The first exclusive neighbourhood gondola in the country
Marke Andrews
Sun
If cash is a problem, you can buy a smaller lot in the Kadenwood neighbourhood for $1.5 million, and still have use of its gondola.
For a cool $2.5 million, you can have a prime, 3,344-square-metre (35,996-square-foot) lot in Whistler’s new Kadenwood development, with exclusive gondola service to Whistler Creekside Village and to the base of the Creekside gondola.
Mind you, you’ll still have to pay to build your home on the lot.
If cash is a problem, you can buy a smaller lot in the Kadenwood neighbourhood for $1.5 million, and still have use of its gondola.
According to Intrawest Resort Development Group, which is partnering with Kadenwood Homeowners Association to build the $3.5-million Kadenwood gondola in time for the 2008-09 ski season, this will be the first exclusive neighbourhood gondola in the country.
Construction begins in the summer of 2008 and when completed, the gondola will have four cabins, each capable of holding eight people with their winter sports equipment, run 995 metres and connect the Kadenwood neighbourhood to Whistler Creekside Village. During the summer, the gondola can carry mountain bikes and baby strollers. It will be for the exclusive use of Kadenwood residents and their guests, however Whistler-Blackcomb, which will oversee daily operation of the gondola, may yet decide to extend its use to others.
“Nothing has been determined yet, but the door is open for other mountain uses for the gondola,” says Bryce Tupper, a development analyst with Intrawest. “Whistler-Blackcomb could use that gondola for some kind of on-mountain ski operations. If that happens, there would be cost-sharing with Whistler-Blackcomb and the Kadenwood Homeowners Association.”
It is yet to be determined if a pass will be required to ride the gondola, which has a 228-metre rise from Whistler Creekside to Kadenwood. Hours of operation also have to be worked out, although Tupper says the hours will likely be the same as the Creekside gondola.
“The Kadenwood Homeowners Association has the flexibility to change the hours and extend them if they want,” says Tupper. “Over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday, they could extend them so that people from the neighbourhood could come down to Creekside to have dinner.”
The Kadenwood development, divided into four stages, will house 60 home sites, ranging in size from half an acre to 11/2 acres. The 20 lots from the first phase have all been sold, and nine of the second phase lots are also sold.
Another 20 lots will be made available in the final two phases of the development.
Lot prices have risen about five per cent in the past year.
Kadenwood buyers come from Whistler, Vancouver, the U.S. and Europe. Some homes have already been built and a few people have moved into the neighbourhood.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
