iN PHOTOS: $5-$12 million condos raising the bar for ultra-luxury in Kelowna
Kelowna realtor Richard Deacon it trying to sell three penthouses in the One Water Street towers that, if he succeeds, will be far and away the most expensive condos ever sold in Kelowna.
“There wouldn’t be anything even comparable,” the Engel and Volkers Okanagan realtor told iNFOnews.ca. “I would think the highest sales, so far, have not even cracked $3 million.”
One unit is the 4,353 square foot (along with 2,800 sq. ft. of patio space) at the top of the 36-storey One Water Street tower. Two years ago it was listed at $10 million as a shell. Now, it’s being given a luxury finish and is on the market for $12 million.
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The penthouse takes up the entire top floor of the tallest building in Kelowna.
The other two share the top floor of the neighbouring 29-storey second tower. They’re listed for just under $5 million each.
They’re being designed by Kelowna-based Material Interior Design Studio.
“One Water Street kind of broke a bit of the ice on the next level of what’s expected in Kelowna,” Deacon said. “Right now, I think this is the best development in Kelowna. It probably will be, I say, for at least another few years, until some of these new developments get built.
“Whenever a developer comes in and builds a project, it always seems to raise the bar for the next guy. Otherwise, how do you sell it? You can’t be the same as the guy down the street. I think you’re going to find any developer that builds a new product, certainly a 40-storey tower, is going to have to continue to up the ante.”
The $12 million condo comes with three bedrooms, four bathrooms, gourmet kitchen, wine cellar, outdoor hot tub and more features “that rival the world’s top five-star hotels,” his listing says.
It’s expected to be finished in four to six months but, Deacon said, the developer is taking a risk doing so.
“It’s very common for the top developments in town, whether it’s in Miami or New York – really anywhere around the world, even in Vancouver – to sell the penthouse as a shell,” he said. “Typically, a buyer that can afford this type of price for a condo is going to want to customize it.”
But that takes a long time.
“Somebody who is spending $10, $12 million on a condo is going to spend multiple millions of dollars just to finish it off to their liking,” Deacon said. “In Kelowna, you can’t get a lot of that stuff. You have to go around the world to get a lot of those products. It’s going to take you months if not years for that to happen.”
He saw the upside of trying to sell a finished penthouse last weekend. He was contacted by another real estate agent who had a customer who wanted to move in this year.
“You’ve got buyers that have money who want to move in tomorrow, or yesterday,” Deacon said. “Then you’ve got those types who are looking at this possibly as an investment or they’re looking at down the road. There are interesting media stories around the world about hedge fund owners that have purchased entire floors in buildings in Chicago or New York, just from a speculation perspective.”
They are a “mere” 2,314 and 2,464 square feet. Each has 1,298 square feet of outdoor balconies, three bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms.
The larger penthouses comes with private parking garages and they all come with 16-foot retractable doors to the balconies and all the amenities One Water Street offers.
“Owners will enjoy exclusive access to the best in class amenities of The Bench, featuring two pools, hot tub, outdoor lounge with fire pits, gym with yoga/pilates studio, lounge, business center, pickleball court, pet-friendly park, and guest suites,” the listing says.
Given that potential buyers could easily afford luxury waterfront houses, it will take a certain type of person to snap these up.
“Somebody definitely has to understand condo and strata living,” Deacon said. “As much as you’ve got the entire top floor, you still have to deal with people.
“There’s gorgeous amenities in One Water. They’re the best, probably, in Western Canada. They’re better than most condo projects I’ve seen almost anywhere. Just incredible amenities, but you’ve got to share them. It’s not your own pool. It’s not your own gym.”
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While some luxury penthouses around the world include private entrances and elevators, the One Water Street homes share those features with others.
To a large extent, the owners in the lower condos in the two towers are residents who bought them to live in, although there are some long-term rentals, Deacon said.
“How did One Water succeed?” Deacon asked. “It had a good location. Then they put in that whole bench of amenities. To me that was their trump card in a way because they delivered on this massive footprint of beautiful amenities. Essentially, with probably the best coffee shop in Kelowna (Analog Coffee) and a killer new restaurant downstairs (Erica Jane), you don’t even need to leave the building.”
Deacon doesn’t expect the buyers to be local, although that is still a possibility.
“This is about people in cities around the world who live in condos because that’s what you do, whether it’s New York or London or LA, Vancouver or Toronto,” he said. “They come out here and say: ‘I love Kelowna. It’s now on the map for me. I want to spend time here but I don’t want a house on the lake. I’ll go to my boat or I’ll helicopter over to the winery. Someone buying a $5 or $10 million penthouse is probably worth $100 million plus so they’re coming in with a whole different set of how they live their lives.”
Despite the massive price tags, there’s no lack of interest.
“From a marketing perspective, all three of these penthouses, has just been off the charts,” Deacon said.
NOTE: Materia Interior Designs contacted iNFOnews.ca after this article ran to say the designs provided were outdated.
— This name of the restaurant at One Water was corrected at 11:34 a.m. May 1, 2023.
— The dimensions on some other items were corrected at 2:54 p.m. May 1, 2023.
- The design firm was corrected at 3:48 p.m., May 1, 2023.
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