Vacation homes proving popular
Back in June a new venture was profiled in these pages – an outfit that had just started up a couple of months previous. Westco Construction of Victoria had seen an opportunity in the Sooke Business Park on a massive former dry-land log sort on Otter Point Road. The company, in concert with Three Point Properties had begun the manufacture of cottages just outside the Sooke town centre, with a plan to truck them for set up in Port Renfrew.
The Melville brothers, Dan and Brady had been contacted in mid 2010 about the project and they had their structures designed and under construction. No buildings had yet been transported to Port Renfrew.
By last week, pretty much according to the master plan, 13 of the “Wild Coast Cottages” had been hauled to the growing village and set up in an 11-acre development called Oceanside. It’s on the main drag of Parkinson Road, at Baird Road – not more than four kilometres from a range of attractions including restaurants, government docks, the general store, marina and Botanical Beach Trailhead.
There will be 40 units in the completed first phase, with water view properties becoming available in the second phase.
The cottage concept appears to be going over and the relatively manageable prices are a big factor in the appeal. The units currently on site are sized at 400-500 square feet but larger models are also a possibility. Entry level abodes on their own lots went for as low as $129,900.
“It’s exciting to be part of the upcoming trend of small housing,” said Jen Young who works with both Westco Construction and Three Point Properties. Both she and Melville see exciting times ahead for the village of Port Renfrew.
“It’s always been a destination,” said Young, “but it needs a few more amenities to make it comfortable for more people.”
Melville is more convinced than ever of the efficiency of pre-fabricating the units in Sooke rather than having to coordinate workers and materials in the seaside village for the actual construction. That said, Port Renfrew doesn’t miss out on all the activity.
“The way they’re doing it, there still ends up being a fair bit of time spent up here hooking them up and everything else,” said the builder.
There is a crowning feature of the project... a marina... which could not have been promoted up to now as it was not cleared for go ahead until recently.
“The size of the marina that they’re able to put in here could turn out to be quite something,” said Melville. “They (Three Point) do own about a kilometre of this waterfront.” He referred to the area to the north of the existing housing grid.