Sun
The scene is set. Azure blue water and sky, luxury homes set on a natural bluff. Some residences set amid a 40-acre vineyard, others in a hidden glen. Such is The Rise, a unique and quite remarkable 735-acre master-planned resort community at the head of Lake Okanagan, just west of Vernon’s city centre.
But that’s only the beginning. Add to this an 18-hole Fred Couples Signature golf course, an on-site estate winery scheduled to produce 35,000 cases of organic wine each year, a boutique hotel, a village centre offering shops and services and you start to get the picture. A truly inspiring place that within the next eight years will accommodate more than 1,200 residences, from villa townhomes and condominiums to elegant single-family homes.
Given The Rise’s exceptional qualities, 40 of its first sites were purchased in an astonishing 90 minutes. Clearview, launched two years ago, has sold out and Sagecroft, last year’s release which includes both homesites and villas, is now approximately 70 per cent sold. Its third and most exclusive neighbourhood, Watermark, is offering 25 homesites which face further south in a fabulous perspective that overlooks the length of Okanagan Lake.
Bob Anderson, marketing director for The Rise, calls Watermark’s stunning sites on a natural bluff “the best lakeview lots we will ever have.” Attesting to this is the strong response, buyers coming not only from various parts of the Okanagan Valley but also from Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton.
Leona Snider is president and CEO of Okanagan Hills Development Corporation, the company behind the master-planned resort community. “It’s exciting,” she says, “that our vision of creating a world-class community that showcases the natural beauty of the Okanagan is now a reality. We called it The Rise because it literally makes you feel as if you are on the top of the world.”
Golf pro Fred Couples visited The Rise earlier this month to see for himself the par 72, 7,000-yard championship course that bears his name, perched more than 1,000 feet above the north arms of Okanagan Lake. He was visibly impressed. To date, the back nine holes have been seeded and some limited play – homeowners and founding members only — is expected later this summer, with a grand opening scheduled for May 2008.
For more information, contact The Rise at: 1-866-400-8488, or check the website: www.therise.ca.