By Alison Taylor
The centre will be
located in the lower level at Nesters and is expected to open in the coming
weeks. It will be the place to have any questions answered about the project
and allow people to review the home designs.
“That will be where
the plans start to go on display,” said Bill Hayes, project manager.
Rainbow will be the
biggest employee housing project in Whistler and has generated enormous
interest from employees looking to buy price-restricted homes in the resort.
There are more than
200 applicants on the wait list for the development.
The project received
its final approvals from the municipality in early June. Hayes explained that
construction workers are set to get back on site very soon. He would like to
finalize the engineering drawings before that happens in case there are any
last minute changes.
“We haven’t
recommenced the site work until we get the engineering just a little bit
further,” he said.
“I just don’t want to
be caught doing work and having to do it all over again.”
Hayes is aiming to
have the first units occupied by the end of summer/early fall 2008.
In order to accomplish
that the site servicing work will run concurrently with the home building.
Construction on the homes is expected to take place throughout the winter.
“Ideally the services
are finished one week and the occupancy takes place the next week,” said Hayes.
“That’s what we’re aiming for.”
The final engineering
plans will be submitted to the municipality by the end of this month, said
Hayes. Site work is expected to begin again as soon as this week.
Meanwhile, the
architects are refining the housing designs, in particular the duplex designs,
which will be the first structures built.
Two local building
companies — Vision Pacific and Glacier Creek Contracting — have
committed to working with Rainbow on the project.
Hayes said Rainbow is
reviewing statistics from the Whistler Housing Authority on what employees can
afford and are trying to work within that cost.
“We’re making our
housing units that we’re going to be offering to match the statistical trend of
what people are looking for,” said Hayes.
“We’re trying to get
the best design we can to fit in with the cost that we have to work with.”
Based on numbers from
the WHA a duplex at Rainbow is expected to cost between $320,000 and $450,000,
depending on the size.
A single family home
is expected to cost between $400,000 and $550,000.
All of the 209
applicants have been pre-approved for mortgages at the minimum amount.
Fewer are pre-approved at the higher amounts, with 24 applicants pre-approved at the half million dollar mark or more.