Nestled in open land just west of Hosmer, Kevin Dunn and Stacy Falk see potential for their proposed executive retreat.
The pair recently purchased 160 acres of land just behind the Elk River, with access from Beese Road, in the hopes of turning it into a five star executive retreat centre.
“It’s something that’s been brewing with us for a long time and it’s taken different forms over the years,” Luminary Holding Corp. President Kevin Dunn said. “It was always a bit of a dream to do something like this.”
With their rezoning applications and building permits submitted, their dream is quickly becoming a reality.
Dunn said that he came up with the idea after witnessing the struggle to find a place to host executive meetings in his own business.
“There was never a good spot to do it,” he said. “We thought, wouldn’t it be great if we had a comfortable space that we could sit, meet, and could do more team building stuff?”
Partnering with their wives, Dunn and Falk have worked to design the proposed 22,000 sq. ft. building, with 12,000 sq. ft. dedicated to guest space.
The executive retreat will include eight guest suites, two of which that will be fully accessible, a full commercial kitchen, dining space, living room space in addition to a game room, media room, wine cellar, exercise room and meeting room on the lower level.
“It’s really a place where you can show up and have a really productive meeting in the morning, but then you can go shoot pool and play darts in the afternoon,” said Dunn.
Dunn also noted that they hope to expand the executive retreat to become a wedding and Christmas party destination.
In terms of location, Dunn said they chose the Elk Valley because, “Fernie is one of these towns that I think is unnoticed. When you look at all the things it has, I think people just aren’t aware it’s here.”
He went on to say, “We’re looking for that new spot and I think Fernie is that new spot. This is a spot where we can see a lot of opportunity in the future.”
Dunn believes that with his experience in business, executive management, planning and marketing and with Falk and his wife Joy’s experience in humanitarian work and running a school in Africa, as partners their skills will complement each other.
“Between the four of us we complemented each others skill sets,” he said. “We identified that we could handle everything in business that we wanted to do.”
The company, Luminary Holding Corp., hopes to begin construction on the project this summer, with a projected completion date 18-24 months later.
For more information on the project email Luminary Holding Corp. at info@luminarycorp.ca
