AN ENCORE IN PHOENIX
Couple finds the perfect spot
When Edmonton couple Patti and Nick Moskalyk bought their first winter home in the southeast valley around Phoenix, Ariz., in 1992, they weren’t old enough for a 55plus neighbourhood.
But more than 20 years later — with the sale of that Gilbert home — the Moskalyks became the 33rd buyers in the 970-home enclave of Encore at Eastmark.
The new 55-plus neighbourhood is part of Eastmark, an almost 1,300 hectare (13 square kilometres) master-planned community in Mesa — long a draw for Western Canadian snowbirds — that sits next to the Superstition Mountains.
Encore, with about 40 per cent of its single-storey homes sold (ranging in size from 1,300 to 3,200 square feet with prices from US$255,900 to $475,000), has everything the Moskalyks wanted in a warm weather escape.
That includes its own private clubhouse with large fitness centre, resort-style outdoor swimming pool (surrounded by expanses of lawn for parties), bocce, tennis and pickleball courts, arts and craft rooms and its own cafe.
“We love everything – the facilities are great, everyone we have met is friendly, and we even started a cribbage group,” says Patti, who worked in administration support for the Edmonton Public School Board. She and Nick, who owned a ventilation company, retired in 2000 and spend about five and a half months each year in their winter home.
They also have access to all the facilities of Eastmark, the first development in Arizona in a decade when it launched in 2013 just at the end of the U.S. recession. It has been the top selling masterplanned project in the state (and sixth in the nation) every year since then.
“It is the desirability of the area,” says Garilyn Bourgeois, marketing director for Brookfield Residential Properties (Arizona). Canadian developer Brookfield is managing partner of Eastmark, which it is developing with American developer DMB.
“The southeast valley, and Mesa in particular, has outpaced Phoenix for building permits.”
The community will eventually have 15,000 homes several
decades down the road. Already it is two years ahead of schedule with 2,350 homes (920 sales in 2017 alone) and more than 5,000 residents. Homebuilders (including Canada’s largest, Mattamy Homes) are currently building in about 20 neighbourhoods. Twelve new neighbourhoods will be launched this year including the Estates at Eastmark, a gated neighbourhood with its own clubhouse, pool and social centre for residents.
The current offerings include villa-style, lock-and-leave units around parkland that are also attractive to snowbirds, says Bourgeois, with additional 55-plus neighbourhoods expected once Encore is completed.
Eastmark already has 40 neighbourhood parks but the centrepiece is the Great Park, which is 2.5-kilometre long and covers 43 hectares (106 acres).
The first completed park phases include an interactive water play area/splash pad; an outdoor event pavilion; a lake and riparian stream; the Orange Monster recreational climbing park; and the Handlebar Diner (a refurbished 1940s diner). This year, a two-acre operating farm will open, providing produce for the development.
The community hub also features a pool of more than 4,000 square feet and a recreation centre called the Bus Stop, where everything from wine evenings to Chinese lessons is held.
Eastmark also has other attractions for all demographics, from snowbirds to retirees to young families.
A nearby hospital is slated to open this year, a 36,000-squarefoot shopping centre is marked to open in 2019, its charter schools are the highest rated in the state, and the community’s north side borders Mesa’s Tech Corridor, home to Apple’s Global Operations Center — a draw for other high-tech businesses with wellpaying jobs.
For snowbirds, the Mesa Gateway Airport (now with direct flights from both Calgary and Edmonton) is less than 15 minutes away.
And there are more than 200 golf courses in the metro Phoenix area, more than 40 of them within a half-hour drive of downtown Mesa.
We love everything — the facilities are great, everyone we have met is friendly, and we even started a cribbage group.
Edmonton resident Patti Moskalyk, who winters at Encore at Eastmark in Mesa, Ariz., with her husband Nick.