Bear Mountain Resort: Canada's Vancouver Island

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(VANCOUVER ISLAND, Canada) - Lifestyle, mild climate and striking West Coast mountain and ocean vistas have Canadians and others flocking to this westernmost province, namely to Vancouver, host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics. That explains why 249 homes priced from $2 million were sold in '07, a 50 percent increase from the previous year, according to RE/MAX of Western Canada.

While Vancouver's clean cosmopolitan nature is certainly appealing, some of the best oceanfront living is actually just a short ferry ride away to Vancouver Island. One of the more attractive master-planned resort communities on the 285-mile-long island is Bear Mountain Resort. Located on the southern tip of the island near Victoria, the beautiful seaside capital of British Columbia, Bear Mountain is a 1,300-acre development where 36-holes of Jack Nicklaus and Steve Nicklaus-designed golf, whale watching, mountain biking, fine dining and shopping are celebrated just 39 miles due south of Vancouver.

Perched on a mountainside, Bear Mountain Resort overlooks Victoria, Washington State's Olympic Mountain Range, the Strait of Georgia and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, featuring gorgeous views from every corner of the property.

Bear Mountain's lush setting features a montage of residential and vacation real estate opportunities as well as the Westin Bear Mountain Victoria Golf Resort & Spa. Among Bear Mountain's real estate offerings are condominiums priced from $325,000 to $1.8 million, townhomes priced from $700,000 to $1.6 million and homesites that start at $260,000 for smaller lots and $650,000 for estate-sized lots. There's also a fractional ownership program with quarter shares ranging in price from $189,000 to $299,000.

The cornerstone of the community is the Nicklaus co-designed Mountain Course, which will be joined by the Nicklaus-designed Valley Course later this fall as well as Canada's first Nicklaus Academy scheduled to open next spring. Bear Mountain Resort is the chance vision of former National Hockey League player Len Barrie (Barrie built Bear Mountain so he could have his own golf club after being kicked out of his former club for cutting down trees that blocked his home's view).

The vision has more than paid off for Barrie and fellow hockey players that invested early on. The project's first 10 phases of lot sales sold out as well as a significant number of condos, townhomes and fractional shares, resulting in pre-sales of more than $342.4 million. As the community continues to take shape over the next 10-12 years, Bear Mountain Resort will have approximately 1,112 single-family lots, 1,997 condominiums and 220 townhomes worth $2.1 billion at build out.