Happy 2011

This should be a very good year.

Sunrise Sunrise ...

Christmas at Sunrise

December 2010

Vladimir Grebenyuk
President,
Ascent Developments Corp.


Dear Vladimir:

I have been thinking about you and your family a lot over the past couple of weeks.
I know this has not been an easy process. We are now in a position to move forward,
and while we still have obstacles to overcome, I am excited to get going.

When I first met you at the Starbucks in Kamloops, I thought you were either courageous or crazy to attempt this project in Merritt, and I still don't know which one it is yet. We still, after all issues, genuinely like you. You have some great marketing ideas and no one believes in this project as much as you.

I do not believe it is a coincidence that we are finally moving forward at Christmas. I look at this project as a gift. It is a gift that will make a real difference in everyone's life that has been involved in this project.

Sincerely,
Owen Brown,
Stonehenge Projects Inc.

Wind is Power

Merritt is known for its wind. Why not harvest it?

Sonkiyo Energy Windspot small and quiet turbines can be installed on the roof.

Stonehenge Removes Stone Off The Road

Yes, we reached the very important milestone for Sunrise project - the very complex and difficult package was finalized. Stonehenge Projects is taking over the project until its construction is complete. We are finally ready to move forward !!

Sunise Wireless

Yes, we are living in 21st century ! Sunrise Centre will be a proof of it.

Pre-wired with fiber-optic with super-high speed internet, 3D-HDTV,
wireless intercom, remotely controlled shutters, security system and
climate control.

Sunrise Electrical

- Did I mention that Sunrise Centre will be pre-wired for roof -mounted solar PV panels ?
- Did I mention that the Sunrise Centre for Sustainable Development will have LED lights ?
- Did I mention that every parking stall will be equipped with the plug for electrical vehicle ?
Aren't we living in the 21st century after all ?

New Day (Day4 :)

Today I visited the new Day4 Energy office in Burnaby .

Day4 Energy is the producer of the most efficient and best quality photo voltaic panels on the market, I think they are Audi of PV panels. The founder of the company is Leonid Rubin, originally from Moscow, an expert in biophysics and photochemistry. He is obviously brains of
the company and creator of their proprietary technology. His son George Rubin, is a physicist, but also an expert in finances. This unique combination makes him an ideal president of the company, whose competitive edge is technology. Accidentally, their daughter works at MDA, probably the most famous technology company in Canada, whose founder, Mr. John MacDonald is a Chairman and CEO of Day4. Also accidentally, I spent number of years working on CAATS (Canadian Automated Air Traffic Control System), the project where MDA was a main contractor and I still have many friends working there.

Although I was not able to meet in person with neither of Rubins, they got my information about Ascent and Sunrise,
and I was promised to be contacted soon, so we can discuss
the ways of possible cooperation. And there are a number
of them, which I will keep undisclosed for now...

Keep tuning in.



On the photo - Yours Truly at the Day4 office.

Merritt To Become A Destination

If Merritt is to become a Destination, as it wants to, then people need to know where is it on the map.
All roads lead to Merritt.

Selling Merritt

A little bit old, but still good and mostly relevant

Merritt Trade Show Presentation

Merritt Investors Symposium

Merritt Investors Symposium traditionally scheduled to coincide with the Mountain Fest, is going to be held again in July 2011.

We want to set up a show case for Sustainable Development in one of the commercial units at the Sunrise Centre by that time. We will be inviting business and industry players in the areas of "green" design, ecological building, photovoltaic, solar-thermo, wind turbines, geo-thermo and other alternative technologies. The Sunrise Centre itself will be setting a stage with the awnings equipped with Day4 solar panels, LED lights and other energy conservation features. Contact Ascent Developments, if you are interested in showcasing your product or service at the Sunrise Centre For Sustainable Development.

Merritt Is Looking For Sustainable Future

Merritt Green Energy Project

City of Merritt council held a committee of the whole meeting where Fred Scott and Harvey Campbell from Pristine Power along with Mike Towers of Tolko and Brent Turmel of Stuwix Resources presented the Merritt Green Energy Project, a 30 mega watt biomass facility located at the Tolko mill site.

Solar Power Plant

Merritt's concerns over a shortage of hydro power keeping industry expansion down appear to have caught the attention of another power producer. Robert Coelho of Eclipsol Energy addressed City Council this week on a proposed Solar Power Plant. The area being considered for the project is 33 kms. east of Merritt and about 9 kms. north of the Nicola Substation. Coelho says Eclipsol has been discussing the project with BC Hydro and other producers. He says it would provide about 50 megawatts of power if developed

Merritt to Revitalize the Downtown

The Board of Directors of CFDCNV has reconfirmed its commitment to the revitalization of the downtown core of Merritt BC.

Future is Solar

Two days ago I visited a Future Energy facility on No.5 Rd in Richmond,
close to Commerce Pkwy, where I spent 8 years of my engineering career
at Hughes, later Raytheon, working on CAATS.
I was quite impressed by what I saw, particularly in the photovoltaic and
thermo-solar areas. We agreed to cooperate on setting up the show case
for alternative sources at Sunrise Centre.

Sunrise Centre & Merritt Future

A week before I met with Claes Fredriksson - a true believer in Merritt and
a man who coined the term Palm Springs North (see post Merritt Vision).

I am going to meet with yet another Merritt visionary - Claude Lelievre !
Yes, the owner of the Active Mountain Resort and promoter of the famous
Mountain Fest (see previous post).

Also, I was approached by Future Energy - the company specializing in new
sources of energy. They like Merritt, and they chose Sunrise Centre project
as the best fit to implement their solar technology. I am going to visit their
facility in Richmond BC this Tuesday.

Looks like, a circle of believers in Merritt's Future is being conceived.
Sunrise Centre fits very nicely right in the middle of it.

Mountain Fest is back to Merritt !

It may be just in time for Sunrise Centre to open its doors:

Merritt Mountain Music Festival

MERRITT Vision

Last Thursday I attended Merritt 2020 presentation - great ideas to be
implemented in  Merritt by business group from Vancouver and even USA. 
But the most surprising  was that they are almost late - just two days
before the City was presented with  the plan for a co-generation plant,
then a solar farm near Merritt, and the biggest  of all, final approval
of the huge BC Hydro project .
Oh yes, and the Mountain Fest is officially back next year.  

Looks like Sunrise Centre is going to enter the market at the right time,
all we  need is to move expeditiously.

Merritt: Friday, October 8th

Today Sunrise case was presented for Business Development Committee at Community Futures in Merritt. We have approval, pending legal review. One more hurdle is about to be overcome !

Sunrise Facebook

In line with the modern trend, I have updated the Sunrise Facebook page.

Thanks Owen !

Hold your breath

Electric Mountain

Wow, Merritt has something completely new going on!

From Kelowna Capital News:

The Merritt Mountain Music Festival fairgrounds host the Electric Mountain Music Festival on Labour Day Long Weekend, Sept. 3-5.

The purpose of the Electric Mountain Music Festival is to satisfy the high demand for a large-scale music festival in British Columbia. After the success of such festivals as the one-time Pemberton Music Fest and the long-running Merritt Mountain Music Fest, the people of B.C. are craving another festival that caters to their music tastes.

The Electric Mountain Music Festival will be a large-scale event taking place in Merritt, a town known for its warm dry weather.

The focus of the event will be on electronic music, however hip-hop and some pop will also be showcased to appeal to a larger audience.

Electric Mountain is the “new” Merritt Mountain which organizers hope to build into an annual event

Electric Mountain Music Festival

Going West ?

Going (Pioneer) West ??

Going Green

I met with the first Mayor of Sun Peaks municipality Al Raine (who also happened to be
a husband of the Senator Nancy Green).
I live at Sun Peaks, so I wanted to share my ideas about how I see its future.
To my pleasure I found that we share the same vision about sustainable community,
including economic and environmental side of it. We agreed that we both want to see
the future developments in Sun Peaks going "green", i.e. energy-efficient design and
materials, grid-free and non-fossil fuel sources of energy, built-in or retrofit capable.
And I realized: there is a development exactly like we were talking about, only not in
Sun Peaks, but in Merritt - it is called Sunrise Centre.

Attention: Angels or Dragons

Offered:

A. Option to purchase commercial or residential unit valued at $250,000 for $200,000 with $50,000 initial deposit secured on the title.

B. Investment of $1,000,000 to acquire 45% share in the development valued at $3,000,000.

Why Sunrise - Business Case

Why anyone would want to invest in Merritt, and in Sunrise Centre in particular?


Merritt

• Situated at the intersection of major highways, making it a Gateway to BC Interior

• Central location and relative proximity to Lower Mainland and Okanagan

• Unique dry and sunny climate and natural surroundings instigated number of upscale resort developments around town, including Nicola Lakeshore Estates, Active Mountain Resort and Quilchena Golf Course among many others

• Merritt is the host of the annual Mountain Music Festival, being named a “Country Music Capital Of Canada”

• Abundance of hills rolling around make for a great mountain biking, as well as attract para-gliding and hang-gliding enthusiasts

• A proposal is in place for new ski resort at Coquihalla Pass just 20 minutes from Merritt

• Merritt is being considered for several projects supported by the Provincial Government

• Relatively low real estate prices combined with growth potential offer a great return on investment

• New golf course park resort to be created almost in downtown, just few blocks from the Sunrise development site

• South Korean homes manufacturing facility is being located just outside of Merritt

• Fiber-optic network available for high-tech park

• Abundance of solar, wind and geo-thermo energy makes it an ideal place to create a "sustainable community"



Sunrise Centre

• The first development in Merritt designed by professional Architect and professional Engineers team

• The first new development to be built within downtown core Merritt designated by the City for revitalization program

• The first new development fully compliant with City Façade Guidelines allowing it to benefit from the property tax incentive

• The first café-bistro in downtown with open air patio and sliding gates

• The first and the only in town secure gated parking for every residence

• The only residence with unique private courtyard on the second level

• Unique two-level residences with elevated ceilings, balconies and sun decks

• Environmentally-friendly and energy-efficient design

• Full retrofit capability for solar or other alternative energy sources.

• Opportunity in place to expand the development to the entire block.

Palm Springs North

Let's try this:

Invest in future Palm Springs North

Going North

Here is a quote, which when I read it, it struck me - this is exactly how I thought, plus our own Canadian Silicon Valley.

Well timing is one thing, the other is to create a destination. What is...the reason for being, for Palm Springs, how was it created?

Could we do the same for Palm Springs North? PSN has a lot more going for it. Any vehicle (almost) traveling east/west in Canada passes Merritt. There is more sun than in Kelowna and better Windsurfing than in Squamish.

It's closer to Vancouver than Kelowna and has more sun that you can imagine - not to mention wind and geo thermal energy. Add to that the new ski resort Juliett Creek within 45 min and little Zermatt is not far away.

Best of all its got the people with heart and the will power to make it happen... and did I mention the Walk of Stars and Merritt Music Festival and being the Country Music Capital of Canada.

If you want more reasons...come along for a visit and experience for yourself a more things that do not come across well on paper. Such as air, smell, dry heat and one of my favorites real laughter and lots of fun!!
...
Merritt - "Palm Springs North" - Like Palm Springs, with the added value of "the true Canadian flavor/spirit".

New leads ?

How about the chain of references :
- Fresh Inc. (Aleece Laird)
- Venture Kamloops (Dan Sulz),
- Ministry of Economic Development, Asia-Pacific (Marcus Ewert-Johns)
- Thompson / Okanagan Regional Branch (Myles Bruns)
- Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust (Luby Pow)
- Taylor Capital (Ron Palmer)
- who is next ????

How about Peter Roszko - an investor from Penticton with big connections??

New Horizons

Last week being in Merritt, I learned something, which made me quite excited and should make investors jump into town.
There is a plan (and the approval) for a new golf course, with all sorts of resort attractions to follow, right in downtown, just few blocks from Sunrise Centre development ! It is going to be built by the same group, who did their ultra-exclusive private Sagebrush.Golf Club. The work may be expected to begin as early as September, and you can imagine it means a big change for Merritt !
Bill Vander Zalm was in Merritt too - hearing about that, he decided to go ahead with his own project now (gated community in natural surrounding).
Another interesting project is a facility for manufacturing traditional Korean homes by a South Korean company, it is going to be a big employer in the area, and they are looking to start as soon as possible. A little further down the line is a Transmission line for BC Hydro, but this is said to be bigger than Coquihalla Highway project.

So there seems to be a big future for the small town !

On the verge

Fast forward two years !
...........................................


- Stonehenge Projects Inc., experienced general contractor, offered to take over the project.

- Mission Creek (mortgage corporation from Kelowna) has approved construction loan
(although for less than originally promised).

- Community Futures-Nicola Valley offered to buy out the first mortgage on the property
and yield priority to the construction lender.

- Creditors, recognizing that the only way to get their money back, is to finish the project,
signed off.

We are finally seeing a light - will we get to the end of the tunnel ???

Well, this was an "unforgettable" experience..
Remember Pink Floyd The Wall ?
That was exactly it - hitting the wall with my head all the time.
Just a list of some of the "bricks":- Royal Bank of Canada
- Bank of Montreal
- TD Canada Trust
- Envision Credit Union- Interior Savings
- Interior Equities
- Cove Mortgages
- Mandate National
- CMHC (they would not touch anything with the commercial component)
- Business Development Canada (they wouldn't touch anything with residential component)
- Community Adjustment Fund (federal program intended to help small rural communities)

There were some who tried to help me:
- David Laird, then Mayor of Merritt
- Stockwell Day, MP Thompson-Okanagan
- Nancy Green, Senator (who was tied by her contracts)
- Merritt Chamber of Commerce

There were few, who actually helped, most of all
- Community Futures Development Corporation - Nicola Valley
specifically, Deanne Parise and Patrick Flanagan,
whom I tremendously grateful!

And I always had beside me my inspiration.

Cold 2009

But the clouds of the global economic crisis were already on the horizon.
Everything got frozen for almost two years ...

Hot Summer 2008

Through the summer we went to build the columns and walls.
Next stage was to build the suspended slab, which would separate the main level from wood-frame structure of residential units above.

Foundation

This is where Sunrise Centre will be.

We were building through spring and summer.
Sophisticated foundation with cantelivered edges was a challenge, soft soil was replaced with gravel for compactness, all underground services put in place, grade level concrete slab poored.

Breaking The Ground

We broke the ground on April 15, 2008 with
Community Futures Development, Mayor of the City, media present.
There was a lot of buzz in town and a lot of excitement. It would be
the first new development in may be 20 years or more, in downtown!
It would be the first professionally designed and engineered building !
It would be the first cafe with the built-in open air patio !
It would be the first residential complex with the covered secure gated
parking!
It would be the first development utilizing modern environmentally-
friendly and energy-efficient technologies (I am just trying to avoid
cliche and ambiguous word "green").
It would be the first development with retrofit capabilities for the
newest alternative energy sources !
It would be the first urban-style high-quality residential development
in town, catering to professionals and business people with active life
style, who does not want to deal with lawn mowing and other things,
associated with owning the house, filling the niche previously and still
non-existent in Merritt.
It would be the first new development fully matching the City Centre
facade guidelines and qualified for the municipal tax incentive !

The time seemed to be very good. Merritt was looking for new projects
to be realized in town and within its vicinity. We wanted to make Sunrise
Centre a focal point to future redevelopment of the entire block in downtown.
Sky was the limit. We went full steam ahead !

Design Team

I managed to gather an exceptional team to design the Sunrise Centre. I have mentioned Gerry Sportack from Array Architectural - he comes up with great ideas (the two storey units and a courtyard in between was his idea), but also very meticulous, and - what I especially like - he is very attentive to the owner's requests, the design with Gerry is a cooperative process, and although he would insist on his opinion, he would make it the way the owner is happy.

I was fortunate to have Fast & Epp Structural Engineers in my team
(accidentally, they were also involved in my Richmond house ten years
ago) . Now they are big and famous in Vancouver and in the world.
Among many other projects they designed several skytrain stations
in Burnaby and Vancouver, did design of the roof for the Olympic Oval in Richmond and were invited to conduct a study for the project in Dubai.

The Blair project

There was a nice solid house. It was on a way to the new construction. I felt it would be a shame just to demolish it. The City building inspector suggested a great idea (one of many) to move it to another location. I never even knew that it was possible. Apparently it was. Luckily, there was a vacant lot for sale, just a couple of blocks away. It was duplex-zoned, so I decided to build a first level suite with the same footprint and put the existing house on top of it. It worked very well at the end. We also moved a separate garage, added a carport and a driveway. We had a new duplex now, and by the way, we made a room for the Sunrise Centre!

Ascent

I needed a company to do the project - both for legal, accounting and business reasons. This was not a completely new endeavour for me - I did few smaller projects, like the Richmond house, mentioned before, Owl's Nest ski and golf chalet at Sun Peaks Resort, and Blair project, which I will be talking later about. But it was a completely bigger scale, the full impact of which I began to realize only later. Sunrise Centre was a good name for the project. The company, which would do it, and hopefully further redevelopment in downtown Merritt, as well as other new projects elsewhere, should have a name which would symbolize that unstoppable movement upwards. After some mental search, the name Ascent was chosen. It came from my previous experience as an aerospace engineer - from the time when I was working on the guidance and navigation system for the ascent trajectory of the Russian space shuttle Buran. It was also a good fit to how we wanted to be viewed .

Then I began to hate holidays.
In order to satisfy the City's Facade Guidelines and qualify for the 5-year municipal tax freeze, we went into endeavour of redesigning the face of the building to give it a required Western look. Few roof elements, wooden posts and beams did the trick, but it was December, and everybody was looking forward to Christmas. We got it approved by the City Centre Board only in the end of January. Still, we were so excited, and (even before the financing of the project was approved - lesson I will never forget), we moved ahead full steam.

We thought of the project as something that would bring life back to downtown, which was dying, loosing business to the area adjacent to the highway and housing to outskirts, like The Bench.
The name Sunrise Centre seemed to be appropriate for the project envisioned as a focal point for future redevelopment of downtown. It also should have set the development plank higher up than Merritt, striving to re-invent itself, have ever seen before.

Giving it a birth

Gerry came with ingenious idea. On top of the main level, which would have commercial space facing street (cafe with the patio on one side and some boutique on the other) and secure covered parking at the back, there will two rows of two-storey residential units, separated by a private court yard on the second floor. The design made the best use of the space available (originally we were even looking at pre-assembled units delivered and installed in place!) Sloped roof allowed for elevated ceilings and large windows overlooking surrounding hills. It is also suitable for installing solar panels - something which would work perfectly in sunny Merritt. We made some variations in the suites layout to give more choice for potential clients. Alternating heights made for attractive roofline. Spacious suites, with open living, dining and kitchen on one level, and 2 large bedrooms plus office or en suite on another, with balconies, sun decks and secure storage are actually town homes raised above the ground. Covered gated parking with the individual stall for each resident, is the first and the only feature of this kind in town.
Everybody loved the design - the City of Merritt, Community Futures, local businesses and neighbours. One young entrepreneurial couple even told me that if they knew it's coming, they wouldn't go into trouble of buying a house. Indeed, this is an urban living at it's best - no lawn mowing, all amenities at the site, modern design and everything - shopping, banking, entertainment etc. - is in a walking distance.

Conceiving the idea

Did you notice a gap between the Navarino building and the next one-storey commercial building on the previous photo? Hidden inside it is the single-family residential house in the middle of commercial stretch on Quilchena Ave looking odd (and standing on a big size lot). The place was begging for better use. Being adjacent to the Navarino restaurant, the good use seemed to be an open air patio and / or a customer parking. I made an offer on the house and it was promptly accepted. What to do with the house? Convert into a souvenir shop (after all, it is along the famous Walk Of Stars, popular with tourists) or into a coffee shop. I must confess - I am a big coffee lover, so that was a natural thought :)
City wants to see the street in a Western theme - why not put a fake facade ? I talked to the Architect whom I worked with before on my Richmond house (see photo), and I loved his work. He suggested to utilize the space more efficiently by building a two-storey building with commercial space on the street level and residential units above it. The City and Community Futures loved the idea. The concept was presented at the Annual Merritt Investor's Symposium in July 2007 and received very enthusiastic reception from the investors and local business community. The news spread, and it didn't take long for the owner of the small commercial building (housing a computer shop at that time), to come to me with the offer to sell it to me. Consulting with the Architect resulted in a new vision of a now bigger three-storey building. Sunrise Centre was conceived.

Navarino

Town of splendid size and perfectly located on intersection of major highways, having unique dry climate niche, Merritt holds huge potential for growth. That's what I know now. In 2006 I saw an opportunity in the building housing Greek restaurant called Navarino in downtown Merritt. The old owner got tired of cooking and running the business and was looking to get out of it. I was not in the restaurant business, but I saw two vacant spaces on the 2nd floor of the building and realized that they could be converted into residential units, which Merritt needs badly, and I would hire someone to run the restaurant. Moreover, the idea was nicely matching the City's vision of downtown revitalization - commercial street level, and residential above. So I did.

Merritt

For a long time Merritt was just a dot on a map, and a sign on the Coquihalla Highway, which we were passing every time when were going for our traditional Christmas vacation with children to Fairmont Hot Springs. Later, when we were passing it through on a way to Sun Peaks, where we bought a ski chalet, Owl's Nest. At that I became a interested in real estate. Richmond, where we lived then, did not promise any positive return on investment. Neither did Lower Mainland, or Abbotsford, or Mission. That's how I came to the Interior, just to discover that Kamloops or other big cities in the Interior would not fit into my investment criteria either. The price of real estate was too high comparing to the rental income, which could be obtained from the property. Then one day we decided to stop in Merritt and check it out. It did not take us a day to find a property which would perfectly fit into my investment criteria. It was a triplex on Pine Street. We made an offer, and after a short negotiation, quickly bought it. That's how our Merritt saga began.

Welcome

Welcome to the Sunrise Centre blog !

Sunrise Centre, Merritt, British Columbia, Canada

www.sunrisecentre.ca