Wildstone's Sell Out Success

Cranbrook's golf course life style boom continues apace with proponents of the Wildstone golf community on the city's northwest side announcing they sold their first 76 lots in less than four hours Sunday.

"We had an incredibly successful day Sunday," said Havaday Developments Inc. and Wildstone President Joel Savage at a news conference at the company's Cranbrook Street office Tuesday. "We put on 76 lots and they all sold out so it was a tremendous day for us.

"The majority of the buyers came from B.C. and Alberta with deposits made on lots selling from $146,500 to $199,000. Construction is expected to start this fall with a "soft" opening on the first of two golf courses to be built slated for the summer of 2008 and the grand opening the spring of 2009.

"I've never seen this many home sales at one time in my life," said Wildstone Vice President of Sales and Marketing Randall White. "We had a lot of extremely happy people Sunday."

Savage said Wildstone's success is not only good for the company, but good for Cranbrook as a region. "This continues to be a very exciting time for Cranbrook and we're very proud to be part of a project that's going to help ensure an exciting future for this city and the region."

People are increasingly attracted to the Cranbrook area because of the region's many attractions, including golf courses, ski hills, fishing and the climate. All of this combines to make southeastern B.C. a major destination for people wanting to make a lifestyle change, said Savage.

"The reason the area is seeing so much recreational activity is the four-seasons climate, the weather, the sunshine and all the recreational activities. It's a truly unique area." This is also attracting buyers to Wildstone, Savage said.

White, a former Calgary resident, said he felt the attraction personally.

"I never moved before. I always had my homebase in Calgary and I moved to Cranbrook because this is a special place here. You walk around and people are friendly like the little town I grew up in. It's got that and it's got all the services a growing city needs and it has got these incredible recreation areas."

Another important factor in attracting people to the area is the expanded Cranbrook airport, Savage said.

"We cannot lose sight of the work that the City of Cranbrook, the region and the province has done to make this corner of B.C. a viable option for developers like us to attract the Gary Player groups. That's a big, big part of the story."

White said the people that purchased lots made an initial deposit earlier.

"Yesterday was an actual purchasing and selection event and the home site purchases are actually closing this fall and we're hoping to get construction started this fall."

Purchasing early was a good deal because the lots sold were sold under appraised value, White said. "We're just at the very beginning of this.

These are just the baby steps for about a 3,000 home development and so the people getting in now are going to be the people that are basically the founders of this community."

Local building contractors as well as contractors from outside the area will participate in the building of the houses, Savage said. All the builders will be pre-approved by Havaday, he said.

Prior to the sale Sunday, Savage said he didn't have any doubts the offering would be a success. "I had full confidence in the project and the potential of the project and Randall did a heck of a job for us coming in here and leading the sales team and doing such a good job leading to the success on Sunday."

A lot of work needs to be done between now and when the development opens in the spring of 2009 but golf legend Gary Player himself will likely attend the opening of the course he helped to design, said Ken Costanzo, president of the real estate division of the Gary Player Group.