A GLASS WALLED, OPEN-TREAD STAIRCASE IS THE CENTREPIECE, CREATING A LIGHT COLUMN AND EXPANDING THE INTERIORS almost all done in the cyber world these days. Seventy-five per cent of our clients don’t live here. Some are from east of the Rockies and a lot are Americans.” Bob and Brenda did pop back to Victoria every couple of months during construction, “but it all worked out because Andrew is very good at what he does, and his construction superintendent, Art Luining, was absolutely amazing,” says Bob. The owners have lived in Arizona for almost 25 years. Bob sold his Realspan Properties to Colliers in 1986 and stayed on as managing partner for many years here before being asked to open an office in Phoenix. “At the time, Colliers’ American business was not strong, so I moved to Arizona in 1991 and became president of its U.S. operation and worked there for 10 years building it up.” He retired in 2001, but saw opportunities after the subprime mortgage crash of 2007-09 and started buying homes. Since 2010, he has flipped scores of them although the market has gradually changed: “It used to be easy to buy homes here in greater Phoenix and tough to sell them, but now it’s the opposite.” He and Brenda have two houses down south: a contemporary townhouse in the city and a “log cabinish” place in the cooler climes of Pine, a community at 1,800 metres altitude, in the middle of a national forest. “I’m ok up to about 110 degrees, but when it gets up to 122, we move to Pine, which is 20 degrees cooler.”
THE HOUSE WAS BUILT BY TIDMAN CONSTRUCTION AND IS JUST OVER SIX METRES WIDE, BUT THE OWNERS MAXIMIZED THE FRONT VIEWS WITH WALL-TO-WALL AND CORNER WINDOWS. THE GLASS SLIDES BACK, CREATING A BROAD OPENING THAT VIRTUALLY TURNS THE LIVING ROOM INTO AN OUTDOOR TERRACE.
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