, Nielsen tried to buy the
BC town of Kitsault, abandoned when the local
molybdenum mine closed in 1982. He planned to
convert Kitsault into a town-sized year-round
sports resort, but the owners were not ready to
sell. Then, in 2004, the current owner, a US
corporation, contacted him.
"They called me last year because they wanted
to sell [Kitsault], but they did not want me to
buy it, since I would have given them a low
figure," said Nielsen. He determined the value
for them, arranged for the property to be listed
with an affiliate company and created the
marketing plan to promote the property across
Canada.
Kitsault, with a town site of over 322 acres
on eight titles, is 500 air miles northwest of
Vancouver and a 3.5-hour drive north of Terrace.
The once-thriving waterfront community sits on
the shores of Alice Arm, a fjord with capacity
for deep-sea shipping and potential for linkages
to the nearby coastal city of Prince Rupert.
This was a town just waiting for people:
approximately 90 houses and duplexes, 7
apartment buildings, a 22,000 square foot
shopping centre, two recreation centres, a
fully-equipped hospital, a large works yard, a
sewage plant, a local dock and even the Maple
Leaf pub connected by paved roads, all utilities
including telephone and cable installed, a
sewage system in place and landscaping complete.
How do you arrive at a list price for a town?
"You work backwards to create a vision,"
explained Neilson who set the list price at C$7
million. "First you look at what you could do
with the town. There's about 20 uses from resort
to alcohol rehabilitation facility to a prison."
Nielsen's research uncovered the sale of one
US town that was then leased to the government
as a special forces training site. He evaluated
this use for Kitsault and also explored ideas
including a medical research facility, a cruise
ship destination, a permanent movie set and a
university for mining executives who would go to
classes and spend time down the mines. There was
also talk of having a movie company pay to blow
up the town. This cleared property could then be
resold as housing lots.
When the town sold for an undisclosed sum in
January, after just 4 months on the market,
Nielsen issued these comments: "The lights are
going back on in Kitsault. The new owners,
Kitsault Resort Ltd. B.C., are planning to
revitalize the spectacular oceanfront town as a
premier northern destination. The outdoor
recreation opportunities in this region are
limitless and include spectacular sport fishing
and the potential for world-class heli-skiing."
The new owners plan to refurbish the town
after undertaking consultations with the Crown,
local governments and First Nations. The goal of
revitalizing the community may involve the sale
of single family homes and condominiums, a time
share vacation resort and even a movie studio. |
