CAN MIGRATING SALMON BE RETURNED TO REVELSTOKE? New initiative wants to bring them back - 3
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RCU celebrates 60th anniversary
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Weds., September 25, 2013 www.revelstoketimesreview.com Vol. 116, No. 39
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Revy Riders fest - 23
From soaring highs to stable lows After real estate values in Revelstoke nearly tripled with the launch of Revelstoke Mountain Resort, they have since fallen by almost 40 per cent Alex Cooper
reporter@revelstoketimesreview.com
Top: They’re off! Young racers jockeyed to the front for a sprint start at the Revelstoke Grizzly Bear Run on Sunday. The 12-kilometre and 5-kilometre fun race hosted by the Revelstoke Credit Union starts and ends with a get-together at Queen Elizabeth Park. Bottom: The Revelstoke Secondary School cheerleading squad was out on Saturday to cheer on the Revelstoke Credit Union on the occasion of its 60th anniversary. The credit union held a block party outside, with burgers, hot dogs and cake being served up; music by the Maritime Kitchen Party, a historical display, a photo booth and more. “Having a financial service institution in our community that really cares about our community is a great thing,” said mayor and RCU director David Raven. Aaron Orlando and Alex Cooper/Revelstoke Times Review
Five years ago, a block of townhouses were built on Centre Street, in Revelstoke’s Southside neighbourhood. Built by Shire Properties, when the Rivendell Townhomes came on the market three years ago, they were listed at more than $450,000 – a whopping amount that reflected the excitement in the Revelstoke real estate market when construction began. According to Arvid Zakary, the managing broker at Revy Realty, a few units pre-sold for more than $500,000. I was sitting in the Revy Realty office, talking to Zakary about the Revelstoke real estate market five years since the global economy crashed. He pulled out a sale sheet for one of the town homes that sold just a few days earlier. The sale price was $240,000 – barely half the original asking price. “They missed the market. They didn’t finish until 2010,” said Zakary. “They were on the downside of the market and when they finished building, they had already missed the market.” The “market” was the huge spike in real estate prices that accompanied the development of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. It has been followed by a drop of almost 40 per cent ever since the global economy crashed and the money stopped flowing into the resort market. Ten years ago, real estate in Revelstoke was a bargain compared to many other towns in the area. The average sale price in 2003 was $150,980, according to MLS statistics provided by Uldis Bokis, the managing broker at Royal LePage. That was for all real estate categories – homes, lots, businesses and trailers. The market started to warm up two years later. In 2005, the average selling price jumped to about $180,000 – almost a 20 per cent increase. It jumped again in 2006 to $220,796. “The market was very depressed then,” said Bokis, who has spent decades in the Revelstoke real estate industry as an appraiser and, since 1998, as a broker. “There was talk of something happening, so it started to go up.” And up it did. Way, way up. On January 17, 2007, a big press conference was held in Grizzly Plaza announcing the development of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. A group of investors had bought a gondola and high speed quad and were going to start building the biggest ski resort in North America. They put on a big marketing blitz, getting international media attention. They hyped the resort as the next big thing. When condos went on sale that February, they sold out in days, despite the high asking prices that were comparable to more established resorts. “It was a well-orchestrated campaign that brought in a good number of buyers from throughout the United States, Europe and Canada,” said
Real estate, page 5
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1500 Third Street West $239,000
OMREB
Okanagan Mainline Real Estate Board