Whistler ‘Just Used to Be a Ski Town.’ Now Buyers Want to Live There Year-Round - WSJ Article | Shauna O'Callaghan

Whistler ‘Just Used to Be a Ski Town.’ Now Buyers Want to Live There Year-Round.

Thanks to a strong U.S. dollar, Americans are once again flocking to the Canadian resort town—and four-season attractions are keeping them there
By J.S. Marcus published in Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2022

This week, The Wall Street Journal’s Mansion section is rolling out stories from our ski and mountain homes issue. Catch stories like this one on how ski resort expansions are driving up local real-estate prices, a trip to one of Colorado’s richest ZIP Codes and more.

Richard Dalzell, a retired tech executive living in greater Seattle, has skied all over the U.S. But when it came time to buy a ski home, he found what he needed over the border in Canada, in Whistler, British Columbia, a four-hour drive away.

In addition to convenience, the double-mountain resort town—with a year-round population of 13,948 that can surge up to 55,000 at peak times—offered Mr. Dalzell, 65 years old, and his wife, Kathie Dalzell, 64, reliable snowfall at low altitudes and long ski runs.

Whistler Blackcomb, as the ski facilities are known, is North America’s largest ski resort, with more than 8,000 acres of skiable terrain and a mile-long vertical drop that makes for runs lasting up to a half-hour.

The Four Seasons Private Residences Whistler complex has 37 units. The majority of owners are from the U.S.PHOTO: FOUR SEASONS RESORT AND RESIDENCES WHISTLER

The heated outdoor pool is for use by condo owners at the Four Seasons.PHOTO: FOUR SEASONS RESORT AND RESIDENCES WHISTLER

Pacific Northwest clients are back in force in Whistler doing luxury-home construction, says David Arnott, a Scottish-born architect based in nearby Squamish. A strong U.S. dollar and the area’s expanding year-round attractions are contributing to its allure, adds local real-estate agent John Ryan.

Richard and Kathie Dalzell, of greater Seattle, are doing a $655,000 renovation on their three-bedroom home at the Four Seasons. They bought the unit for about U.S. $2.749 million in 2012.PHOTO: DALZELL FAMILY PHOTO

The Dalzells paid $2.75 million Canadian dollars, or about U.S. $2.749 million, in 2012 for a 2,400-square-foot, three-bedroom unit in the Four Seasons Private Residences Whistler. The couple, who typically use the condo about eight weeks a year, are now upgrading the unit at a cost of about $655,000. Their six-month renovation is set to wrap up in December, after installing everything from new hardwood floors and new plumbing fixtures to a high-tech automated lighting system and fresh wallpaper.

Before the pandemic, Americans were playing an increasing role in Whistler sales. In 2019, U.S. buyers made up 16% of the luxury market in greater Whistler, says Mr. Ryan. Their presence dropped to 6% during the pandemic, when border closures meant his clients were buying properties sight unseen. On Oct. 1, Canada dropped its final Covid restrictions on foreign travel, and Mr. Ryan says sales to Americans this year are on track to rebound.

The Whistler market, a two-hour drive from Vancouver’s international airport, is concentrated in a narrow valley in the Coastal Mountains on either side of Highway 99, taking in five scenic lakes. Development in the town is strictly controlled and lots tend to be small.

Whistler’s most expensive current listing is a 8,700-square-foot, six-bedroom home on a 7.25-acre lot in the Stonebridge area. Maggi Thornhill/Engel & Völkers Whistler is handling the sale.EMA PETER (2); NIC LEHOUX

ILLUSTRATION: JASON LEE

Centrally located luxury condos, with easy access to ski lifts and restaurants, start at $1.45 million, says Mr. Ryan, while chalets close to Whistler’s center can range between $2.177 million and $14.5 million. The most expensive properties are found in large-lot Stonebridge, separated from the village center by Alta Lake and marked by contemporary mansions.

The resort town’s most expensive current listing is located here—an 8,700-square-foot, six-bedroom built in 2014 on 7.65 acres. The listing price is C$39 million, or about U.S.$28.4 million.

In 2016, Whistler Blackcomb was purchased by Vail Resorts, the publicly traded Colorado-based company, with a portfolio that includes Vail, Breckenridge and Park City, Utah. Whistler Blackcomb is Vail’s lone Canadian property, and the company offers season passes, at $899, to its full, primarily U.S.-based, portfolio.

Carolina Pires, marketing communications manager of the Four Seasons Resort and Residences Whistler, says the arrival of Vail Resorts has helped to increase the appeal of the area. A majority of the Four Seasons condo owners are now American, she says.

Whistler Blackcomb is now a year-round destination, attracting visitors in 2022 to wildflower-covered meadows in summer and challenging runs on Whistler Mountain during the ski season.MITCHELL WINTON; CHRISTIE FITZPATRICK

Mr. Arnott’s studio, Stark Architecture, is designing a new Whistler-area mansion for another Seattle client. The $4.36 million, five-bedroom is being built into a $2.18 million hillside lot. It will have three stories and two elevators, plus the mountain views that are standard issue for such luxury projects.

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

What do you like the most about Whistler, and do you like it enough to consider living there year-round? Join the conversation below.

Whistler’s lower elevation and coastal precipitation levels make for longer ski seasons, which typically last here from late November to the end of May, with the option of high-summer skiing on one of the mountain’s glaciers.

“When you go out to Breckenridge, you spend your first few days acclimatizing,” says Mr. Dalzell of the Colorado resort, which starts at 9,600 feet above sea level. By comparison, the village of Whistler is at about 2,200 feet, with the highest runs starting at 7,500 feet. Many people start feeling uncomfortable at around 8,000 feet.

The Creekside Gondola at the base of Whistler Mountain, one of two mountains at the resort.PHOTO: JOHN RYAN/THE WHISTLER REAL ESTATE COMPANY

First developed as a significant ski destination in the 1960s, the resort area was upgraded for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Climate change has made for hotter, drier summers, and the area now also is known for mountain biking, golf, and a varied dining scene, as well as its rambunctious après-ski vibe just about every weekend.

Seattle couple Patrik Edenholm and his wife, Valerie Daggett, paid $1.9 million for a Whistler condo in early 2021, sight unseen.PHOTO: JOHN RYAN/THE WHISTLER REAL ESTATE COMPANY.

Patrik Edenholm, 63, a Seattle-based executive in a biotech startup, has been coming to Whistler for decades. He and his wife, Valerie Daggett, a bioengineering professor at the University of Washington, are now on their third home here, upgrading during the pandemic to a three-bedroom, three-bathroom, 1,590-square-foot condo. The couple paid $1.9 million for the unit in early 2021, sight unseen.

Whistler “just used to be a ski town,” says Mr. Edenholm. “Now it’s a tourist destination.”

The year-round activities helped push up prices during the pandemic. Whistler real-estate agent Shauna O’Callaghan says the average price of a single-family home—known here as a chalet, regardless of style—has surged since spring 2020. “A chalet price went from $1,747,800 in 2020 to $2,333,400 in 2021, and then again up to 2,808,600 in 2022,” she says.

Harry and Barbara Jaako are selling their four-bedroom Whistler home for $5.75 million. The property has an outdoor pool for warmer months and a poured-concrete fireplace for winters. Maggi Thornhill of Engel & Völkers Whistler is handling the listing.SHANE RESIDE (2); JANICE POWER PHOTOGRAPHY (PORTRAIT)

A four-story Whistler home, listed for $5.75 million, touts its year-round amenities. The 4,069-square-foot four-bedroom, built on a half-acre lot, was planned by owners Harry and Barbara Jaako of Vancouver as their primary residence, allowing them to downsize back in the city.

Mr. Jaako, 70, a venture capitalist, and his wife, a 75-year-old retired ad executive, bought a lot in 2008, listed for $945,000, at a sharp discount, then invested $3.64 million to complete the home in stages between 2011 and 2015. The property has a heated outdoor pool, a decorative pond with a fountain and a deck pavilion that the couple heat for winter use. Making the most of a steep site, they built a subterranean wine cellar on the second story and elevated their outdoor cooking areas out of reach of any marauding wildlife. They are selling now so they can travel more.

The two typically open up the outdoor areas in May and start winterizing in October, says Mr. Jaako. But seasons can overlap in Whistler, he says, and spring can mean skiing in the morning and swimming at home in the afternoon.

Vancouver’s Will and Mickey McKay had Stark Architecture design a $3.39 million Whistler home, where the kitchen has Wolf and Sub-Zero appliances and the main bedroom has mountain views.CHRISTIAN TISDALE FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL (4)

Another British Columbia couple dividing their time between Whistler and Vancouver have just built a second, larger Whistler home that is more suitable for large family gatherings. Will McKay, a 70-year-old care-home developer and real-estate investor, and his wife, Mickey McKay, 68, a retired social worker, paid $1.556 million in 2018 for a rare but small vacant lot near Whistler Golf Course. Their 4,240-square-foot, three-story home sits tightly on a 1/5-acre site.

They spent $3.39 million to build and furnish the house, completed this summer. It is equipped with a ski-and-snowboard mud room and a deck with a hot tub. The McKays plan to rent out the house for part of the year. They otherwise stay at their two-bedroom condo when they are at the resort.

Nathaniel Furst, an Australia-born local builder, is completing his own Whistler-area home, where the living room has a three-sided gas-burning fireplace.