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.