Apartment condos offer innovative designs, amenity-rich lifestyle

Whether it’s a downtown tower, an inner-city mid-rise or a lifestyle-connected four-storey condo in the suburbs, single-level apartment style living offers a rich, fulfilling option for new home buyers.

Apartment condos have always been thought of as a perfect first-time homebuyer opportunity, but there is more to them than just that. Retirees looking to to age in place also see the benefit in single-level living. It’s a tempting option for investors, as well, and even young families are finding a fit here.

Today, apartment condos have evolved from just the traditional four-storey wood frame building, and many now offer a complete lifestyle package with tons of in-house amenities. They are thought of less as crash pad where one sleeps, to a home that offers a high quality of life.

Towers, mixed-use, transit-oriented or any other form of apartment developments can be found in all corners of the city. What they all have in common is an affordable, dynamic lifestyle that is more appealing than ever before. Here are some of the newest ones in the city.

A matter of trust

Trust is a big part of the game as far as buying into an apartment building is concerned. After all, buyers have to wait several months – sometimes years as far as concrete towers are concerned – before they can move into their home. All of the developers we spoke with for this feature are long established names in Calgary’s multi-family building scene.

Jayman BUILT, Morrison Homes, Ocgrow Group of Companies, StreetsSide Developments and Truman are all accomplished multi-family developers with decades of experience. They have all played a role in changing what Calgarians can expect from apartment-style condos.

Building is in the name

Jayman BUILT’s Westman Village by Mahogany Lake in the southeast had provided the blueprint for the ideal stay-cation home with its all-inclusive resort like lifestyle. It promised the ultimate mutli-family lifestyle when it was launched and now that it is on the verge of completion, residents see all those promises were kept.

Now, with their latest major multi-family development in Les Jardins along 18th & 24th Street SE, those same principles are still being carried out.

Wallace Chow, Executive Vice-President Multi-Family at Jayman BUILT says they make it a point to include plenty of opportunities for socialization in all its multi-family communities. In Les Jardins, you can see this the community gardens, dog park, and fitness centre. “There are also several benefits to single level living, particularly for aging in place, as the need to climb stairs is removed. Plus,” he jokes, “Single level living reduces your cleaning!”

Les Jardins will have 70,000-square-foot central gardens, with water features, pergolas, community gardens and plenty of outdoor seating. “Les Jardins actually means The Gardens in French! Everything has been inspired by the gardens of Paris,” Chow says.

Les Jardins Townhomes and Condos will be launching their condos this Spring, as their townhome showhomes open! The condos will be a four-storey condo building with several floorplans ranging from 635 so 1,035 square-feet. Find out more at www.jayman.com/lesjardins/

Creating a lifestyle

Location is a major consideration in building a multi-family development, especially one that will afford residents the most accessible, convenient lifestyle possible. Morrison Homes Multi-Family has batted a thousand in finding the choicest locations in the city, but their latest – Q Condos at Sage Hill Quarter – creates its own lifestyle.

“At Morrison Homes Multi-Family we take a lot of things into consideration when purchasing land for our new developments. In general, we typically purchase land that is close to amenities, transit routes, and accessible to major transportation infrastructure,” says Rob Kennedy, President of Morrison Homes Multi-Family.

“Our current customers have come home to Q Condos based on our unique location in the Centre of a well-designed and well-built retail centre in the heart of the popular northwest community of Sage Hill,” he adds.

Construction of Q1 is well underway and we are excited to start moving our homwoners into their new homes this fall, Kennedy says. Go to myqcondo.ca for more information..

Putting the style in lifestyle

Providing the perfect lifestyle has been the underlying concept in every StreetSide Developments multi-family project.

“When looking at potential locations we’re always considering a variety of factors, most importantly we’re looking for access to key amenities, either adjacent to or within a community.,” says Max Conrad, Marketing Manager at StreetSide.

Their latest – Konekt - establishes new connections to its trendy location in the heart of the vibrant and lively Inglewood scene. The historic inner-city neighbourhood has tons to offer residents with its boutique shops, live music venues, and tons of diners and coffee shops to choose from.

“We have a deep history in Inglewood itself,” he adds pointing out that past projects - Inglewood Grove and Pearce Gardens – are directly adjacent to Konekt Inglewood.” Check out stretsidecalgary.com for more.

Calgary’s affordability

Harish Consul, President and CEO of Ocgrow Group, says Calgary’s unique affordability compared to other major cities like Vancouver and Toronto cannot be overstated, and why this may be the best time to invest in a new apartment condo now.

“You have to go much further out of the city centre to find an affordable home in Vancouver or Toronto, but in Calgary inner city living is still very much affordable,” he tells New Home + Condo Guide.

“Buying a new apartment condo now is a great investment for your future,” he adds. “You’re buying at today’s prices during pre-sales marketing phase, and by the time you’re ready for occupancy at building completion, you’re already building equity in your home.”

Ocgrow has been building in Calgary for over 30 years, and they took a big step to the future with their latest innovation: SOLA. “Our partnership with Amazon gives all buyers a huge advantage, every single luxury residence at SOLA shall be fully Alexa enabled, together with our Gigabit ethernet speeds at SOLA which are fastest in western Canada, leads to all new owners enjoying a host of intelligent cloud-based voice services,” he says.

“We see a huge tech boom in Calgary coming as our economy continues to diversify, with both current and new companies expanding growth significantly. We feel SOLA is the right product at the right time for the city.” Consul may be right, as first releases for the 172-unit concrete, 9-storey luxury condo tower in trendy Kensington have sold out, and a second release was just launched.

Visit SOLA at solacalgary.com for more information.

Multi-family masters

Truman has undoubtedly mastered the art of multi-family development. For over 35 years, the renowned developer has built condos, townhomes and duplexes through all points in and around Calgary (they have single-family homes too).

“Our vision is to raise the industry standard through innovation, quality and value – with the core belief that everyone can Live Better,” says Truman COO Tony Trutina. “Our extensive experience enables us at Truman to genuinely go a step beyond refined construction, by expressing a sincere care for the customer and community, for these are what make our developments complete.”

They build apartment condos for every lifestyle – from the most affordable homes for first-time buyers to the more sophisticated and elegant single-level condos for those who want to retain a sense of luxury even as they scale back on the size of their home.

But in every way, Truman tries to stay ahead of the ever-changing trends. “The biggest challenge for us has always been trying to stay ahead of the trends, in terms of design and how people live,” Trutina says.

“Covid really shook the way we view our homes and living spaces. Shifting our focus to incorporate more multifunctional living spaces, even more natural light and using softer fabrics and colours to create a more serene atmosphere amidst the uncertainty and chaos outside.”

Truman’s latest include West District - a southwest neighbourhood that is robustly liveable, workable and walkable – one that fully defines a connected community, Trutina says. “Just outside your doorstep are countless local grocery stores, fitness facilities such as F45 and YYC Cycle, restaurants like Una Pizza + Wine and Blanco, and so many more amenities.
Visit all west district has to offer at www.hellowestdistrict.com