iN VIDEO: At $22M, this luxury estate in Shuswap is a deal
An extravagant luxury estate on Shuswap Lake is still on the market, even after the price was dropped from $30 million to $22 million late last year.
The Fighting Dog Ranch estate sits on 73 acres in Sunnybrae and includes two homes with a total of 11 bedrooms, 15 bathrooms, a six-car heated garage, 1,200 square feet of private shoreline, five RV sites and two docks.
It’s the most expensive listing realtor Annette Cosens with Sotheby’s International Realty Canada has managed.
“Right now, we have four different buyers circling around and we’re waiting for the first one to land,” she said. “We have interest from buyers in Edmonton, LA, London and I think Toronto. They’re very serious buyers, it’s getting a lot of attention.”
The building of the estate was completed in 2019 and it was put on the market in 2022. At one point American billionaire Elon Musk expressed interest in it. Cosens said it is normal for luxury estates to take awhile to sell.
“With these luxury listings worth over 20 million dollars the average time on market is a year and a half so it's common for it to take a bit longer to get the international exposure and the right buyer to take note and come and buy,” she said. “Luxury listings are getting a lot of attention, it seems they get more interest in them than regular listings nowadays.”
Cosens said the estate is stunning.
“It’s basically new, it has hardly been used and still has that new feel,” she said. “There are 35-foot-high ceilings, a rock fireplace that goes to the top and beautiful big beams throughout it all lit up with special lighting.
“You’ve got a beautiful open living area that leads into the dining room and kitchen, that leads onto a huge balcony that overlooks the lake.”
The estate is owned by billionaire Calvin Ayre who lives in Antiqua in the Caribbean and has connections to the Shuswap. Born in Saskatchewan, Ayre attended elementary school through to graduation in 1979 in Salmon Arm.
Ayre’s fascinating life took him from pig farming on the prairies to becoming a billionaire and included developing on online gambling company, TV appearances, gracing the cover of Forbes magazine and living a playboy lifestyle.
Shuswap writer and historian Jim Cooperman researched the history of Ayre and the estate property, and was in email contact with the billionaire, to put together an informative and entertaining article on his blog Shuswap Passion.
“The playboy lifestyle that Calvin led for many years was legendary, so it is no wonder that it was once the topic of a Playboy Magazine article,” Cooperman writes. “He has yet to marry, and loves taking risks such as riding motorcycles, scuba diving, wakeboarding, flying airplanes and playing hockey and rugby.”
In his article, Cooperman provides some history on the estate property.
“The Fighting Dog Ranch property was once part of the adjacent Bastion Ranch that was established after World War II by a French soldier who settled there. There was no road then and everyone had to be transported in and out by boat. Currently, there is a caretaker living at Fighting Dog Ranch as it awaits a new, wealthy owner.”
Ayre designs and builds properties and boats, and has completed 10 house projects around the world, including the massive estate in Sunnybrae.
Go to the realtor's website for more information about the property at 6525 Worrall Road in Sunnybrae.
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