Okanagan’s biggest claimed land deal was $23-million
It was a fantastic claim and The Herald still hasn’t been able to confirm or deny it.
Back on Nov. 30, 2023, the developer behind a massive redevelopment planned across from Penticton Regional Hospital announced it had completed the purchase of the 10-acre property underlying the project.
“The Okanagan’s largest real estate transaction of 2023 to develop master-planned community adjacent to Penticton Regional Hospital,” stated the headline on the release from Stryke Developments.
However, Stryke Developments declined last year to disclose the purchase price for 1704 Government St. underlying its claim.
The sale price didn’t show up on the property title until just recently, either, right around the same time as BC Assessment updated its online listing for the site.
It shows the sale was completed Nov. 29, 2023, for $23 million.
(The property’s current assessment, as of July 1, 2023, is $14.6 million. However, that doesn’t reflect the change to the property’s designation in the Official Community Plan that was approved by city council in October 2023 to clear the way for the project.)
It remains unclear if the $23-million deal was indeed the Okanagan’s biggest transaction of 2023.
A spokesperson for the Association of Interior Realtors told The Herald the group doesn’t comment on individual sales.
BC Assessment, which publishes annual lists of the most expensive houses in different regions of the province, wasn’t any help either.
“BC Assessment is only able to confirm the property’s sales history info that we provide on our website,” wrote spokesperson Tim Roth in an email this week.
“We don’t actually have a 2023 ranking of sales by property, so we are not able to confirm this specific property’s 2023 sale ranking.”
The site of the planned Penticton Innovation and Health District has languished since its former occupant, a modular construction company, went under in 2020.
Over the next decade, Stryke plans to invest $800 million in the project to raise 11 buildings, some as tall as 12 storeys, boasting upwards of 1,500 homes, plus office and retail space.
Minor work started this month on the northwest corner of the site, where a presentation centre is expected to open later this year.
The first phase of construction is tentatively set for the southwest corner of the site with two features: an office building and a residential building, with retail space on both ground floors, according to Rocky Sethi, managing partner of Stryke Developments.
“If all goes well, we’d like to be under construction this year,” he said in an interview Friday.
Sethi expects to be back in front of city council in March to seek the rezoning required for the project.
This marks the Surrey-based developer’s first foray into the Okanagan, a region on which it’s bullish due to the usual factors that draw people here, such as population growth and a mild climate.
Stryke’s partner on the project is Richmond-based Tien Sher Group of Companies, with which it has developed other master-planned communities in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Surrey.