Family-friendly condo amenities pop up across Vancouver

One of the downsides of living in a multi-family development is supposedly the loss of recreational space. For a lot of people, this brings to mind the suburban rec room: a dimly lit paradise with foosball, a TV, pool table, beer fridge, antiquated stationary bike, plaid couch and pervasive smell of teenage boys and stale beer. Maybe you were lucky and had a pool outside, though swimming required dodging water beetles, dead leaves and the neighbour’s kid doing a cannonball off the garage roof.

Nostalgic as these places may be, no one is nostalgic for the sad facilities of townhome and condo complexes of days gone by, with their lonely treadmills and mouldy steam rooms tucked away in the basement. The good news is that these memories are nothing compared to the incredible new amenity spaces to be found in multi-family projects all over Metro Vancouver in places high and low, and the bonus is, you get to connect and build community with your neighbours as well.

The South Ridge community by Adera may take the cake for its 6,500-sq.-ft. family-friendly South Ridge Club in South Surrey. The Clubhouse features an astounding list of included amenities for all the residents to enjoy, including movie theatre with state of the art A/V equipment, 800-sq.-ft. heated outdoor pool, hot tub, outdoor showers, and change rooms, private stylish multi-purpose residents’ lounge with billiards table, kitchen, and banquet ready dining area - alongside the outdoor gourmet kitchen and dining area, as well as a Fully equipped fitness centre and yoga space, and a 1,300-sq.-ft. multi-purpose gymnasium, perfect for playing basketball, badminton or floor hockey.

Spaces like these are at the forefront of the trend towards building multi-family amenity spaces that are truly an extension of residents’ homes, with space large enough for community activities, giving momentum for the movement towards creating engaged and active attached-home communities. And if you’re still feeling nostalgic, you could even encourage your strata to buy a foosball table.