by Darren Davidson
Part three of the Buzz’s look back at the last 12 months and a peek into the future. Don’t forget to read Part 1 and Part 2!
O — On the market. This year could be a positive one for the Kootenay’s biggest brand new-but-empty building. Vacant and re-pivoted two years ago, the four-story Gerrard Station project has a promising iron in the buyer-fire.
“We’re working towards the building having a significant long-term rental residential component to it,” says project spokesman Mitchell Scott, “and are getting closer to securing the path forward to that end. We hope to be back to building in 2024.”
In 2019, Gerrard’s developers purchased the empty lot at 45 Government Rd. intending to build an indoor cannabis operation called the Nelson Cannabis Collective (NCC).
With the foundation laid in 2020, by late 2021 the NCC’s promoters had raised close to $10 million of $14.7 million needed to complete the cannabis venue. Earlier that fall, they had offered $2.5 million in public shares in the project. There was no word on how much capital the share-bid eventually raised.
The developers won’t disclose the cost of Gerrard Station’s newly proposed mix of commercial and residential units, but say it’s considerably less than $14 million. The project was being handled by Fair Realty. Details on leasing rates or a potential sale price for the entire property aren’t publicly available.
In 2023, the 30,000 square-foot building as rezoned to allow for residential and commercial use. With the city’s affordable housing crisis mirroring that of the entire nation’s, the empty structure was brought to the attention of Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Jennifer Whiteside when she visited in 2023.
One potential outcome for the building could see the development of entry-level and work-force housing under a new owner. If not a private entity, a public one, likely BC Housing. The provincial agency provides up to $158,000 per door for new residential unit construction. But BC Housing would need a community partner to operate the facility.
With the Gerrard building still only an exterior super-structure, there’d be significant capital investment required to construct a housing complex inside. Financing for a government project of that sort could come from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), which would be paid back as the development began earning rental income. What a great end to the Gerrard saga that’d be. Stay tuned for more from the current owners, or from February’s provincial budget, as that’s where BC Housing cash would come from.
Other quick development updates… Vendure Projects’ $28-million Waterview Seniors Housing project on Vernon Street continues, 125 studios, one-bedroom and two-bedroom suites plus five street-level commercials units. With plans to build in three other West Kootenay communities, Vendure had looked at available land in Railtown to no avail.
The Nelson Health Campus 75-bed long-term care seniors’ facility — touted by Victoria as “the future of B.C. health care” — is slated to open in 2024. It’ll include mental health and addiction facilities.
P — Posthumous. The West Kootenay lost some political and business legends in 2023. Mulroney cabinet powerhouse Pat Carney. Nelson Chrysler founder and Streetcar 23 founder Archie McKen. Reo’s video founder Reo Rocheleau. East Kootenay MLA Anne Edwards, a part of Victoria’s wave of female cabinet ministers in the 90s. Legendary Area F crusader and three-decade regional district director Al Dawson as well as Lardeau Valley stalwart and director Larry Greenlaw, 86. And Gare family matriarch Cathy Gare, chair of the 1989 BC Winter Games and mom of NHL legend Danny Gare.
Q — Quantity. For the upcoming year, the City of Nelson Development Department is expecting a higher number of construction starts (there were 191 residential units completed last year, and 181 building permit applications.). Of most note — there’ll be development services rule changes as per the Province’s Small-Scale Multi-Unit Housing legislation. Most lot owners in Nelson will be able to build up to four units.
R — Realty and Rent. Since the spring of 2023 the average Canadian home price dropped 22.4 per cent — but not as much in smaller communities, due to pandemic price jumps and lower inventory. The average Kootenay home price dropped 12.4 per cent in the last year to $512,200. The number of homes sold has dropped 50.4 per cent. Bank of Canada interest rates are up four points since March — aiming to oust least qualified borrowers from the buyers market.
BC Assessment says properties in Slocan went up more than any other part of the West Kootenay to $428,000, up 12 per cent. The same house has risen in value 92 per cent in three years. Canadian home renters of any sort are looking at a record-high of $2,178 month in December, an increase of 8.6 per cent. In B.C., a one-bedroom place costs on average $2,217 per month, while two bedrooms garner $2,769.
S — State Of The Basin. If you’re ever looking for well-informed insight and stats on social, economic, cultural, and environmental what’s-up the Columbia Basin-Boundary region, Selkirk’s State of the Basin studies are go-tos. The latest study by Jayme Jones and company, on charitable donations trends, shows that Creston gives $700 a year in donations, while having a a medium income of $52,170. Elkford residents, with a medium total income of $125,050, give $120, the least of any Kootenay community. Nelson is fifth behind Valemount but in front of Nakusp.
T— Timber. When you add up employees from the logging companies, forestry consultants like Cabin and Timberland, trucking companies like Salmo’s chip haulers Sutco and mill employees, that’s about 1,000 paycheques every few weeks. Then there’s jobs that support our comparatively small mills — truck mechanics, equipment sales and service, etc.
According to Interior Lumber Manufacturing Association spokesman Stephen Harris forestry is facing another challenging year.
“Most of the operations here are focused on value-added production of paneling, siding, veneer, cross-laminated timber or glue-laminated beams rather than dimensional lumber,” he explains. “But value-added producers still need a steady supply of logs, and restrictions on harvesting are leaving major independent local players like Porcupine, Kalesnikoff and Atco short of fibre.”
Some of that trouble is coming from the good spirited old growth moratorium, which opponents say misses the mark. Kootenay foresters will be pushing for major provincial forestry policy revisions for the upcoming year to create a more predictable local logging supply.
U — Up for Sale (Still). Question: if The Valley Voice isn’t the finest independently owned rural newspaper in the nation, which one is? The Voice has been for sale for a while. Co-owner and publisher Jan McMurray says she and publishing partner Dan Nicholson have had some folks interested, but so far the stalwart bi-weekly community news source is still in the trustworthy hands of the two mountain media veterans who’ve been at the helm for 22 years. It was started by Bonnie Greenspan in 1996, who reno-ed the New Denver’s fire truck garage into a newspaper office. New reporter Rachael Lesosky, part of the Local Journalism Initiative network, took over for veteran scribe John Boivin last year.
V — Vivid Smiles. Here’s a few more new business and offices to tell you about, and a few that have been sold or closed: Longtime Nelson resident Bruce Coyle has opened Vivid Smiles Dental Hygiene clinic in the Community First Health Coop. Neuroplastician and Corrective High-Performance Exercise Kinesiology Practitioner Sevrin Baker, who started sweating it out under his mentor Ed Fuez way back when the Nelson Boxing Gym was Ed Natyshak’s Summit Fitness, has his own biz now. PHD Positive Health and Development operates out of the Baker Wellness Centre, and he trains clients in the NBC Kootenay Columbia College. Nelson Box Office closed last year. Cottonwood Autobody has reportedly sold.
W — The Waterfront Canadian Architect Magazine’s recognition of the visionary Hall Street Pier project — designed by Nelson’s Matt Stanley and Stanley Office of Architecture —highlights the potential of one of Western Canada’s most promising waterfronts. Like it or not, the days when a stand-alone Walmart plan was thwarted in favour of a Granville Island-style micro village are gone. Nelson’s waterfront could evolve into a mini-version one might be more apt to see in destinations Lake Tahoe or the Okanagan. Developer Mike Culos has already sold about half the 19 units in the first phase of his $65-million Shoreline project. The townhouse and street-level bungalows start at $850,000. Nelson’s Red Dog Construction broke ground last spring. Culos anticipates more condos and seven commercial units will be for sale by summer, with prices between $350,000 and $1.4 million. The complicated application for Shoreline’s proposed 70-slip marina is being stickhandled by Masse Environmental.
X — Mark those ballots. With over the half the world’s populations heading into elections next year, 2024 could see some serious swings, not the least of which with our neighbours down south. Here at home, Conservative Kootenay Columbia MP Rob Morrison is hoping for more debate on The Hill this year, something the former global security expert and mountie says has been lacking for a while now. He told MyNelsonNow/Bridge FM’s Joshua Spyker he’s hoping “that we have the ability to debate a lot of the bills that are going through so that we can bring out the good things and not-so-good things and maybe change some of the bills so they are more reflective of what Canadians want overall.” MPs will be back in Parliament on Jan. 29.
Y — Yesterday, Yellowstone to Yukon. The flawed ways of years gone by are giving way to new paths for business development in the era of reconciliation. James Baxter, the principal biologist and senior manager for the Sinixt Confederacy and Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation leads a new office on Vernon Street as of earlier this winter. … Having moved his young family from Canmore to Nelson a few months back, Josh Welsh is the senior manager of the Communities and Conservation program at the Yellowstone to Yukon Conservation Initiative (Y2Y). Former city councillor Candace Batycki worked here for Y2Y previously. “The Upper Columbia is a hugely important region within the Y2Y geography,” says Walsh, “which stretches 3,400 km from the Yukon down to Yellowstone National Park in Montana.”
Walsh adds that the Kootenays contains intact landscapes and species, yet is very much at risk from old growth logging and development, including recreation-based development.
Z — Zincton. Zinnia. Zee end. It’s been a quiet year for the proposed Zincton Development between New Denver and Kaslo. Longtime New Denver resident and Valhalla Pure founder David Harley says proponents “continue to diligently satisfy the B.C. government requirements.” Back on Baker… Zinnia Textiles is closing its top floor but owner Jen Barnes and her staff will still be offering ethically crafted wares and natural fibres from brands like Anian, Jungmaven, Bare Knitwear and the like. Keep an ear open for the new business tenant who’ll be moving on up the the second floor.
And that’s it! Have a great 2024 folks. Keep in touch with The Buzz any ol’ time — ddavidson@sbdemail.com
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misnamed the Gerrard Station project as Gerrard Landing and the square footage as 35,200 when it is actually 30,000. It also incorrectly added a price tag to the project that has not been confirmed by the developer.