By ROY WOOD
The troubled Oliver Landing development seems set to move forward after town council granted a development permit for the second and third phases of the ambitious project at Sawmill Road and Co-op Avenue.
A new company, Oliver Landing Phase 2 and 3 Development Corporation, is now running the project. The leading players remain essentially the same however, particularly managing partner Thomas Beyer.
In a telephone interview this morning, Beyer referred to himself as the “main investor” in the new company, which bought the land for phases two and three from the former development company.
Council’s approval on Monday is conditional on the new company completing the long overdue landscaping on the 12-unit phase one at an estimated cost of $52,000. The permit approval also included several minor set-back and parking requirement revisions.
Phase two includes three four-plexes on the southern edge of the development. Eight units face south toward the town works yard and four look east to the Okanagan River, set back from the hike and bike path.
The 16 units in phase three include 12 along the river and four also facing east, but along an internal road.
The three-storey units are all in the 1,350-1,450 square foot and are built in fourplexes.
Beyer said he expects the internal units to sell in the low-to-mid-$400,000 range and he riverfront homes to go in the low $500s. His hope is to complete phase two by the summer of 2021 and phase three a year later.
He said the next steps for the company are to finish the landscaping on phase one and seek building permits, likely by the end of April.
Then after filing the appropriate disclosures with the province, he said, pre-selling the units will begin. Once about six units are pre-sold, construction financing will be sought and building will start.
The Oliver Landing development has been plagued by delays since its inception in 2016, having to do with hiring and retaining sub-contractors and some disputes with the town building inspector.
Beyer pointed out that former project manager David Perehudoff no longer has any involvement with Oliver Landing. He indicated some legal disputes with Perehudoff are working their way through the court system.
For his part, Perehudoff remains involved with Oliver Heights, a completely separate development in the northwest part of the town.
Beyer seemed optimistic about the Oliver Landing project at the council meeting on Monday, telling ODN the market is better than it was three years ago. He said this morning: “I want to finally make some money … I lost a lot of money on phase one.”
As for the longer term, Beyer still owns a large remainder of the site that was once a horse farm. Phases four and five, directly north of phases one through 3, remain far in the future and are still something of a “blank slate,” he said.
