By Peter Mitham
An exclusive mountain community above Whistler’s Creekside neighbourhood has been snapped up by a local private investor who plans to lend a green tinge to the neighbourhood.
Ecoasis Properties Ltd. bought Kadenwood, a ski-in-ski-out community launched by Intrawest in the fall of 2001, at the end of September for an undisclosed amount. It’s one of several assets Intrawest has sought to sell as part of a corporate restructuring aimed at paying down its debt.
This week, a long-awaited gondola to the exclusive subdivision was commissioned, heralding a new era for the development.
“[The gondola] tops off the ultimate enclave in North America’s top-rated ski resort,” Keith McIvor, vice-president of sales for Ecoasis, said in a statement. (Company executives were unavailable for interviews last week.)
The gondola is for the exclusive use of residents and guests of Kadenwood, which claims bragging rights as Canada’s only ski-in-ski-out resort community directly accessible by a gondola. Developed by Doppelmayr Garaventa Group at a cost of $3.5 million, the gondola rises 710 vertical feet on a 25% slope. Travel time from Creekside Plaza to Kadenwood is about six minutes.
The gondola didn’t come without a fight, however.
Kadenwood residents took Intrawest to court to secure the lift, which was part of the original rezoning application Intrawest presented to local councillors, including Ken Melamed, now Whistler’s mayor.
“Intrawest was going to do a number of amenities, including trails, a park, a playground,” Melamed said. “There was some ski-in-ski-out potential and this lift. It’s been a bit of a challenge to watch the time it’s taken for the gondola to be built.”
The lift’s completion is a positive sign for the community, and Melamed said preliminary discussions with Ecoasis representatives indicate the company plans to highlight the environmental qualities of Kadenwood’s final phase when it launches in early 2011.
“I think they intend to try and showcase some leading- edge, innovative, responsible development in terms of energy efficiency, green building approaches and design,” he said.
“If they complete on this new development approach, I think it’s a very positive thing.”
It’s also a positive step for a project that has seen its share of market challenges.
Sales for Kadenwood, originally launched in the fall of 2001, slowed in the economic turmoil that followed the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
A concurrent downturn in business and leisure travel added to Whistler’s woes, though real estate investment improved as some investors sought safe havens when the U.S. launched its war on terror. Two phases totalling 40 lots were released prior to the downturn that hit real estate markets in late 2008, but just 18 have been developed. More homes are in the works, however, and realtor John Ryan of Whistler Real Estate Co. Ltd. believes the gondola will generate interest in Kadenwood as it achieves a critical mass of residences.
“The gondola pretty well separates us from any neighbourhood in North America in terms of ski resorts,” Ryan said. “It will be interesting to just see how it does impact the real estate up there.”
Ryan has four homes and one lot at Kadenwood among his listings. He said the initial announcement of the gondola’s construction in 2007 boosted subdivision sales. The subsequent real estate market downturn cooled activity, but he said the project’s new ownership and the vision Ecoasis brings will help.
Kadenwood is set to have 60 homes when complete.
It’s one of several development projects Ecoasis principal Dan Matthews, a founding member of the Canada Green Building Council, is pursuing. Matthews is a veteran real estate investor and particularly keen on deals involving the restructuring and repositioning of assets. Through Saintsbury Holdings LLC, Matthews has partnered with the Townline Group in Richmond. He is also a partner in the EcoUno Land Group, which is active on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula.