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A quiet
night on the Thompson River after several trips
back and forth to Kamloops clinched Toronto
developer Ted Snider’s decision to make
the move to B.C.’s Interior.
“I would
leave Kamloops and I’d be sitting on the flight
back to Toronto and I noticed I was really
relaxed,” said Snider, who was born and raised
in Toronto and never thought he would consider
living anywhere else.
But in July
2004, he decided to move his wife and his family
to the city where his company, Ovation
Development Corp., recently commenced
developing the first phase of a 600-unit
residential community complete with recreational
facilities and retail shops. This summer, Snider
found a house and the family moved out to what
he describes as “a city in transition.”
“I see a
lot of opportunities here,” he said, as did
Ovation project manager Mickey Frenklach
and communications director David Zigelman,
who have also moved out with their families.
For
Kamloops, the decision Snider and the Ovation’s
other executives made to relocate echoes that of
legendary geographer David Thompson, who
ventured in to the territory two centuries ago
to explore and map the region for the North
West Co.
Thompson’s
groundbreaking work led to the development of
several traders’ forts on the site of present
day Kamloops at the juncture of the North and
South Thompson Rivers.
Most aren’t
about to claim that Ovation’s work will start a
spark of similar flurry of development in the
area 200 years later but the project is the
largest residential development Kamloops has
ever seen.
Set for
construction over the next five to seven years
at a total cost of $170 million, Orchards Walk
will have 58 homes in its first phase. Located
just east of the city on a 60-acre tract
overlooking the South Thompson River, the homes
will start at $199,000 and utilitize geothermal
energy. The green sheen is an added benefit for
purchasers of the strata-titled units, who are
expected to save upwards of 40 per cent on
heating costs.
Local
Sales Strong
But it’s
not as if the units need the cachet of a
sustainable energy to attract prospective
buyers.
Ross
Spina, president of the Kamloops and
District Real Estate Association, said
residential sales in Kamloops during the first
seven months of this year were up seven per cent
over the same period of 2004, which itself was a
record year. Total sales last year were 2,855
homes, a 26-per-cent increase over 2003 sales,
which totaled 2,266 homes.
The median
selling price of homes is also up, currently
running at $215,000 this year versus $180,000
last year. For strata-titled townhomes, prices
are running at $150,000 to $200,000 indicating
Orchard’s Walk is entering the market at an
attractive price point.
But despite
the demand for the kind of product Ovation is
introducing at Orchard’s Walk, Spina is
skeptical that the project- and others like it-
will have a significant impact on the local
market.
While
Ovation’s Snider hears regularly that Kamloops
is The Next Big Thing in B.C. real estate, Spina
still considers Kamloops as a working towns
rather than a retirement or recreational
community. What is does offer are the benefits
of strong transportation links to Alberta and
the Lower Mainland and the recent opening of
Thompson Rivers University.
The
importance of Orchard’s Walk- and that of other
local development projects- will have the
greatest impact on long-term prospects for the
Kamloops market, Spina said. He doesn’t expect
they’ll unleash a tide of development or any
sudden increase in the caliber of homes changing
hands, since it will take years for the Ovation
build-out to complete.
Future
prospects are also helping drive the recent
surge in sales of lots in the Thompson River
Estates, a 35-minute drive west of Kamloops near
Cache Creek.
Bare
Land Lots
New
Westminster-based Niho Land and Cattle Co.
has marketed the properties since 2001, but
the recent discovery of an aquifer under the
site has helped boost sales to just over 70 per
cent. A year ago, sales were languishing at 15
per cent.
But Niho’s
sales manager Walter Aguilar said the
quest by younger couples for affordable
development sites has been an equally
significant factor in helping lift sales.
“This year
there’s really been increasing interest in
property from Kamloops to Cache Creek.,” Aguilar
said. “The pricing has really just gone through
the roof.”
That’s made
the 52 lots that compose the Thompson River
Estates appealing to younger couples, who can
secure five to 10 acres for between $30,000 to
$100,000, Aguilar said. Those prices give them a
foothold in a market Niho expects to see
doubling in prices within seven years.
Aguilar
said some younger couples see local lots as an
investment that guarantees them a home in the
future regardless of what they can afford today,
and a property that’s large enough to
accommodate their dreams.
“They’re
looking to buy their retirement home or
recreational property first,” Aguilar said.
“It’s a place for people who have some kind of
vision.” |
