The Onni development planned for Sechelt Inlet Road between the Blue Heron Restaurant and Choquer's Machine Shop has completely changed direction, with the original 32 high-end units swapped for 104 smaller suites on the waterfront.
"When the market was hot and everything was sunshine and lollipops and Sechelt was the place to build, we proposed 32 units on the waterfront," said development manager Michael Kershaw. "They were priced at $1.1 million to $1.6 million per unit. They were very, very high end. Now we've got a proposal for 104 townhouse units. I'd say they range in size from 1,200 to 1,800 square feet [108 to 162 sq. metres]."
The slumping economy was the thrust for change, according to Kershaw.
"It was out of our control. It was the economy and everything kind of falling apart at the seams," he said. "It just didn't seem feasible to build $1.5 million homes on the water when the sky was falling. At that point in time we put a lot of our projects on hold, so it wasn't to say anything about Vancouver or Sechelt or Toronto or Kamloops or Kelowna, it was that there was so much uncertainty in the residential market that it was a scary time so everything went on hold to reassess the situation and see where it's at."
Planning for the new development has been in the works at Onni for about a year now and on Feb. 9 the new plan was presented to the public for comment, although rezoning does not have to take place for the project to proceed.
"It's already been rezoned, so we're not asking for any extra density. We don't have to go through rezoning, so we're in accordance with everything that the District has laid out for us through their official community plan," Kershaw said.
He said he is excited about the development and hopes the community sees it as a good move.
"I think it's a great development, it's gorgeous. We've designed it really well," he said. "We're hoping that all 104 units will have an ocean view. The beach there is gorgeous. It just really suits the area. We're leaving a lot of green. We're keeping a lot of the old growth that's on there as much as we possibly can. We've put in a huge effort to keep as many trees on the property as we can keep.
"It's an exciting project. We're really looking forward to it and the District's been great and we've had a great relationship with them. It's one of the processes of moving forward. Every community, district, city does it differently and you always have to hold an open forum or meeting, and it's just to get some feedback."
