Soaring house prices and Hello Kitty: The top 10 business stories of 2016
Once again in 2016, the Okanagan astounds. The Valley’s booming economy meant a new record average home selling price was set in Kelowna; stores came and went; downtown Kelowna revitalization amped up; as did expansion in high-tech; Okanagan wine found its way on to grocery store shelves; a new pseudo airline gave it a go; anniversaries were celebrated; and the Okanagan’s biggest hotel got a new look.
Here are the top 10 local business stories of this year as The Okanagan Saturday sees it. 1. $625,000 record Everyone’s head spun in 2008 when the average selling price of a single-family home in Kelowna set a record high of $550,000.
Then the recession came along, prices sunk and the rebound took years.
However, by July this year, the average selling price had climbed to a new record of $625,000. Reasons included a real estate boom that runs in tandem with the Valley’s strong economy and desirable lifestyle, low mortgage interest rates and Vancouverites selling their $1 million homes and moving here, where their money goes much farther.
The average home selling price has dipped a bit since the summer, but the market is expected to continue strong in 2017 and 2018. 2. High-tech impact The latest economic impact study of the Okanagan high-technology sector shows 766 firms generate $1.3 billion a year in activity, a 30 per cent increase over two years.
It all means the Valley is a tech hub for everything from video game and software developers to animators and app makers.
Perhaps the highest profile is Kelowna video game developer Hyper Hippo, which is developing apps for Sanrio of Japan, the parent company of the Hello Kitty empire.
The little feline is one of the most successful brands in the world. 3. Downtown revitalization The boom in Kelowna’s core continued in 2016 with the opening of the $46-million Interior Health headquarters at the corner of Ellis Street and Doyle Avenue.
The complex brings 900 employees under one roof and consolidates many of the health care provider's services from public health and mental health services to substance abuse counselling and pre-school speech and audiology therapy.
More workers and economic activity will come down in 2017 when the six-storey Okanagan Centre for Innovation opens across the street from Interior Health to house hightech companies of all sizes. Canadian Premier Properties realtor Ron Stettner stands in front of a Dilworth Mountain home that sold in July for $625,000, which became the new record high average selling price of a single-family home in Kelowna. 4. Wine at the grocery store Finally, wine made its way on to grocery store shelves this year.
The province’s revamped liquor laws made way for wine made from 100 per cent B.C. grapes to be sold in grocery store that bought special licenses.
So far in the Okanagan there four grocers in the vino biz: two Save-On Foods in Kelowna (Lakeshore and Orchard Plaza), Independent in Kelowna’s Capri Centre Mall and Real Canadian Superstore in Vernon. 5. NewLeaf The story of this airline that isn’t an airline was all over the place this year.
Technically, NewLeaf is a ticket reseller for seats on planes owned and operated by Kelowna-based Flair Air. While regulators figured out that distinction, NewLeaf's first flights were delayed from early in the year to July.
Once flying, Kelowna enjoyed new non-stop routes to Saskatoon, Regina and Winnipeg. However, there's been much re-jigging to fill planes and Kelowna lost service to those three cities to be replaced with a flight to Edmonton. Kelowna was also overlooked for NewLeaf flights this winter to the sunbelt. 6. Retail resilience The departure of anchor tenants Target and Future Shop could have been devastating to Kelowna’s Orchard Plaza. Instead, the plaza attracted Lee Valley Tools and Steve Nash Fitness for the former Target space and Mountain Equipment Co-op to fill in for Future Shop.
The plaza will also become home to Winners in 2017 when the store relocates from Capri Centre. 7. Happy anniversary Sun-Rype, the Kelowna fruit juice and snack maker, celebrated its 70th anniversary this year and WestJet marked two decades flying.
Sun-Rype started as a co-operative of Okanagan orchardists for process grade fruit and still buys a lot of apples from the Valley.
Kelowna was one of only a handful of cities served when WestJet launched in 1996. The airline has since expanded to serve dozens of cities in North and Central America, the Caribbean and, most recently, Europe. 8. Black Friday takeover This year, Black Friday became the singlelargest shopping day in the Okanagan, outstripping the previous biggies, the last Saturday before Christmas and Boxing Day. A new retail tradition is set. 9. Grand makeover This year, the Okanagan's largest hotel, the 320-room Delta Grand on Okanagan Lake in Kelowna, completed a $24-million renovation that saw all guest rooms revamped, convention space refreshed, a new lobby and new showpiece restaurant, bar and lagoon-side patio called Oak+Cru. 10. No more Cooper’s Early this year, all 15 Cooper's grocery stores in B.C., including Vernon, Rutland, North Glenmore and Winfield, were switched to the Save-On Foods banner.
Overwaitea Food Group, which owns both brands and 140 grocery stores in total, decided Save-On is the bigger and stronger name going forward. Cooper’s was started by the Cooper family in 1956 in Revelstoke.