Bavarian Villa - Rich as Bavarian chocolate

Bavarian Villa
610 Knighton Road
Kimberley, BC

Listing Agent:
Ralph Case
1311 Howe St
Vancouver, BC
V6Z 2P3

Tel:
(604) 833-9540

Rich as Bavarian chocolate

Kimberley, B.C. resort a good option as a popular year-round destination

John Korobanik, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Thursday, March 08, 2007

KIMBERLEY, B.C. - Take a walk through the once-popular Bavarian-styled Platzl shopping quarter of downtown Kimberley, B.C., and you'll come across numerous for sale signs. The Fireplace Store. Government offices. Even a real-estate office.

Other buildings stand empty, with no hint of life. The signs would indicate a dying community. Such, however, is far from the truth.

This East Kootenay community is one of those recreation-based towns where its citizens, and visitors, are more interested in the quality of life, rather than the quantity of their dollars.

Look just outside the downtown, or the old town, and it's a different story entirely.

"There's hundreds of millions of dollars of projects on the go right now in that community," explains Matt Mosteller, senior director of business development of Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, which owns the Kimberley Alpine Resort and Trickle Creek Golf Course, the two main attractions that have sparked tourism and real estate interest in the area.

"The sleeper story is there's probably more real estate being developed or plans going through the approval process in Kimberley than any other mountain community around Edmonton and Calgary.

"It may be one community that's just a twinkle in people's eyes, but the developers have said, we see a good thing. We see what this places offers and we believe in it and we're going to invest in it."

With other recreational-based communities such as Canmore, Fernie, B.C., and Golden, B.C., far more advanced in real estate development, Kimberley may be one of the last ski/golf resort areas within reach of Edmonton/Calgary that's still affordable.

Of course, affordable is a relative term.

A person can still buy an older house in Kimberley for about $100,000, but new construction projects are coming on market with house prices starting in the $330,000 range.

By contrast, at Silver Star resort at Vernon, B.C., 15 duplex and 12 single-family lots sold for between $210,900 and $262,000 for lots alone.

Ken and Lynn Gallagher of St. Albert bought a condo on the ski hill in 2004 for the same reason many people are buying in Kimberley.

"We like the fact that it's not overcrowded," said Lynne. "To us it's similar to what Canmore was in the old days, it has that atmosphere. If you walk though the shops downtown some of the shop owners are from Canmore. They found it too busy there and moved to Kimberley."

Like most owners of property on ski hills and golf courses, the Gallaghers use their condo four or five times a year for skiing and golf and their daughters will use it a couple more weeks.

The movement of some shop owners from Canmore is typical of people discovering the Kimberley area and the long-time residents who have remained there despite the closing of the town's major industries, mining and lumber, over the decades.

"That's one of the things that's really unique, the people living there are there for the right reasons," says Mosteller, who lived in Kimberley for four years before moving to Fernie and then to Calgary with Resorts of the Canadian Rockies.

Mosteller sold his property in Kimberley when he left.

"They're there because they found this place and realized it has all the recreation in the world, it's got great climate and it's a safe and affordable community to live in."

Located near the south end of the Columbia Valley, Kimberley offers the usual assortment of winter and summer activities -- alpine, cross-country and back-country skiing, snowboarding and snowmobiling in the winter, and golf, hiking, fishing and mountain biking in the summer.

For its part the Kimberley city council says it is: "committed to enhancing the quality of life for residents and the visitors' experience by providing efficient community services and by acting as a catalyst and partner in the development of our city and the region. Our residents have chosen to settle and/or remain in Kimberley primarily for the quality of life. Our goal is to sustain and enhance our present lifestyle through planned and controlled community development."

For that reason development around the ski hill and golf course have been comparatively slow and managed as the city and the resort take baby steps to the future, rather than jumping into the expansion market with both feet.

"In reality, if you go and blow a bunch of capital it doesn't work anymore in this market," offered Mosteller.

"You're not going to attract a million visitors the first year.

"We looked at things ... that are starting to show little successes and get people to visit.

"We're adding reasons for people to go to Kimberley, building programs that offer experiences for them to enjoy and continuing to grow the things they're already coming for.

"You keep a high quality on the environment, a high quality on the outdoor access and recreational opportunities and you listen to the community and then you walk slowly."

That's the type of thinking that attracts buyers like Ken Gallagher who says "moderate development is good and that's consistent for why you would buy any place."

And while some people from Edmonton and area may shy away from Kimberley because of the six- to seven-hour drive, Ken says it's a drive that's "worth it to me for what I get when you get to a small town that's not overrun ... this is a place my family can go to for years and enjoy. Making money was not why we did it."

"You get to a certain point and you say, 'Where are we going to invest our funds where we're going to get enjoyment out of it ... where's the most enjoyment for the dollar,' " he added.

That's what Kimberley planners are looking for, people more interested in either settling in their community or at least enjoying it long-term as opposed to speculative buying and reselling.

That's the route often taken by foreign investors.

Several of the large properties around Kicking Horse Resort at Golden, B.C., were grabbed up by Brits who built huge houses and then put them on the market with million-dollar price tags, hoping for a quick and large profit.