‘SECURITY AND COMFORT’
Westman Village offers resort-style lifestyle with convenient lock-and-leave appeal
JOSH SKAPIN
Clark and Shari Logan are looking forward to seeing more of the world.
The couple has a list of places they’d like to explore in Europe, including Greece, Italy, France, and Spain. And they have a time-share that’s taken them everywhere from the beautiful Aberfeldy area of Scotland to Princeville on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
But having the travel bug and the upkeep that comes with a large single-family home isn’t always a workable mix.
Furthermore, with their children out on their own, the couple felt their home (4,500 square feet on three levels), was now too much space for just the two of them.
Westman Village made sense as their next step.
“It’s got that resort feel to it,” says Clark. The maintenance and security for when they travel was comforting, the home has the features they were looking for, and the community puts them within a short walk of a wide set of amenities, he adds.
Westman Village is a 5.5-hectare development by Jayman Built under construction in Mahogany, a southeast Calgary community by Hopewell Residential.
It’s planned to feature an assortment of dining and boutique shopping options, along with 40,000 square feet of amenities at its Village Centre.
“When we go on vacation, we don’t want to have to worry,” says Clark. “The way Jayman is setting it up with concierge and surveillance, they really are focusing on security and comfort.”
Westman Village will have fulltime monitored surveillance and use of fobs will control access around the development.
There will be a full-time concierge staff, as well.
At Westman Village, there are four residential segments, including estate condos at a development dubbed Reflection, which is where the Logans bought their new home.
A condo development called Calligraphy, choice rentals at Lyric, and retirement development called Journey Club, are the others. At build-out, Westman Village will have about 900 homes.
For Reflection, there with be 54 homes in three-storey buildings of six, and its opening phase is now more than 50 per cent sold out.
These estate condos range from 1,533 to 2,573 square feet and start from $729,900.
Calligraphy’s condos start from $219,900, and Journey Club’s prices start from $294,900. Journey Club has opportunities for assisted living, independent living, and memory care.
All prices are before GST. Lyric’s monthly rent starts from $1,696.
Each home at Reflection comes with an attached two-car garage.
“We’re really impressed by how quickly these have been (selling), since the presentation centre opened with the show suite in it,” says Nicky Ziemann, sales manager for Westman Village.
A new 3,273-square-foot presentation centre for Westman Village opened earlier this spring, with two show suites displaying examples of floor plans available for Calligraphy and one for Reflection.
Having a full-scale version has helped potential buyers get a better sense for many of the spaces within the floor plan, including what’s outside.
“The terraces alone are one of the features to the home that people are excited about,” Ziemann says.
The second and third floor homes at Reflection, such as the floor plan the Logans picked, have two terraces each.
With the show suite, “They open the terrace doors and jaws drop, ‘this is so big,’ ” she adds. “(This show suite) really helps showcase what we’ve got.”
While sizes vary depending on the floor plan, with the show suite, the terrace at the front of the condo is 37 feet by 12 feet six inches, and the one that’s rear-facing measures 23 feet one inch by 10 feet 11 inches.
To the Logans, the terraces mattered. Clark and Shari made good use of the outdoor spaces at their single-family home.
“We eat out on there quite a bit in the summer, we barbecue, we entertain,” Clark says. “We sit out there and read, with a glass of wine or a beer.”
At Westman Village, he adds, “I don’t have a yard, and even though I look forward to not having the burden of a yard anymore, I do like gardening, so I plan on having a few potted plants and some greenery. Make it a nice, private oasis on both patios.”
The Reflection buildings either look over a garden or Mahogany Lake. All units will have views of the lake of some kind. The Logans’ home will be of the garden-facing variety.
With their new place, Clark says he’s pleased with the ability to carry over one of his favourite pastimes.
“We thought we’d be giving up the entertainment side, the home theatre,” he says. “One of my hobbies is audio visual home theatre, good two-channel stereo sound. I realized I don’t have to compromise there.
“There are options to have a very good home theatre system. Full home automation with high quality sound. That was something that we didn’t have to give up.”
Ziemann says, like the Logans, Reflection has been a draw for empty-nesters with an eye on spending some of their year in a warmer climate.
“They love the ability to be able to lock and leave,” she says. “People who may have a home in Kelowna, may have a home in Arizona and want to be able to spend their time in Calgary when it’s warm overlooking the lake, and walk away when they’re ready to go to Arizona and not worry about a thing because we take care of it.
“When they are here, they want the luxuries that they would have in their property in Arizona,” she adds, pointing to the Village Centre. “They get all these wonderful amenities that they would get in their other resort-style communities and not have to change their lifestyle.”
The Village Centre is now under construction, and even before the homes in Westman Village are ready for possession, buyers will have access to this amenity space. “We open in (early 2018), and it’s all theirs,” says Ziemann.
It’s planned for a wine cellar, 700-square-foot arts and crafts centre, woodworking room, fitness, spin and hot yoga facilities, steam room, and two swimming pools — one for lane swimming and aqua aerobics and another that connects to a two-storey waterslide. There’s also an indoor garden, library, terrace, multipurpose room, movie theatre, golf simulator, party room with a wet bar, games room, running track and half-court gymnasium.
For ease of use in every season, most of the residential development at Westman Village accesses the amenity centre through skywalks and heated undergrounds paths. Westman Village will also have 26,250 square feet of retail space, a daycare, dog park, marketplace, and two restaurants — Headquarters restaurant and Chairman’s Steakhouse.
“We liked the location,” says Shari. “Lots of walking around the area, the convenience and shopping — and not as congested. The amenity centre is a huge draw. It will be a real community versus just a building.
“It’s going to be a great hub to try and bring the members of the
They get all these wonderful amenities that they would get in their other resort-style communities.
community together,” she adds. “I think they are going to be planning events and things so we’re going to be able to mix with people and make new friendships.” Clark agrees.
“Shari and I go to the gym a lot,” he says. “We try to go in the winter several times a week, in the summer, it’s a bit less with other activities. But the Village Centre is an important thing for us — because it has a full gym, it will have yoga classes, which we both do.”
There are conveniences. Downsizing from a single-family home, Clark will be selling his tools.
“I know if I need a tool, the village centre has a full wood working shop.” he says.
“It’s got a wine cellar and we like to collect and drink wine,” Clark adds. “If I need to store some wine, I can rent a wine storage locker and even have tastings there.”