The secret behind the success of Bear Mountain, with sales of more than $60 million in the last six months, lies in the hockey career of its founder, Len Barrie.

“I had to work hard to get into the majors, and work hard to stay there,” he says during a tour of the dream golf course he visualized just two years ago.

His lessons included the value of hard work, teamwork, goal-setting, dreaming large and developing a good game plan, all learned during a career stretching from 1985 to 2001.

Those lessons have turned him into a likable, if unlikely, real estate tycoon entering his mid-’30s.

Don Denton photo, Business Edge
Former NHL’ers Len Barrie, above, and Mike Vernon have drawn up a 20-year plan to build a variety of housing options surrounding two Nicklaus-designed golf courses on Bear Mountain, which overlooks Victoria and the Strait.

The small-town boy (he was born in 1969 in Kimberley) had his eyes opened on his trip from the minors to the majors in North America and Europe. He spent time with teams including the Florida Panthers and the Los Angeles Kings.

Rubbing elbows with big-money players, he got a glimpse into the lifestyles of the rich, the famous and the wealthy. He saw that elsewhere in the world, those with the wherewithal would pay a pretty penny for homes set in the natural splendour Western Canadians take for granted. And he wondered: why not in Western Canada?

He was looking for a post-hockey career when a friend told him to check out a parcel of land a forestry company had intended to hold for future development, but which had come on the market thanks to the softwood lumber dispute with the U.S.

In September 1991, he rode his mountain bike up for a look, and asked: why not here?

The asking price was more than his hockey career would allow. “I was never a $10-million a year player,” he says. So he knocked on the door of a fellow player he knew who was also looking for a post-hockey career.

Images courtesy of Bear Mountain


Mike Vernon liked what he saw. And so did his financial advisers.

Vernon is a former goalie with the Calgary Flames who retired in 2002 following a career that included two Stanley Cups, and a Conn Smythe playoff MVP with teams including the Detroit Red Wings, San Jose and Florida.

Barrie and Vernon ponied up $9- million between them to buy an 1,100-acre (455 ha) parcel of pristine forest on a 330-metre mountain commanding views to the south of Victoria, a 20-minute drive away, and to the east across the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Mount Baker in the U.S.

But the pair knew they needed big money for development.

So they drew up a 20-year plan to develop an array of housing surrounding two golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Steve. “We did our research and knew that real estate around a Nicklaus course sells for 30 per cent more and up.”



Plan in hand, they raised about $25 million for development costs from former teammates, who also liked what they saw. “They all know quality real estate appreciates,” he says, mentioning the experience of one player who bought a $400,000 home when he first went to Florida, and sold it for $1.1-million seven years later.

Barrie didn’t use up all his fast moves on the ice. He first saw the property in September of 2001. By the end of the year, initial development financing was in place. “On January 8, 2002, we cut our first tree.” Golf-course development followed.

In the summer of 2003, the first three offerings of single-family lots, condos and townhomes sold out within hours. Prices ranged from about a half-million for the condos through $700,000 for townhomes, and up to $1 million for lots that will accommodate luxury estates.

One five-hour sale in September totted up $37.5 million in sales. The “quarter ownership” villas were 91-per-cent sold before the ground-breaking in mid-December.

By the end of 2003, the first residents had moved into the 74-lot gateway neighbourhood, and Phase 2 of the real estate development was poised to begin.

The first of two 18-hole golf courses designed by Jack and Steve Nicklaus is operating, the $3-million Bear’s Den temporary clubhouse is serving golfers and the Copper Rock Grill restaurant is open to fine dining.

By the end of 2003, the project had the critical mass to attract HSBC to finance infrastructure for Phases 3 to 7 of the real-estate development.

Hockey experience again helped in gearing up the project: only teamwork could accomplish so much so quickly. The partners were quickly able to assemble teams to finance initial development, for golf-course development, sales and operations; for real-estate plans, construction, sales; and for customer service.

“It’s neat to see (the staff) support. Everyone feels they’re part of something special.”

Initial investors, many of whose names are engraved on plates on the lockers in the men’s change room in the clubhouse, share that feeling.

As does Barrie, who has bought perhaps the best lot in the development.

The next 20 years will see development of the remaining 2,200 residences (including hotel rooms), the second golf course and the $30-million, 110,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse and retail village. Not to mention development of amenities for other recreational components of the community – mountain trails, skating rink, an amphitheatre and more. Although initial sales were to investors and Canadian baby boomers looking for ideal retirement digs, international buyers are now lining up, says Barrie. Canadian prices are very attractive, and so is the peaceful nature of the country and countryside.

“Never in my wildest dreams did I think we’d have sales like this,” says Barrie.

The small-town boy has certainly made good, and is looking toward a life as a real estate developer that will likely outlast his hockey career.