iN VIDEO: Kelowna's One Water Street penthouse could be yours for $10 million
The most expensive condominium in the Okanagan is going on sale today, March 10, for $10 million with bare concrete walls, steel studs, some windows missing and a spectacular view of Okanagan Lake.
This is the 4,500 square-foot penthouse with 2,600 square feet of outdoor balcony space on the 36th floor of Kelowna’s tallest building, One Water Street.
“We’re putting in the walls so people can see where the rooms are but we’re not finishing it so that the eventual buyer, if they wanted to change colours or fabrics or floor materials, they have a complete pallet to do what they want,” Henry Bereznicki, managing partner at North American Development Group, told iNFOnews.ca as he stood 400 feet above the Sunset Drive sidewalk in downtown Kelowna.
While there is still work needed to finish the lobby and hallways, the units in the bottom 28th to 29th floors of what is called Tower One are 100 per cent complete.
Owners are expected to start moving into the 225 homes in the building in mid-May, although the penthouse will take four to six months to finish.
While things like a 10-foot granite counter were lifted up by crane, many of the finishing touches will depend on what the ultimate buyer wants.
Designed by Toronto’s Brian Gluckstein, it includes luxury touches like a $10,000 bathtub, 12-, 14- and 18-foot ceilings with floor to ceiling windows, a private outdoor hot tub room, and “the privilege of living in the tallest residential unit in Kelowna,” Bereznicki said.
In fact, it’s the tallest building between Calgary and Vancouver.
The unit comes with Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances, custom white oak flooring, porcelain tile, granite and quartz countertops along with top of the line lighting fixtures.
There has already been some interest from buyers. Bereznicki expects, ultimately, it will be a local person who buys it.
While it may seem expensive for Kelowna, similar units are selling for twice the price in Vancouver, he said.
The rest of Tower One is not in the same price range, with units starting at $300,000 and ranging up to $1 million on most floors, depending on size and view, Bereznicki said.
There are three “sub-penthouse” floors in each of the two buildings at One Water Street priced from $1.6 to $3 million. There are three of those units per floor with half already sold.
The second tower, at a mere 29 storeys, won’t be finished for 10 to 12 months. The 21st floor is now being poured.
The two towers are 92 per cent sold, he said.
“Believe it or not, 50 per cent of the buyers come from Kelowna,” Bereznicki said. “People are downsizing, selling their homes, wanting to take advantage of living downtown and the downtown urban lifestyle.
“About 40 per cent of the buyers have come from the balance of British Columbia, the majority from the Lower Mainland, then we’re about eight per cent from Alberta and about two per cent from the United States.”
While the real estate market in Kelowna has heated up greatly in the last few months, this was always designed to be a $10 million project, he said.
There are retail stores on the ground level that already have signs on them.
Since the parking garage covers about three acres, there’s an expansive deck, called The Bench after the Naramata Bench, that will have two swimming pools, outdoor hot tub, barbeques, fire pits, dog walking area and pickleball court.
There’s also a 3,500 square-foot fitness room in the first tower, and the second tower will have a 2,000 square foot yoga and pilates space.
There have been supply problems with things like appliances from the U.S., hardwood flooring coming from Asia and even 400 door frames that showed up without doors.
“I’m happy to say that the project is pretty much on budget and on schedule which, given that we’ve built most of this tower during COVID, is quite an amazing achievement,” Bereznicki.
The penthouse is being listed for $10 million by Sotheby’s International Realty today.
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