Predator Ridge embracing lavender
Lifestyle community near Vernon launches its lavender-themed neighbourhood Sunday
From light purple to shades of pink, touches of indigo and splashes of magenta, Predator Ridge Community has gone all in with a lavender theme extraordinaire.
“Lavender is a powerful colour,” said Predator Ridge vice-president Brad Pelletier. “As such, it’s the perfect colour to associate with the powerful views in our new Commonage neighbourhood. This is unlike anything we’ve ever done before at Predator Ridge.” That’s true. The 700 homes built so far surrounding two 18-hole championship golf courses at Predator are largely in forest settings, have neighbourhood names like Whitetail and Havencrest, utilize buck antler and rock outcropping imagery and feature craftsman and Okanagan modern architecture.
The 90-acre Commonage, which will eventually have 200 homes, covers a grassland hillside complete with three-acre, 2,100plant lavender meadow and features modern-ranch architecture.
“With the lavender meadow, it’s definitely a softer side to Predator,” said Pelletier, who was wearing a lavender-hued shirt. “The colour lavender also evokes fresh and new and Commonage is definitely our fresh and new neighbourhood.”
Predator partnered with UBC Okanagan, which has a lavender research program under biology professor Soheil Mahmoud, to pick the five varieties planted at Commonage and source thousands of plants. Beside the lavender meadow is Predator’s third and flagship yoga platform featuring lavender-coloured poles supporting white-sail umbrellas.
Of course, the views from the platform are awe-inspiring.
The trail bisecting the lavender meadow links into the Commonage’s three kilometres of hiking and biking trails, Predator's wider network of 25 kilometres of trails and 25 more kilometres in adjacent Ellison Provincial Park.
Lavender-coloured lounge chairs encircle the common-area firepit and 500 more lavender plants at the middle of the roundabout linking Commonage with the rest of the community and along Predator Ridge Drive.
All the signage at Predator has been changed to lavender for the launch of Commonage Sunday.
One-third of Commonage will be park with four tennis courts, four pickleball courts and childrens' playground.
The two working ranches either side of Predator – Lone Pine and Thorklason – inspired the modern-ranch home styles of the Commonage.
The first three show homes are already complete and for sale and 23 more single-family and semi-detached homes are under construction.
The homes sport metal roofs; stucco, metal and wood-like siding; brick accents; and wood and glass garage doors.
Inside, the main floor is open-plan with gourmet kitchen, dining room and living room oriented to massive windows framing the sweeping and panoramic views over the golf course, forest and grasslands to mountains and as far as Kalamalka Lake.
Fireplace surrounds in living rooms incorporate old barn wood salvaged from a barn on the original Predator property.
But make no mistake, these homes are not rustic.
High-ceilings; oodles of natural light; contemporary furniture, fixtures and accents; and current floor plans with master suite on the main floor and additional bedrooms and recreational room in the bright walk-out lower level, mean these homes are very much in the now.
Semi-detached, three-bedroom homes around 2,300-to-2,500square-feet start at $649,000 and three-bedroom-with-den singlefamily homes of up to 3,000-squarefeet start at $780,000.