dHzmedia

By Marty Hope, Kathy McCormick and Barb Livingstone

Please scroll down for the article.

The Daily News (Kamloops), October 16, 2007

The Calgary Herald, October 6, 2007

Times Colonist (Victoria), October 10, 2007

The Regina Leader-Post, October 13, 2007

Naramata calling

PENTICTON -- It's so quiet, you can hear a pine cone drop.

High up the terraced hillside on the east side of Okanagan Lake above the historic village of Naramata, and past the 19 wineries on Sammet Road, there is a meditative calmness enhanced by the impressive, almost unhindered views of the lake from Penticton on up toward Peachland.

It's here that Naramata Benchland Properties, a partnership of Locations West Investment Group and T and M Management Services Ltd., have created plans for The Benchlands, Naramata.

It's an upscale community of building sites measuring from 0.2 to 0.8 hectares, with Naramata Creek and Arawana Creek flowing through the property and the historic Kettle Valley Railway Trail traversing it.

Currently, only 44 lots in Stonebrook, the first phase of the overall development, have been released.

Almost all of the lots priced from $309,900 to $699,900 have been snapped up, says Locations West managing partner Randy Kowalchuk.

Although a final count on the number of homes The Benchlands will hold is still undecided, Kowalchuk says there is room for as many as 400.

So far, zoning approval has only been given for 40.8 hectares, leaving 120 hectares for future planning.

"Since Day 1, our philosophy has been based on breathing room and a commitment to preserve the peaceful small-town lifestyle Naramata is famous for," he says. "To keep with the spirit of the area, The Benchlands will evolve slowly and future neighbourhoods will be introduced gradually."

Homes have been pre-positioned on lots to provide semi-seclusion and to minimize the number of trees that will have to be removed. The same has been done in locating roads.

All underground services will be brought to the individual lot lines by November, and construction of homes could get started in the spring, says Kowalchuk.

"This is a very special project," he says from the refurbished onsite sales and presentation centre. "People are prepared to pay a premium for the privacy they get here."

They are coming from all over to lay claim to their piece of privacy.

Between 50 and 55 per cent of Stonebrook buyers have come from Alberta, says Kowalchuk. The rest is made up of people from Vancouver, Kelowna, Vernon, and even Hong Kong and Iran.

Calgary couple Todd and Jenn Lindsay purchased a 0.2-hectare lot with a 180-degree lake view on Flagstone Rise in July. The decision was made partly because of the hectic pace of Calgary, but also because Todd has experienced the casualness of Penticton.

The Calgary commute time is also starting to wear thin. He's on the road 40 minutes to get from home to work and 40 minutes back again.

Jenn is a registered nurse at Sunnyhill Wellness Centre. They, along with their 21/2-year-old daughter Gabriella and their cat Sunkist, are getting into the Naramata mode, already.

"We're really excited about the whole thing," says Todd, an elementary school vice-principal. "We decided it was time to try something new and the plan is to make Stonebrook our full-time home."

While he was in university, Todd worked as a forest firefighter for the B.C. government and was stationed in Penticton, so he got to know the area well.

"We were out there on a holiday, saw the development and fell in love with it," he says. "We decided pretty much right then to take the plunge."

Kowalchuk says buyers have five years from the date of purchase to begin building a home -- and the home must be complete by the end of year seven.

The Lindsays have begun the search for a builder and have started sketching out what they'd like their future home to look like.

Naramata Benchland Properties has a list of selected builders, but Kowalchuk says other builders are welcome as long as they abide by the strict architectural controls that have been set in place.

Company sales manager Theresa Karpowich says the first phase of construction will feature homes with Okanagan Contemporary, Timeless Residential and Craftsman designs.

"But within each style there is a great deal of flexibility because cookie cutter is not in Naramata's vocabulary," she says.

Word is spreading rapidly about the Naramata area. Naramata is the most expensive place in the south valley to buy real estate, says the South Okanagan Real Estate Board. The average selling price of a single-family home there topped $1.1 million in July, almost twice as much as the average price for a new home in Summerland, which was the second most expensive market. 

For additional information regarding the project, click on the logo:

Reprinted from The Calgary Herald
To view The Calgary Herald online click here