SoHo 191 South Hollywood Road Kelowna 88 condos in a 5 storey building by Aristar
SoHo complex located in southeast Kelowna, about a 10-minute drive from the city centre
Michael Bernard
The Vancouver Sun
Project Address: 191 South Hollywood Rd. Kelowna
Project Scope: Eighty-eight condo homes ranging from studios through three-bedroom units in 30 different floor plans in a five-storey wood frame building. Square footages range from 424 sq.ft. to 1,218 sq. ft. Amenities include a fitness room, media room and an outdoor landscaped corridor on the second floor. Easy access to UBC’s Okangan campus and Kelowna International Airport. Grocery, coffee shops and transit across the street.
Prices: From $159,900 for studios and from $475,000 for three-bedroom homes
Developer: Aristar, Kelowna
Architect: BlueGreen Architecture Inc., Kelowna
Interior Design: BlueGreen Architecture Inc.
Sales Centre: 191 South Hollywood Rd., Kelowna
Hours: Daily from noon to 4 p.m.
Website: http://www.soHokelowna.com
Completion: 2020
While Kelowna’s downtown real estate market has been experiencing double digit price increases over the last two years, first-time buyers can still get decently priced homes while enjoying the Okanagan city’s resort-like amenities if they go outside the city’s core.
One such affordable development is SoHo, an 88-unit five-storey complex located in southeast Kelowna, about a 10-minute drive from the city centre. Now in pre-sales, its prices start at $159,900 for a studio unit and starting from $475,000 for the largest three-bedroom homes, says Don Warkentin, whose Fortune Marketing is selling the homes.
Suite sizes at SoHo range from 424 square feet to 1,218 square feet, at prices as low as half the going rate for similar spaces downtown. The prices obviously have been attractive, given that about 25 per cent of the homes have sold in the first month, said Warkentin.
“We are finding a lot of people, particularly young people, moving to Kelowna from the Lower Mainland, partly because of affordability of homes,” he said. “For someone 30 years old, buying their first home is extremely difficult in Vancouver, whereas here it is still affordable.”
First-time home buyer Marko Bosnjak was one of the first purchasers, although he has lived most of his life in the Okanagan. “I’ve been looking for a while for a place,” said Bosnjak, who currently rents an old house closer to downtown with two buddies for $2,000 a month.
What makes Bosnjak unusual is that by the time he had reached his 21st birthday last January, he had managed to save a whopping $45,000. That allowed him to put down a deposit on a $234,900 two-bedroom unit without going to his parents for financial help.
He managed to build that nest egg by putting a little away each week from his job at a Valley First credit union branch, a position he got through his high school at age 16. Then last January, while still working at his day job, he teamed up with a friend to form a digital marketing and website service company they called Eureka. Last month, the pair celebrated reaching almost $10,000 in monthly sales.
Warkentin said SoHo has a lot to offer young people like Bosnjak, but the project has also attracted move-up buyers and downsizers who want to escape the drudgery of single-family home ownership. “By 65, they don’t want to be cutting lawns and shovelling snow anymore.”
SoHo, a name derived from nearby South Hollywood Road, rates a high walk score of 92 out of a possible 100 for being located just steps from Willow Park shopping centre, which is home to an IGA food market and a Shoppers Drug Mart, as well as smaller merchant shops. It’s also on a public transit line, and is just two kilometres from a Costco warehouse outlet and a Walmart store, and 10 kilometres from Kelowna International Airport and UBC’s Okanagan campus.
The home boast a long list of features comparable to higher priced units, including nine to 11-foot ceilings. All units come with Whirlpool stainless steel appliance packages with a french door fridge with built-in ice maker and a bottom freezer compartment, a freestanding electric range with ceramic top, and an ultra-quiet dishwasher. Buyers can choose an upgrade package that includes a fan -convention oven and temperature sensor, and a steam microwave unit with sensor cooking.
Countertops are scratch and stain-resistant quartz, and the cabinetry is a contemporary combination of white square-edge upper cabinets paired with satin finish horizontal grain melamine base cabinets and drawers. The cabinets have halogen underlighting and kitchens come equipped with islands with cabinet storage and ample room for bar seating in select homes.
Flooring is engineered luxury vinyl planking. Blinds are standard with all windows. In the bathroom, there is an American Standard high-efficiency toilet, an acrylic and bathtub combo, while ensuites feature a frameless glass shower with brushed steel handles.
All homes are equipped with full-size washer and dryer units, upgradable to premium Whirlpool appliances. Other upgrades include a master bedroom closet organizer.
Each home is heated and cooled by a Packaged Terminal Air Conditioner (PTAC), which are electrically powered, providing centralized air conditioning and heating.
There is one designated parking spot per home while additional spaces can be purchased.
SoHo is being developed by Aristar, a local developer with more than 25 years in the business. Its award-winning portfolio includes both single family and multi-family homes in the Okanagan and on Vancouver Island.
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