1 week Ago By Mary Beth Roberts
Article content Troon is the world’s leading golf course management company, operating more than 900 courses around the globe. Amazingly, the company had no Canadian properties until long-time resort developer Graham Kwan of Vancouver tapped on their proverbial shoulder and said, listen, do I ever have a property for you. Graham Kwan and his partner, Vancouver area real estate developer Farhad Ebrahimi, brought in Troon on an exceedingly special opportunity in the West Kootenay Region of British Columbia.
The development duo had learned that since 2013, Nelson had a luxury resort pencilled into their OCP (Official Community Plan). As a creative arts and organic farming mecca tucked away in a coniferous paradise next to the crystal-clear waters of Kootenay Lake, Nelson also had a 100-year-old 18-hole golf course ripe for redevelopment. The location, the land, the fresh air, the stunning lake and the pristine mountain forest were sufficient, in and of itself, to attract an international crowd to this corner of the Kootenays.
But to Kwan and Ebrahimi, Nelson had even more to offer. “It’s authentic. It has an energy all its own.
I would describe it as the Blue Zone of Canada,” says Kwan, referring to a longevity study in the Journal of Experimental Gerontology that’s been ushered into pop culture by author Dan Buettner. “There are salmon here, that are only here. They don’t exist anywhere else in the world.
Then there’s this gorgeous lake and an alluvial plain going to Creston. It’s a town of 12,000 people surrounded by a filter,” he continues. “Yet, I’ll give you a list of places to dine and you’ll say, holy smokes, this is better than anything I’ve experienced in Calgary or Toronto or Vancouver.
There’s a scene here. People walk in the door and fall in love with it.” The two developers founded Hallō Properties in 2022 and, under this brand, will invest $500 million to create Hallō Nelson, a master-planned resort of 300 residential units, restaurants and boutiques, tennis courts, fitness facilities and a pool.
Kwan’s enthusiastic approach to Troon was eagerly embraced and the former Granite Pointe will be revived by renowned architect Doug Carrick. Kwan says this step will make the Nelson course one of the top three or four in the Pacific Northwest. “Troon had not been able to find the right property that would give them the scale and character consistent with their standards.
They loved our plan and the location. We had the local golf society down to their headquarters in Scottsdale. It’s all been seen as very favourable with the Nelson community,” he says.
The inaugural residences at Hallō Nelson will be 24 luxury townhomes called First Homes, each 1,760 square feet in size with three bedrooms in the main home and an option for a fourth bedroom or a self-contained suite. The homes are designed by Nelson’s own Cover Architectural Collaborative, with interiors curated by Kwan himself, leveraging his 30-plus years of experience in the international luxury resort industry. The homes will have beautiful 42-inch glass front doors and a high level of interior finishings, from exquisite millwork, gleaming hardwood floors and Corian countertops all in an open plan leading out to the fairway.
First Homes will be furnished inside and out and completely turnkey with everything from pink Le Creuset Dutch ovens to Austrian Riedel crystal glassware and Northern Feather duvets. “It’s a package. We’re giving (buyers) something they can’t get curated in this fashion anywhere.
The best of the best,” Kwan explains. Two other B.C.
properties, Hallō Revelstoke and Hallō Pender on the Sunshine Coast, are also in development. Hallō Nelson West Richards St., Nelson B.
C. The $500 million master plan includes 300 residential units, commercial area with restaurants and boutique shopping, staff accommodation and amenities such as 25-metre pool, hot tub, fitness centre, ice rink/splash park and tennis courts. Presales are available on The First Homes, a collection of 24 fully furnished and equipped townhomes featuring 1,760 square feet of interior living space and either a queen/kitchen studio or a king suite.
An 18-hole par 70 golf course, Canada’s first Troon-managed course, will anchor the development. Hallō Properties, Vancouver Cover Architectural Collaborative, Nelson From $1.95 million info@hallonelson.
com or 604-910-5327.
