Foreign flows
While markets churn in the aftermath of the U.K.’s referendum on continued membership in the European Union (EU), the vote to part ways with the Continent could be good news for Vancouver.
A safe haven in times of turmoil, Vancouver – and the Metro Vancouver region generally – is a favoured destination for global capital when times turn tough. Consider the influx of Ismaili and Persian capital in the 1970s, Hong Kong capital in advance of the 1997 handoff to China, and U.S. investments made following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the financial crisis of 2008.
Now, capital from the EU is coming, sparked initially by fears of Grexit as Greece struggled to meet its obligations to creditors, and now Brexit, as the U.K. seeks to stand apart from a united Europe.
Business likes certainty, and Vancouver offers that in spades, which bodes well as populist movements conjure clouds above some of the world’s biggest economies.
While many eye the flight of capital from China, veteran condo marketer Bob Rennie told the Urban Development Institute on June 2 that Europe and the U.S. face their own uncertainties.
“Eventually somebody will leave the EU, eventually the EU will be kaput, and then throw in a President Trump,” he said. “Money from the EU is already moving here: I’ve watched this for 41 years now. The money comes, and then the people come.”
European investors typically account for 10% to 15% of the local market.
More than snows
Mount Baldy has languished for the past couple of years but the new owners of the 48-year-old ski hill east of Oliver see an opportunity to reinvent the property in time for its 50th anniversary.
Relaunching the resort as an all-season destination is the aim of managing director Joey O’Brien, who cut his teeth stoking fires and clearing snow at Keppoch Mountain near Antigonish, Nova Scotia. Graduating from college, he went on to own and operate Ski Martock, a resort near Windsor, Nova Scotia, for 24 years before heading west to become involved with Alpine Canada and helping Fortress Mountain west of Calgary get back on track after its closure in 2007. He’s since launched SustainDriven, an environmental consulting and event management firm based in Canmore, Alberta, and is an owner with Vancouver lawyer Victor Tsao of 1063205 B.C. Ltd., the numbered company buying Mount Baldy.
Stark BC Venture LLC petitioned BC Supreme Court to appoint a receiver-manager for the resort in July 2014, and the court approved the numbered company’s purchase last week.
O’Brien hopes his experience will guide the transformation of Baldy Mountain Resort into a sustainable all-season resort in one of the province’s most flourishing vacation destinations. This will involve rewriting the resort’s 10-year-old master plan, which called for a 7,800-bed ski village and 18-hole golf course to be developed in four phases.
O’Brien’s vision is for a more compact, pedestrian-friendly community, but the immediate future will see significant effort put into getting the resort ready for the 2016-17 ski season.
“It’s one thing to open a ski resort,” he said. “It’s something entirely different to make money at it.” •
