-Accomodations cheaper for Canadians in Oroville-

OSOYOOS TIMES-April 23, 2008-

By Chad Ingram and Paul EverestrnOsoyoos Times

Osoyoos Lake is under a development siege at both ends as Canadian condominium and resort developers are descending in high numbers onto land around the U.S. side of the lake.
Oroville's town planner said that in recent months more and more Canadian developers are taking interest in buying lakeside property in the Washington state town located 13 kilometres south of Osoyoos.
There are a number of Vancouver developers that we've been talking to, said Chris Branch. There's lots of interest from those in the Okanagan as well. A lot of the focus is on the east lake. A lot of the west side is greatly developed already.
He added that there are five large undeveloped Oroville lots that are the main focus of the developers' attention and as much as 80 per cent of inquiries into the properties are coming from Canadian developers.
And while some Canadian developers are busy inquiring about Oroville properties, others are already in the construction phase.
Branch said three major construction projects currently underway in Oroville are Canadian developments.
He said a Chilliwack developer is currently constructing the 33-unit Sandalia condominium building and Osoyoos developer Jack Dacyk is at work on a condo complex in Oroville's downtown, although Branch wasn't sure how many units it would include.
Kelowna's Legend Resorts Ltd. is building the Veranda Beach cottage development on 113 hectares of land on the lake's east shore.
The project's sales director, Scott Siemens, said Legend Resorts President Jim Hammond began looking at property in Oroville about six years ago after recognizing that the demand for lakeside property in Western Canada was exploding.
He said it's that high demand and the diminishing availability of lakeside land in the South Okanagan that's driving the development boom in Oroville.
All the Canadian public are squishing down to the Osoyoos area, he said. It's not that it's over-developed, but it can be crowded and all the best gems of land are already developed.rnJust across the border, Siemens added, very little has actually been built on lakeside land.
And it's the same lake, the same weather. I think that's the biggest reason you see developers looking at that area.
Siemens said he knows of two or three large Canadian developers looking at land in Oroville right now.
Veranda Beach is five years ahead of everyone else and I'm sure they're watching us to see how things are going to progress.rnHe said 95 per cent of his buyers are Canadian and the reason so many people from north of the border are looking to buy in Oroville is because, dollar for dollar, it's much less expensive.
The final price of our product is cheaper. A two-bedroom condo in Kelowna or Penticton brand new is seven or eight hundred grand, he said. We have stand-alone houses for that much or less. At the end of the day we can at least come up with some pricing that the average person can get into.rnAt the same time, the high value of the Canadian dollar isn't as much to thank for the Oroville development boom as many people believe, Siemens said, especially since the area was being considered by developers at a time when the loonie was much lower than the U.S. dollar.
The driving force was the eligibility of land that they could develop without having to pay the huge prices that we're seeing on the lake property on Okanagan Lake or Osoyoos Lake.rnThe meteoric rise of the Canadian dollar, however, will likely bring more attention to the Oroville area in the next little while, Branch said.
I expect the interest to increase as a result, he said, adding that most of the projects currently under construction in Oroville had development applications going through the approval process long before the economic shift.
With the good comes the bad, however, as the influx of Canadian developers in the area presents challenges for Oroville.
In a situation that mirrors the one here in Osoyoos, the high rate of development in Oroville is causing certain economic repercussions.
This also drives up land values, Branch said, adding that creating affordable housing for Oroville's working class would be a major priority for him over the next several years.
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