A little over an hour west of Ottawa on the shores of Lake Calabogie, the owners of the local a ski hill have launched the first phase of an ambitious plan to build more than 400 new homes.
“Whoah, what are you thinking?” said Mr. Murphy. At the time the Peaks was a pretty basic local hill, it had T-bar lifts and some amenities, but his father – a Toronto-area lawyer – had a vision of a four-season destination for the 1,500-acre site. Despite his initial misgivings, Mr. Murphy co-invested over the years as Calabogie enhanced its 45-acre waterfront, added buildings and amenities, chair lifts and resort infrastructure.
Recently, the pricing in the tiny township of Greater Madawaska – the area that includes Calabogie Lake with just about 2,500 residents – followed the boom-bust of pandemic-area cottage country across Ontario. “It’s been hard to find buyers over $500,000 for the last six months to a year,” said Vincent Johnston, a salesperson with Century21 Eady Realty, who said even lakefront property has become a difficult sell. “There’s been no waterfront sales on Calabogie Lake; well, there’s one that sold for $1.2-million, but they started at $2-million a year ago. It took a big drop to get that done.
Functionally, the Peaks will have the best internet in the region with fibre-to-the-home delivered by the resort’s homegrown internet service.Mr. Murphy has spent a lot of time and money getting Calabogie Peaks to this point, and despite the gyrations in the recreational market he’s betting on the appeal of his mountain. There’s no municipal services on the resort, so Mr.