Kamloops Real Estate News

This article appeared in the Kamloops This Week on November 17th, 2011 and was written by Jeremy Deutsch.

A little piece of Scotland will soon be coming to the Tournament Capital.

City council has unanimously approved a set of rezoning applications for a large residential development at the end of Bentall Drive in upper Aberdeen.

The developer, DA Taylor Holdings, is planning to turn a 34-hectare parcel of land into a 500- to 800-single and multi-family-unit development centred around a mixed-use commercial Scottish-themed neighbourhood village called Edinburgh Heights.

Though some residents at the public hearing on Tuesday night (Nov. 15) expressed concerns over traffic, parking and the types of commercial businesses being considered, council appeared enthusiastic about the project.

Mayor Peter Milobar said the development is much more comprehensive then what was first proposed a few years ago, adding concerns around traffic will be alleviated.

He said the development will be unique and offer a different product to the housing market in Kamloops.

“A bit of variety is always a good thing in the marketplace,” Milobar said.

Coun. Pat Wallace said she liked the densification of the project and the opportunity to have a “European mini-city” within Kamloops.

She is also confident the developer will resolve the traffic and parking issues to most residents’ satisfaction.

Jeremy Cooke, project director with DA Taylor Holdings, said the next step is to finish road work at the east end of Bentall Drive, which could begin in spring 2012, and complete the master plan for the property.

He noted the entire project could take 10 to 15 years to complete.

Cooke said the intention is to build a people-oriented community that not only has good looking buildings, but is also functional.

“It’s turning it into a village where people can actually live day-to-day,” he said.

“Kamloops needs something like this right now — a walking, living community.”

The developer had worked with the city for more than a year to have the project comply with Aberdeen Neighbourhood Plan.

In 2007, DA Taylor Holdings announced plans to develop a 400-acre parcel of land into Edinburgh Heights, which would resemble a village in the Scottish countryside.

The vision included pockets of houses dotting the hillside, separated by open plains, English-style lampposts, narrow, windy streets and low brick walls lining the sidewalks.

Council of the day was cool to the plan, in part due to concerns the project didn’t have enough high-density units.

The new plan adds more density to the development on the eastern benches of Bentall Drive, while scrapping what would have been two-acre parcels of land.

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This article appeared in the Kamloops Daily News on October 22, 2011 and was written by Cam Fortems.

Developer Mike Rink has failed to meet a payment deadline on the half-completed Mission Hill project in Kamloops and continues to face a court challenge in the Shuswap.

That Shuswap project, the controversial West Beach Village, is the only one of Rink’s imperiled real estate holdings that promised to pay back financial institutions and trades people owed millions of dollars.

The latest information on Rink’s progress is in a report filed as part of the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act (CCAA).

Begun in 2010 when he could no longer make payments on seven real estate developments in the Interior and Squamish, the bankruptcy protection process is nearing an end but it remains unclear whether the Kamloops developer can successfully complete key projects — Mission Hill in Kamloops and West Beach Village in the Shuswap.

Mission Hill is now outside the CCAA process after a deal was brokered among creditors to continue construction and offer promissory notes to trades people based on success of the project.

But a key deadline was missed at the end of September, when Rink was supposed to come up with $4 million from selling outside family property and pay that sum to first creditor Harbour Canadian Capital Corp.

The monitor’s report presented to the B.C. Supreme Court said Rink has not met that deadline. Mission Hill was also supposed to be marketed and offered for sale once again.

Now that the deadline has lapsed, Harbour is free to trigger a foreclosure and take over the project.

However, Rink filed an affidavit in court, stating Mission Hill has been proceeding and “crews are working daily to finish exterior and interior of the building to position Phase 1 for occupancy at the end of November.”

He did not return phone calls Friday.

It also states a marketing proposal will be presented to Harbour for approval.

The only projected moneymaker from Rink’s $100 million worth of projects on the books two years ago is at West Beach. But Columbia-Shuswap Regional District has taken a hard line against the proposal, saying it doesn’t meet zoning.

An earlier condominium development proposal in the same location was turned down in a public hearing process that received national attention due to its proximity to Adams River and its sockeye run. Undaunted, Rink moved ahead with a 165-unit RV park he said fits with existing zoning for the campground.

The project also calls for several motels to be developed at the site.

The two sides are headed for court unless they can come to an agreement.

A proposal was submitted Wednesday to the CSRD board, which met in camera to consider a compromise.

Director Denis Delisle acknowledged the matter was discussed but the meeting was held in camera. It remains in the hands of lawyers on both sides.

The CCAA process has been stretched out several times, with the latest deadline Nov. 30. If Rink and the CSRD cannot come to an agreement on acceptable uses for the proposed RV park, the B.C. Supreme Court will decide on the legality.

If it rules in the regional district’s favour, the court monitor concluded that ‘the project will not be viable.”

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This article appeared in the Kamloops This Week on October 19th, 2011 and was written by Jeremy Deutsch.

Construction in Kamloops this year could go down as the tale of two sectors. While residential-permit activity at city hall has taken a bit of a dive in 2011, commercial construction has been there to pick up the slack.

Through September in 2011, the city has handed out $50 million in commercial building permits, compared to $40 million at the same time last year. However, the $79 million in residential permits issued is a drop from the $107 million in 2010.

The city has recorded $137 million in construction activity in 2011, compared to $153 million through the same span last year. In September, the city handed out $11.4 million in building permits, compared to $14.8 million during the same month in 2010.

David Trawin, director of development and engineering services, said the solid numbers from September were better than expected. “It’s one of the strongest commercial years, which has helped keep us strong,” he said. Trawin is now predicting the city will hit $150 million in overall permits, exceeding the target for the year.

In 2010, the city issued $191-million worth of building permits, but expected that number to drop in 2011 to about $140 million.

The city issued $2.3-million in commercial-building permits for the month, a slight dip from the $2.9-million value in September 2010.

The number of single-family permits issued in September hit 14, two-thirds of the 21 permits issued at the same time last year. The city handed out $7.6-million worth of residential permits last month, compared to $10.8 million in September 2010.

Kamloops has only topped the $200-million mark in permits once, in 2008, when it doled out $207-million worth of permits, which remains a record.

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This article appeared in the Vancouver Sun on October 5, 2011 and was written by Jenny Lee.

Kamloops is adding small businesses at the fastest clip of any community in B.C., according to Small Business BC. The southern Interior city is followed by Victoria, Penticton, Vancouver, Abbotsford, then Kelowna, each of them with significantly lower growth.

“Real estate seems to be the big driver,” said Mark Eversfield, a research analyst at Small Business BC. “Construction was also busy there.”

Kamloops added 412 new businesses, a six-per-cent increase, between June 2010 and June 2011. By comparison, Vancouver added 5,733 new businesses, up three per cent.

Not surprisingly, real estate agents led the charge in Kamloops, with 93 new businesses in the 12 months, but 83 were owner-operated. The city added 49 retail stores for the year ending June 2011, including 21 retail stores with fewer than five employees. Other growing sectors in Kamloops include health care, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, business services, accommodation, food services, finance and insurance.

“I’m not sure why Kamloops would rank No. 1,” said Helmut Pastrick, chief economist at Central 1 Credit Union. “It does stand out in contrast to some other economic numbers suggesting that the Kamloopsarea economy is struggling somewhat.”

Business incorporations and labour market data for the Thompson-Nicola Regional District – which includes Kamloops – are weak, Pastrick said. The number of employment insurance beneficiaries continues to decline this year, but it’s not clear whether this is due to successful job searches or expired claims. Business incorporations in this regional district are running below last year, he said.

“Lower Mainland employment growth is up 1.7 per cent this year,” Pastrick said. “Metro Vancouver is up 2.1 per cent, compared to 0.3 for Thompson-Okanagan, -3.4 per cent for Vancouver Island, 0.5 per cent in the Kootenays and 1.3 per cent in the Cariboo.”

In the Thompson-Okanagan, which includes Kamloops, Kelowna and other cities, unemployment averaged 8.3 per cent from January to August of 2011.

Meanwhile, the Statistics Canada/Small Business BC data shows Victoria was the second-fastest-growing community for small business locations between June 2010 and June 2011, registering 3.3 per cent growth. There were 544 new real estate businesses, of which 527 had no employees. Other growth sectors were health, insurance and finance, professional, scientific, technical service and retail.

Real estate also led in Penticton, which grew 3.1 per cent over the period. Other growth came from professional, scientific and technical service business, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and construction.

Cranbrook was the small business growth leader last year, increasing 5.2 per cent between June 2009 and June 2010, Eversfield said.

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