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Watermark Beach Resort

Media Coverage

Okanagan Business Journal, August 2006

Image credit: Okanagan Business Journal

Osoyoos developer set to build waterfront complex

By Devon Brooks

This is a story of reasonable compromise.

In the world of big money developers that is a rare occurrence, but it is the approcah that the partnership behind Osoyoos Shoreline Development Ltd. are working with.

Last year, says project manager Glen Harris, on the resort officially known as the Watermark Beach Resort, the partnership approached the town with a proposal for a highrise development on the site of the old packing house.

The geography of Osoyoos is prominent here because the site occupies prime real estate fronting both the main street (which is also Highway 3 through downtown) and the lake between Kinsmen Beach and Gyro Park.

In fact, says Harris, most townspeople assumed the waterfront is public land, but it is actually private.

The town was not happy with the 12-storey, $68 million scheme, and neither was many of the vocal public. Harris says his company went back to the drawing boards, and waited for the fall civic elections to be settled.

This year they went back with a shortened 6- storey concept.

Progress, but not enough, says Harris, who characterized the town’s response as lukewarm.

Third time lucky though as a June 14, 2006 proposal won what Harris describes as “overwhelming support” for the company’s willingness to meet public concerns.

Even though the city unanimously voted to endorse the proposal, Harris says there were still six issues they had to resolve.

One was parking. The original concept had 181 units, which required 30 to 40 more parking spots than Osoyoos Shoreline had planned for. However, since the final concept was knocked down to 153 units, that problem solved itself.

Similarly concerns about view corridors were largely dealt with by the changes in the overall design, but Harris says a final tweaking eliminated two studios and realigned two buildings.

Storm water management was a concern because the town was worried runoff from the parking lots would end up being dumped into the lake. A more eco-friendly system was designed to control the runoff. After filtering, runoff will be distributed underground so that water returning to the lake will be renewed by natural soil filtration.

The developer agreed to increase the convention space in the hotel from 150 to 200 spots. The town sees conventions as a money maker, but Harris says the space is a bit of a loss-leader. The hotel, which will be leased to Boutique Hotels, will make its money from the hotel suites, not from renting out convention space.

For the public, the most contentious issue was a guarantee that public access to the waterfront along connecting pathways would be retained. While the exact details haven’t been completed, Harris says the development permit will have a covenant attached to it, guaranteeing the hotel will never block public access. He says they are also putting in six figures toward building trails on the property to meet up with the public pathways to the north and south.

Now that the development permits are enroute, the company is turning its attention to selling the attached residences and the recreational condominiums.

James Askew is the president of rareEarth Project Marketing, in charge of promoting and selling the Watermark.

He breaks down the resort’s likely owners this way: the 123 resort condos will be second homes or investment properties. He says they are setting up a deal whereby those who buy them as investment properties will be able to have Boutique Hotels market and rent them out. Prices for fully furnished studios will start in the low 200 thousands.

The other 30 two-bedroom, 1,200 sq. ft. units will likely be sold as homes to permanent residents.

About half the buyers, says Harris, were expected to come from the Lower Mainland, 30% from the Calgary and southern Alberta area, with 10% from the Okanagan and the rest divided up between long distance buyers.

But Askew says preliminary advertising has revealed a surprising amount of interest from the Edmonton market. He says it is nearly as strong as the response they received from Vancouver.