ON THE CUTTING EDGE
Newly-opened Village Centre nails it with host of resort-style activities at Westman Village
Ever since high school shop class, Murray Lundberg can be regularly seen with a saw and sander.
“I’ve been playing at it all my life,” says the retired engineer, on his woodworking hobby.
He’s built everything from rumpus rooms to furniture — even a cedar-strip canoe.
“Anything that comes along, building things for friends, and things like that. Mostly furniture of more of an heirloom quality,” Murray adds.
He and wife Mary have had a single-family home in Cranston for the past seven years, something they feel is now too large for their needs. When looking into developments that provided a more appropriate home size, Murray kept an eye on the potential to continue his craft on-site. Something, he says, Westman Village by Jayman Built has “in spades.”
A woodworking room is part of the development’s multi-faceted Village Centre.
This 40,000-square-foot facility boasts a broad range of amenities and activities for residents of Westman Village, which is located within the greater southeast Calgary lake community of Mahogany.
While first possessions on homes in Westman Village are not yet available, people who purchased or signed a leasing contract can make use of its amenities right away.
Construction on the Village Centre completed in late 2017, and it’s been open to future residents from early January of this year.
“It’s been incredibly positive,” says Nicky Ziemann, sales manager at Westman Village, on the response from future residents on the Village Centre opening for use early. “Most resorts will build their amenity spaces last. Our take was to build the amenity spaces first and allow our residents — whether they have moved in yet or not, as soon as they sign their purchase agree- ment or lease agreement, they then become residents and are able to use the Village Centre right away.”
Tours are also available to the public. They can meet staff at the presentation centre on Mahogany Boulevard S.E. and are taken by shuttle to the facility.
Murray is a member of the Southern Alberta Woodworkers Society. Based on his expertise, he offered — and the developer accepted – his assistance in selecting equipment, and determining how it would be arranged within the Village Centre shop. He also helped set it up.
Along with its woodworking room, the centre features a wine cellar, arts and crafts centre, 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, multi-purpose room, movie theatre, golf simulator, party room with a wet bar, billiards room, running track and half-court gymnasium.
While the facility is exclusive to Westman Village residents, the public can also access Mode Fitness Studio, which has programs that are now underway.
The company has about 3,300 square feet within the centre, with separate studios for spin bike fitness and yoga, along with plans for additional programs as Westman Village begins to populate.
There’s been early interest, says Morgan Linehan, Mode’s operator.
“I taught this past weekend and we had a full class,” she says. “Definitely some of the time slots are filling up and people are loving the space.”
She says it’s a “purposeful design” with “light, bright, inviting colours.”
The spin classes are to done to a beat and with a disco ball in a dark, candlelit room.
“It is high-interval training, so an intensive workout with weights and cardio and hill climbs — the whole gamut,” says Linehan.
The yoga programming is a diverse lineup, featuring restorative, power flow, sculpt, Hatha and introductory classes.
“Whether you’ve never done spin or yoga or you’re on your 600th class, there is something for everybody. I want it to be inclusive.”
She says participants have ranged in age from their mid-teens to people in their 70s.
Murray and Mary Lundberg have eight grandchildren and thought about the attraction the Village Centre would hold for them, too. In their case, Murray says, “the big draw is the waterslide.”
Beyond the Village Centre, the entire Westman Village plan was a draw.
It follows successful resort communities, where all of the necessities, social activities and hobbies are at the residents’ fingertips.
For Murray and Mary, it harkens back to the seven years in which they had a vacation home at a development in sunny Mesa, Ariz.
In addition to the Village Centre, the 5.5-hectare Westman Village is planned to feature an assortment of dining and boutique shopping options.
It will have feature 26,250 square feet of retail space, a daycare, dog park, marketplace, and two restaurants — Headquarters restaurant and Chairman’s Steakhouse.
Along with Mode Fitness Studio, Analog Coffee, Diner Deluxe, The Chopped Leaf, and Mahogany Village Dental have also been announced as retail tennants.
Westman Village will build out to about 900 homes across four segments.
One being a condo development dubbed Calligraphy, where prices start from $231,065, and range from 594 to 1,135 square feet.
Reflection is an estate condominiums development that starts from $766,395, and offers floor plans that range from 1,527 to 2,573 square feet.
Then there’s Journey Club Seniors Living from $3,626 for a monthly lease, and Journey Club Retirement Living starting from $330,137.
In all cases, the price includes the GST.
Westman Village also has leasing at a development dubbed Lyric, where floor plans range from 615 to 1,116 square feet. The monthly lease here starts from $1,696.
First possessions at Calligraphy, Reflection, Lyric, and Journey Club Seniors Living are expected to be available this summer, while Journey Club Retirement Living will follow closer to December 2018.
The Lundbergs bought at Reflection. The move will take them from a 2,200-square-foot space to something closer to 1,600 square feet.
But the two-bedroom plan will be a comfortable adjustment. “It’s almost identical to our house, just a smaller version,” says Murray.
“I have a couple of plans that I am working on now to add to the new place,” Murray says, mentioning an idea for a computer desk.
Among the features that stood out to the Lundbergs about their new home are its two balconies.
“In the heat of the summer you can go to the north balcony and on the cooler days, you can go to the south balcony,” Murray says. “You have outdoor living that spans a wider temperature range.”