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Cheakamus Crossing is getting its bearings

"Gold" neighbourhood evolving as residents move in
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Cheakamus Crossing is practically a ghost town on an early Friday afternoon. You might see two or three cars creep past on its narrow streets while strolling through the neighbourhood. Over half of the units are filled and yet, at 1 p.m., with the construction workers working machinery, one would swear this neighbourhood is void of life.

"I think there are two things that people forget about," said Whistler2020 Development Corporation (WDC) president Joe Redmond. "One is that it is new and it's going to take some time to mature."

Basically, it's going to take some time for the shops to open, for the fields to be completed, and all the trees lining the sidewalks to be planted so it looks like a polished, well-groomed neighbourhood.

But that's only part of it.

"The most important thing is there is going to be 250 families here that, out of those, people are going to know like 150 of them right away. It's going to be really interesting," Redmond said.

Whistler has playing under its very nose a unique social experiment, the likes of which the town has never seen before - and never mind the Asphalt Plant equation.

By next summer, Cheakamus Crossing should be in full bloom. So far, about 120 units have closed as of last week and most of the owners have moved in or will be moving in. The WDC has another 100 units to close and all homeowners should be settled in by mid-November.

About 35 of 55 units in the Whistler Housing Authority rental building have been rented out, and the remainder should be filled by the end of the year. Already the hostel is experiencing solid bookings.

The $161-million athletes' village was praised by the Globe and Mail in its Oct. 9 review of all Olympic projects, giving Cheakamus Crossing a "Gold," for its functionality as an athletes' village. It has about one-third of the units in the Vancouver athletes' village but housed the same number of athletes during the Games. Now it's being turned into a successful affordable housing program for Whistler residents.

(Vancouver's athletes' village earned a bronze due to its financial woes.)

The RMOW has $25 million left to pay on its $100 million loan, which due in November 2011. That will be paid off by the market inventory making up the River Bend complex.

The Globe and Mail suggested that the RMOW may have to carry the $25-million debt past their November 2011 due date but Whistler Mayor Ken Melamed expressed no concern that this would be the case.

"At this point, I think we have enough market product to break even," Melamed said.

There are six more empty lots around Cheakamus Crossing that will be developed eventually for resident housing - the province gave the land to the RMOW under the condition that it be used as such - but Melamed said they could convert them to market units if they need the extra inventory to pay off the remainder of the loan.

Only one of the 20 market homes has been sold so far.

Eric Martin, chair of the WDC, said they had planned for a wide range of units that Whistler residents would be interested in purchasing and would be able to afford, with price points ranging from $130,000 to $445,000.

This variety of units ended up suiting Olympic athletes very well, given the size of each nation's teams, housing men and women.

"You have big countries, small countries and everyone has a different set of criteria for what they wanted. Having that variety worked out well for VANOC, Games-time," Melamed said. "That was less of our concern, but our intention was to match the two programs as well as possible."

Only 15 of 221 resident-restricted homes are in the WDC's possession. Martin said WDC will send out a notice to people on the housing authority's waiting list stating that units for purchase have become available.

"There have been other people who have come on the waiting list since, I'm sure, who will get the same chance as everyone and will get their notice at the same time," Martin said.

Martin said there were about 750 people on the wait list and this is the first time since it had been created that such a high number of resident-restricted units have been available for purchase.

"When 10 units come out or 20 units come out, the top of the wait list will take those up right away," Martin said. "Ninety-five per cent of the wait list has never really been tested."

Another test - and a bone of contention for new and soon-to-be residents - is the parking situation. The WDC built Cheakamus Crossing as a LEED certified trial neighbourhood (a standard for "green" building design) and so they designed the community to limit the parking spaces to about one stall per unit, hoping people rely more on public transport. So far, Whistler culture isn't yet at the point that depends heavily on its bus service.

"It's fine if you have the culture where people are used to taking public transport or riding bikes, but it takes time to do that," Redmond said.

He said the empty paved area beside the hostel will likely be used for parking until more frequent bus service is added to the area. That space will likely be developed in the future.

By spring, the retail space should be filled. The Whistler2020 Development Corporation has been talking with people at the Grocery Store about opening a small market in the retail space in The Falls apartment complex. Redmond said that IGA and Nesters are probably too big for what they're looking for.

"We have been talking to some Grocery Store people but they wanted to wait until this year's end because they're concerned about coming in here prematurely," said Redmond. "They want to see what happens with the neighbourhood."

The restaurant-bar may just be a little pub, and it's almost certain that it will not be a full-service restaurant.

"You can't put in a high-end restaurant here, you need one that will serve the clientele it's expected to draw from," Redmond said.

"This space may not be - I mean it could be - may not be a restaurant. It could be some kind of retail space. We're very flexible," said Martin. "We just need to look at the economics."

Basically, it's not viable to open any businesses until all the residents have moved in, when business owners and the WDC can assess the needs of the people. Redmond said they're aiming for a spring opening for the restaurant and market.