Tenants at a large mobile home park in Kelowna, B.C., are facing the possibility of having to find a new place to live.
Kerkhoff Development of Chilliwack announced that it has purchased Central Mobile Park Sites on Casorso Road, a 24-acre site with 133 mobile homes.
According to a news release from Tuesday, the sale had taken more than a year to complete.
The company says it intends to develop a multi-phased plan for the Lower Mission site, but that tenants will not be asked to immediately relocate.
“We’re excited about the opportunities presented by this unique location,” president and CEO Leonard Kerkhoff said.
“We’ll be meeting with the residents currently living on the site and will work with them over the coming months to share our vision and hear their ideas for the site.”
Resident Johanna Clark called the news devastating.
“I look around this park and it’s like a little community, and there are so many elderly people living here and myself as well, worried about where I’m going to go next, because our mobile homes are no longer marketable,” she said.
“Many people here … are very, very nervous and just don’t know what to do.”
Muriel Heppner said she’s lived in the park for 10 years, and is now between a rock and a hard place because she’s a widow with one income.
“What am I going to do?” she said. “Do I have to become a bag lady? I’ve got arthritis really bad. I won’t have enough money to go in a care home, it’s all tied up here.
“What’s the outcome going to be? Are they going to give us a value market price or are they just ruthless?”
In an interview with Global News, Kerkoff called the purchase “a tremendous opportunity,” adding the site will be a mix of housing types.
“We will be consulting with the city and, in particular, working with the tenants in the park to come up with a plan that addresses their biggest concern of relocation. And this is not going to happen overnight,” he said.
“This is a lengthy process, years, maybe even decades to develop a property of this size. We are going to work with the tenants to come up with a plan for each and every one of them that makes sense, that is fair and reasonable for them and for us moving forward.”