Is it going to happen or not? I have been asking that question since last year at this time. Will the project on Shelter Bay go ahead or is the deal between Concord Pacific and Ron Derrickson a dead issue? Last year in March I spoke with David Negrin, then Vice President of Concord Pacific, about the rumour on the proposed project for the Derrickson land on the lake. Was it going to proceed or were we just hearing rumours? Mr. Negrin said they certainly were working on the development with only a few "i"s to dot and "t"s to cross and they would be moving ahead. He was going to let me know. The following month our Real Estate Development conference “New Frontiers” was scheduled for the Coast Capri Hotel on Thursday April 12. David Negrin was one of our presenters. He came to me just before the show was to start to show me a rendering of the proposed project across the lake and said he would be showing it to the audience that afternoon. He expected the deal to be completed by Monday. Since that time I have met Mr. Negrin a couple of times and he stated that he was still working on the deal with the landowner. He seemed frustrated. Then the next word was that he had quit Concord Pacific to form his own development company and they have a project already for downtown Kelowna.

The project across the lake was to include seven towers and they would hold an estimated 1500 tenants in the condominium project. The graphics showed these beautiful white structures with full views of the lake and the city.

One report said that a senior executive of Concord Pacific called it a major focus of the company in North America.

Concord Pacific did have another project in the Valley with the Fitzpatrick family at their Greta Ranch property near Peachland. Nothing new to report there. I have tried to bring it up to date without any success. A classic site with an interesting history.

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Money Sense and Canadian Business Magazine is out with their annual list of Canada’s Best Places To Live, so let’s see where our cities in the Interior are on the list of 154 communities, up from 123 last year. The two writer-researchers are Phil Froats and Ian McGugan. The maximum number of points a community could earn was 104. The writers said that in order to make the listing as realistic as possible they put themselves in the position of someone moving to the city and struggling to buy a house. They awarded 15 points for affordable housing. Also, how many years of local salaries would it take to buy a typical home in each city based purely on affordability? They took weather into account, jobs, crime, the availability of doctors and how easy is it to walk or bike to work. Part of the sixteen indicators.

Vancouver made the top ten at number ten and Victoria was the second best place to live in Canada. Fort St. John was 24th. Richmond at 31.

Vernon continued to be the leading city in the Interior at number 71 and that is a substantial move up for the North Okanagan city as they were in 89th spot last year. Kamloops is 77th, Salmon Arm a good 85th. In the Okanagan, Kelowna was up from 103rd on last year's list to 98th place this year. Penticton moved down three spots from 109th to 112th. The researchers didn’t give Kelowna any points for the University but all of the cities in Okanagan were hampered by housing, jobs, discretionary income and crime.

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House prices have remained robust across most of British Columbia over the past year, with the most notable exception being Prince George, the major service centre in the province’s central interior to the ailing forestry sector, according to a national survey by Century 21 Canada brokers. In the British Columbia Interior, the strongest prices included:

Kelowna, where increases ranged from 13 per cent to $423,500 for a bi-level in Rutland to 15 per cent to $699,000 for a bungalow in Upper Mission.

Castlegar, where increases ranged from 16 per cent to $254,900 for a bungalow in the southern part of the city to 18 per cent to $259,900 for a bungalow in the rural area near the city.

Don Lawby, president of Century 21 Canada, said the Century 21 Canada survey results reflect the solid foundations of housing markets in British Columbia and all of Canada versus the boom-bust excesses of the U.S. housing market.

“The Canadian housing market is based on conservative lending practices and regulations, strong banks and Canadians’ pride of ownership and diligence at building equity in their homes. These characteristics will sustain our housing market as Canada’s economic growth rate slows this year,” says Lawby.

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In the midst of writing my weekly column, the owners of the Vancouver Canucks surprised the sports world with the announcement they had hired their new GM. I was making a guess on who I thought might be in the line-up for the GM job and I predicted that one smart fellow who would like to be in the NHL is Bob Nicholson, the Penticton native who is the boss of Hockey Canada. Since 1998 he has been the president and CEO of the governing body of hockey in this country. He manages 80 people and five offices across Canada. He has a good hockey brain and is a nice guy. Then I heard from Toronto that his name was on the list of many writers and broadcasters looking at what will happen with the GM job in Toronto. It is a good thought but it is difficult to forecast any change in the Toronto Maple Leaf organization.