Why Investors Are Loving Kelowna
Kelowna's booming and Royal LePage’s Steve Laursen is in the thick of it, brokering one of the Okanagan’s biggest industrial deals in years, plus a big office building sale, while helping bring the town its first Porsche dealership.
“It’s a hot market right now,” Steve tells us, noting Kelowna's new mayor, Colin Basran, is doing a “phenomenal job” attracting investment. “So it’s been extremely active on the commercial real estate side of things.” Steve just worked on the sale of a 260k SF industrial portfolio, a multi-tenant deal for two buildings in the Kelowna North industrial area. “It’s rare to see transactions that size around here.” Industrial is in high demand, says Steve, adding that a single investor has been banking most available sites in central Kelowna, including all remaining lots at Marshall Business Park, with plans to develop industrial buildings on spec.
Constraints (lakes, mountains, ALR) make industrial property hard to come by, so opportunities are moving north of town. Airport Business Park, a new centre of gravity on 60 acres along Highway 97 (above), has a Sheraton 4 Points and soon Nesters Market. On the office side, Steve co-brokered with CBRE's Duncan Maclean the purchase of Shaw Communications' 2300 Leckie Rd (79k SF) by McIntosh Properties, a local family-run firm. Investors continue pouring in from Calgary, and lots from Vancouver are “poking around," too. “With cap rates so compressed there right now from all the international money coming into the city," says Steve, "buyers are looking elsewhere.”
Cactus Club launched a 7k SF location at Kelowna Yacht Club, a rare new waterfront offering and "one of their strongest openings,” says Steve, who co-repped Cactus Club with Cushman & Wakefield’s Burton Van Alstine. And construction starts soon on Kelowna’s inaugural Porsche dealership, the first building on an eight-acre site along Highway 97 being developed by Wyant Auto Group, owner of the local Audi/Land Rover/Jaguar/Volvo dealerships. Porsche coming to town is a big deal for Kelowna, Steve notes. “It says a lot about the wealth and growth that's been happening around here."
