? MICHAEL BERNARD
The Vancouver Sun
Predator Ridge: Portfolio/Trademark/Havencrest
Project location: Vernon
Project size: A total of 12 new semi-detached homes (Portfolio) and five single-family homes (Trademark), both in the Whitetail neighbourhood. In the new Havencrest neighbourhood, 17 single-home lots between one third and two thirds of an acre.
Prices: Portfolio homes sell for $535,000 for a 1,476-square-foot one-level two-bedroom, two-bathroom and den, to $580,000 for a two-storey two-bedroom-and-den home with three bathrooms. Larger single-family Trademark homes range between $789,000 and $849,000. Havencrest lots start at $330,000.
Developer: Wesbild
Architect: Homes designed by Wesbild
Interior designer: Sticks and Stones, Kelowna
Sales centre: Predator Ridge Sales Centre
Hours: 9 a.m. — 5 p.m.
Telephone: 1-866-578-2233
Website: predatorridge.com
After years of building luxury homes perched on ridges with breathtaking views of mountains and lakes, the company developing the golf community of Predator Ridge has launched a new type of home — one aimed at people with more modest tastes and budgets to match.
And judging from the increase in traffic — including more buyers from the Lower Mainland looking for principal residences — it’s a marketing strategy that appears to be working, says Claire Radford, a real estate specialist for the 1,200-acre development near Vernon.
The newly introduced Portfolio homes mark the first time Predator developer Wesbild has built duplexes, each with two bedrooms and den and up to three bathrooms. At 1,400 to about 1,800 square feet, they are half the size of the single-family homes that have been built over the last 25 years at Predator Ridge, which boasts two championship golf courses. The new duplex homes have both single-level and two-storey models and include garages.
“We needed to have something different, and it has been good to have a variety in the size of homes we offer,” said Radford.
“These are for people downsizing, which sometimes means downsizing in square footage, but also downsizing (in cost). It is about people taking their money and doing something different with it.”
The newest Portfolio homes are modern in design with an open-concept living area under vaulted ceilings with stained wood beams and posts, and oversized windows. The homes come with engineered hardwood floors in the living room, kitchen and dining room, and heated underfloor tile in the ensuite bathrooms. Tiling is also a mainstay material in the showers and tub surrounds.
The kitchens feature solid surface counters, cabinetry with soft close drawers and doors and stainless steel Whirlpool appliances. Each home has a 36-inch gas fireplace as well as a hookup for a gas barbecue on the patio. The garages, in keeping with the modern design, feature a metal and glass laminate door.
With homes at Predator Ridge starting in the $500,000s, Lower Mainlanders have been understandably excited, considering what some can get for their own homes and how quickly they could sell them, said Radford. To build on that fact, Predator Ridge ran teaser ads in The Vancouver Sun earlier this month that demonstrated what $700,000 could buy on the coast — an unassuming small bungalow — compared to a new, modern three-bedroom home at Predator Ridge.
Carla Phillips and Mark Rivette, from Calgary, had lots of exposure to the Okanagan before moving into their new Fairway home in the Whitetail neighbourhood in April. Rivette first came to Predator Ridge with his Alberta golfing buddies when the golf courses opened in 1991. Carla, a Nelson native, raised four sons with Mark and spent many a winter travelling with the boys when they ski raced at Okanagan ski mountains. The couple first purchased a fractional interest in a condo home in Predator Ridge called The Tips.
“Our thought was to purchase The Tips unit which would give us four weeks every year to come and really get to know the climate, the people and the golf course. We have just fallen in love with the area. We found it very different from Alberta.”
While their home and property in Calgary was much larger, they found themselves outdoors more often at Predator Ridge, thanks to the Okanagan’s longer spring and summer season and more stable climate, said Rivette.
“We looked at a number of properties with various views,” he said, adding they settled on a home overlooking the third hole of one of the courses with a view that makes them feel like they are “living in a tree house embedded in the forest.”
Avid golfers, the couple also found themselves delighted by the abundant wildlife in the area, porcupines and deer, owls and the call of the wild from coyotes at night, and ponds that serve as refuges for large turtles.
“We were also surprised by how dog friendly a community this is,” said Rivette, adding the family owns a white West Highland terrier. “People are out on the golf course with their dogs in the evening. There are dog parks, dog walking, people riding with their dogs in their golf carts around the community, and there are dog stops at the variety store outlets.”
While the Portfolio homes are a new twist, Predator Ridge has hardly abandoned the luxury field. It continues to offer large lots, ranging from a third to two thirds of an acre, suitable for large homes. Its newest neighbourhood is called Havencrest and it is en route to the spectacular Sparkling Hill resort, a European-style spa built by the Swarovski family of jewelry and crystal fame.
Buyers have three years to build on their newly acquired lots, and can build a Frank Lloyd Wright-style home or choose from other Whitetail designs, said Radford.
In addition to the golf courses, there is a fitness centre with lap pool, clubhouse with a top-notch restaurant, a village style grocery store, yoga studio, and more than 25 kilometres of well-maintained trails for hiking, walking and biking. The city of Vernon, where most residents do their shopping, is just a 12-minute drive away.
Last year, Vernon, which provides sewer, water and other municipal services, proudly opened its newest fire hall in the community, a comfort to residents who are always conscious of the history of forest fires in the Okanagan. Radford said those residents got another bonus as well, with their fire insurance premiums dropping by up to 30 per cent after the fire hall opened.
Radford says Predator Ridge, which has a planned build-out of about 1,700 homes, is showing signs of maturing as a community, with residents in the various neighbourhoods jointly planning ways to celebrate Predator Ridge’s 25th birthday.
“I feel every year there is more knitting together of the community,” she said. “I think it is really appealing to a lot of people that you are moving into a community where people are coming from all over. And you don’t have to be a golfer to fit in.”
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