Alt-cottage country

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 02/07/2016 (3572 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

“This old house, is covered in dust /

this old house has seen better days.

This old town, its heart still burns / 

this old town still runs through my veins.”

 

The lyrics from 2008’s Beautiful Life, one of Doc Walker’s most successful songs, are an indication of just where Chris Thorsteinson was coming from when he decided to embark on a real estate development project between tours and studio recording work.

The frontman, songwriter and driving force behind the veteran Portage la Prairie country rock band grew up in his folks’ liquor store/post office/restaurant in Westbourne, northwest of Portage and just a little south of Lake Manitoba. (He’s renovated and built an addition to that house and lives there now with his wife and three children.)

Thorsteinson’s first foray in the development business was never going to be about a big-city flip or flop play. It’s very much a grassroots passion play not far from where he grew up.

The 320 acre piece of land with about a half mile of sandy beach on the west side of Lake Manitoba south of The Narrows, about 1.5 hour drive from Portage la Prairie, is called Vakker Beach. (Vakker is the Norwegian word for “beautiful” but Thorsteinson is of Icelandic heritage).

“When I first saw the beach, it was like when you hear a song and you know it will be a hit,” he said. “I just knew this (beach) was a hit.”

The project has been almost 10 years in the making. A self-styled DIY guy, Thorsteinson managed the acquisition of the land and the initial subdivision of the first 10 lots himself. His deep roots in Portage helped secure the financing he needed. The manager of the Austin Credit Union drove out to the property himself.

In a recent interview from a Day’s Inn “in the middle of nowhere” a day before a Doc Walker show at the Pioneer Days in Oromocto, N.B., Thorsteinson’s enthusiasm for the project could be felt through the phone lines.

“I did things really slowly because I’ve never done it before,” he said. “I didn’t want to go jump in feet first and do 200 lots and go bankrupt because I didn’t know what I was doing.”

The first 10, 90-foot by 300-foot lots only account for about one-quarter of the entire property. His plan is to build a seasonal campground with spots for maybe 20 recreational vehicles as the next phase of the development and there would still be plenty of room for additional development depending on demand.

Two of that first group of 10 lots have already been spoken for — at the early-bird price of $69,000 — and he’s happy with the volume of inquiring calls.

Portage la Prairie Re/Max agent, Peter Bracken, whom Thorsteinson has known since high school days, is handling the marketing for the property.

“Chris has done a great job on the development,” said Bracken, who characterizes the market for lakefront cottages in the area as stable.

Thorsteinson already has hydro servicing in place and a roadway has been built in from Highway 50. Each lot owner will need to drill a water well and install a septic holding tank.

The big draw at Vakker Beach is the beach itself.

‘When I first saw the beach, it was like when you hear a song and you know it will be a hit. I just knew this (beach) was a hit’– Doc Walker frontman Chris Thorsteinson 

“There’s always going to be lakefront properties for sale,” Bracken said. “At the end of the day everything is so specific to an area. They don’t all have the beach this place has. Chris has worked really hard on the beach.”

When Bracken told Thorsteinson recently someone was coming to look at a lot, he wanted to know which lot and who it was.

“That probably shouldn’t matter,” he said. “But it’s hard for me to see them go.”

Perhaps, unlike for other developers, this is Thorsteinson’s baby. At 41, he knows he’s lucky to still be able to tour with Doc Walker. (The band has just released a brand new single called Heaven on Dirt which is another ode to Thorsteinson’s connection to the land, that will be included on the album Echo Road — The Best of Doc Walker that is scheduled to be released in the fall.)

“When you’re a musician you do not have a set income,” he said. “It’s the whole feast or famine kind of deal.”

During the 2008 to 2010 period, the band was experiencing its best commercial success with Beautiful Life charting in the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 and the band winning a Juno for Country Recording of the Year and basically running the table at the Canadian Country Music Association awards in 2008 on the strength of that album.

“The band was doing pretty good after that and I was thinking about investing in something,” Thorsteinson said. “And I know what happens to money when it’s laying around. It disappears no matter how you look at it.”

Thorsteinson figures if he sells the 10 lots, he’ll be able to build the seasonal campsite which will then generate some revenue.

He said he was never thinking about pulling money out and walking away.

In fact, he says he figures he’ll never leave the place. He’s already renovated the one farmhouse that was on the property when he bought it and plans to build something else at Vakker Beach in the future.

“As a musician, I’ve thought about another source of income,” he said. “What better way than to work on the bobcat and tractor for a few hours and then have a beer and hang around with my family on the beach.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca