Kamloops New Development: Phase One Of The West Highland Community in the Aberdeen Highlands Has Begun Construction

This article appeared in the Kamloops This Week “New Home Buyers Guide” on Friday, August 14, 2009.

DAVE EAGLES PHOTO:  Kamloops This Week

DAVE EAGLES PHOTO: Kamloops This Week

Building a community from scratch is a lot harder than it looks – it’s what the group behind a massive development in Aberdeen is in the process of finding out. The Aberdeen Highlands Development Corporation has started construction on the first phase of it’s West Highland community and the land developer has a real life Sim City on it’s hands.

Chris Bebek, general manager for Aberdeen Highlands, explained the company has built other subdivisions, but she compared this project to starting a whole community. “You’re having to think about a lot more things than we’ve had to in the past,” she told KTW.

The to-do list before the area can be sub-divided and sold to developers is lengthy. A roundabout at Aberdeen Drive and Pacific Way is now being built will be built this summer along with all the services to the individual lots – that includes sanitary, storm and water works.

Streetlights will also be installed and Aberdeen Drive will be given a multi-use pathway that will act as a walking trail and bike path. ” There’s a lot of things that are on the go right now to get us prepared to start that pre-marketing for when it’s completed in the fall,” Bebek said. She pegged the completion date of the first phase for September or October.

In the meantime, Highland Development is updating it’s website and getting ready for pre-sales.

The first phase of the development will include 34 single-family lots, two multi family sited, a new fire hall and a mixed-use commercial-residential site. It is expected that 90 to 110 units could be built in the first phase, housing several hundred people.

While the economy and the real estate market have taken a pounding in the last year, Bebek noted Aberdeen Highlands has received plenty of interest and compiled a list of perspective developers in Kamloops.

City council gave the massive development the go-ahead last winter. The Aberdeen Highlands area, located near the top of Pacific Way and the Aberdeen Hills Golf Course, spans roughly 150 acres. Once completely built out, the development is expected to consist of nearly 1,000 new homes, along with some areas of commercial and park space.

Click here to view current properties for sale in Kamloops.