Media Coverage: TheStar.com by Tracy Hanes, June 2016 — Jennifer McNally, 34, an urban planner who lives in downtown Toronto, grew up enjoying ski weekends. Her family, who lived in Carlisle, near Hamilton, bought a vacation home just over two hours away in small-town Ellicottville, N.Y. Like Collingwood, Ellicottville has grown into a four-season destination with restaurants, boutique shops, microbreweries, festivals and year-round activities.

“My parents raised four kids skiing and snowboarding, and it was all possible because it was accessible to us as a middle-class family,” she says. McNally and her father Chris, who has 40 years' experience in the civil engineering and construction business, decided to develop their own project.

“We wanted to offer an alternative to ludicrously expensive apartments and found a plot of land on the northeast side of town that's a five- to seven-minute walk to shops and restaurants,” says McNally. “As an urban planner, that was important to me — to be able to walk to shops and be part of the community. And it's less than a 10-minute drive to the ski hill slopes.”

Their project, Glen Burn Trail, will have 37 townhomes priced from $250,000 (U.S.) (about $335,000 Canadian) for 1,500 square feet and a high standard of finishes.

“Ellicottville has always had an appeal for Canadians and Americans,” says McNally. “Our buyers have reflected that. We have buyers from Richmond Hill and another from midtown Toronto.” (Thirty per cent of real estate in Ellicottville is owned by Canadians).

She says some of the buyers so far (nine units are built and six have been sold) are initially attracted by skiing, but soon appreciate the four-season advantages.

“They can't believe how much is going on,” she says. “The chamber of commerce puts on events in summer and fall, there's a Sky High adventure park and mountain coaster and you're 20 minutes from Allegheny States Park. There are paddleboarding lessons, kayaking and canoeing.”