Tyler Choi – Business editor
The resort and prefabricated/tiny cottages markets have become a new focus for Hamilton-based investment and property management company Forge & Foster, which is expanding its presence in the sectors in Ontario.
The firm has been investing in resort properties for about two years, and this spring launched a sister company, Resort HQ. Also based in Hamilton, Resort HQ is offering cottage and resort living options through a prefabricated “park models” housing marketplace, and as a site arranger across Ontario.
Park models are recreational commercial properties and a type of tiny cottage situated on a resort. Tiny cottages are similar to a tiny home but are designed for four-seasons recreational use – not as a primary residence.
“I think there’s been a lot of attention on housing affordability, but I’ve been realizing how unaffordable cottages have been getting,” Joe Accardi, the founder and CEO of Forge & Foster, as well as CEO of Resort HQ, told RENX Homes in an interview.
Combined with the squeeze from housing costs, he said Canadians are being put off from cottage living, despite there being high demand for access to the outdoors.
“So, our feeling of what we do is we want to provide outdoors for everyone,” he added.
HQ Resorts fills two key roles essential to resort living – it sells prefabricated park models to lower construction costs and leases land to its customers. Accardi said this allows more Ontarians to enjoy the cottage experience and is expanding the tiny cottages market.
Resort HQ has a role similar to that of a car dealership, he said, where customers can shop and buy a variety of park models.
Most of Resort HQ’s catalogue comes from an Indiana-based prefabrication company, though a growing Canadian presence in the industry is also giving the company a chance to stock some Canadian builds from firms such as Alberta’s ZeroSquared.
Park models currently range up to 538 square feet of floor space and contain as many as three bedrooms, with layouts and build quality similar to a condo unit, Accardi said.
After buying a unit from Resort HQ, the customer can sign a 10-year land lease at one of 10 resorts owned by Forge & Foster. Accardi said the intent is for buyers to “stay for generations” – at a fraction of the cost of traditional cottage ownership. Then Resort HQ can prepare the site and install the unit prior to the customer moving in.
A typical resort site is approximately the size of a city lot.
The base models Resort HQ sells range from the 403-square-foot Model T to the 456-square-foot Model S.
Most customers have purchased the two-bedroom park models, according to Accardi. They feature bathrooms, kitchens and a laundry room.
The resort sites include parking and outdoors space, access to waterfronts for boating or kayaking, and recreation options such as playgrounds and water grounds.
Electric-vehicle chargers are offered at every site. To further demonstrate its environmental friendliness, Resort HQ plans to include direct current-powered heat pumps and solar power options for its park models.
The prices for its park models range from $179,000 to $350,000, which also factors in the choice of resort.
Prefabrication allows Resort HQ to keep prices low and stable, as construction can be done more efficiently.
A 10-year lease comes out to $10,000 per year when including the HST and insurance, which Accardi said is affordable for many would-be resort residents.
Demand has been strong, Accardi said, and Resort HQ has brought in over $5 million in revenue since launching in April, according to a press release. Resort HQ has sold over a dozen units in the past four months.
Resort HQ offers 10 resort sites in Ontario, including the Gullwing Lake Resort in the Muskoka Region which includes 100 sites, a lakeshore and hiking trails. Gullwing Lake Resort is in the order phase, Accardi said, with residents yet to begin moving in.
Accardi also discussed Caledon Hills Resort just north of Toronto, with its focus on residents interested in staying close to the Greater Toronto Area. Caledon Hills Resort, which used to be a travel trailer dealership, has a handful of people sited.
Accardi said Resort HQ is also interested in the Ottawa area, and hopes to offer options to anyone south of Algonquin.
“Some people want to go back to where they grew up from, some people like a certain type of nature, some people like food and wine. We want to offer all options.”
To bolster its line of Canadian premanufactured park models, Accardi said it is also considering working with two start-up firms based in Hamilton.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was edited to remove references to “tiny homes” and clarify that tiny cottages are designed for recreational use, and are not designed to be utilized as full-time housing units.
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