Sechelt Development - The Wharf Place

[Skook]

September 8, 2013 Update:

It's time for an end of summer update. Since my last post in May, only 1 condo unit sold and this was in June and this brings the total condo units sold to 3 in this 24 unit complex: Unit 311 (in 2011), Unit 207 (in 2012), and Unit 301 (June 12, 2013). At this blistering pace, the complex should be fully sold out in 2035.

As for the Commercial Units on the Ground Level, the developer managed to sell Unit 106 so only 1 out of the 6 remains unsold (Unit 105). I wonder what type of businesses moved into these units. If their decision to 'buy in' counted on a built in client base from the residential units above then they are in deep trouble.

The Wharf Place website lists a number of 'Partners' acknowledging the role they played or are playing in moving this development forward including:



I don’t know if the SCCU supplied the developer with financing but if they are only involved in offering mortgages to unit buyers then they’re not making any money on this project.

As for Prudential Sussex, I can’t quite figure out the rationale behind allowing the remaining 21 condo listings reach 725 ‘Days on Market’ (as of today). Perhaps they are waiting for a decision by the developer as to what should be done next since this development is going nowhere.

What options are available to the developer? Its current rent-to-own offer hasn’t attracted buyers and obviously the unit pricing holds little attraction. So, I guess they can lower the unit list price and see what happens or just turn them all into rental units, but I don’t think either option offers much hope - certainly not this year.

It will be interesting to see what path the developer follows in the months ahead.

Here is the updated spreadsheet. Unit 208 had been listed as sold when I first visited the development website back in early May but the “sold” was removed and so I changed the ‘gold’ to ‘green’ and added the double asterik. The developer also indicates on the website floorplan that Unit 202 is “sold”, however the unit has been listed since 2011 along with all the other vacant units hence the 'green' box and single asterisk in the gold box. I believe the reason for the ‘sold’ is that through an agreement with the District of Sechelt at the time of the rezoning bylaw application, this unit was set aside as an “affordable housing unit”. Unit 202 is 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, 705sf unit with a list price of $229,900 - and they consider this affordable? Yeah, in your dreams.

(Dec 18, 2015: The outdated spreadsheet image has been removed. Click here for the most up-to-date spreadsheet. It will open in a new browser tab).