THE GOOD LIFE IN CANMORE
Escape to Spring Creek
For Kim and Greg Spence, Spring Creek started as that attractive escape.
Many Fridays, sometimes even Thursdays, they ’d leave Calgary for their place at the master-planned Canmore development, before returning early Monday morning.
Now retired, the early return is no longer needed. The Spences made it their permanent home and have also purchased other condos at the development as investment properties.
Canmore won their hearts with its proximity to Calgary and link to outdoor recreation.
“We like to breathe the air and look at the mountains,” says Kim, who worked in the oil and gas industry. “We have been snowshoeing, downhill skiing at (Sunshine Village), just that active lifestyle. In the summer, it’s hiking and biking, it’s having all that right at your doorstep. It’s so beautiful to do anything.”
For the Spences, Spring Creek’s connections are key.
“It was the location, being walkable to downtown, walkable to grocery stores, restaurants, we can walk everywhere,” Kim says, calling the mountain town’s assortment of places to eat a “foodie’s paradise.”
They bought a 1,900-squarefoot, two-bedroom penthouse in the existing residential building of Rundle Cliffs Luxury Mountain Lodge.
“The bedrooms are massive, as well as the main living area,” says Kim. “It’s a great entertaining space.”
At Rundle Cliffs, they also bought two other condos — including one with a partner — for the purpose of short-term rental.
The couple is so fond of the community that after sales opened at a new residential building in Spring Creek last September, the couple decided to move up.
They bought a corner three-bedroom penthouse measuring about 1,800 square feet at White Spruce Lodge, and a second place, as a short-term rental, with a partner. White Spruce Lodge, a 49-condo development, is the sixth residential building at Spring Creek. It broke ground last November and is expected to complete construction in late 2019.
“When we did our initial launch on September long weekend, we sold 50 per cent on that weekend,” says Frank Kernick, president of Spring Creek.
From the condos remaining, there are seven floor plans to pick from, ranging from 1,598 for a two bedroom plus den floor plan to 1,790 square feet for a threebedroom corner unit. They start from $799,000, before GST.
Part of the development’s appeal is that it offers the uncommon zoning of a tourist home designation, which allows it to be used as a permanent residence or for short-term stays. Spring Creek will build out to about 1,200 homes and earmark 300 with this zoning.
“This building allows people that are investors or someone who will use it as a recreational property to also put it in a rental program or rent it by themselves and make additional income on it when they ’re not using it,” Kernick says. “There was pent-up demand from people in Canmore who were looking for this type of accommodation, that investment-type of product that they can also use personally.”
Kernick estimates three-quarters of the buyers at White Spruce Lodge have turned to the development to use it for additional income while keeping it as a recreation home, and the rest are looking to use it full-time or as a weekend retreat.
He says the building also attracts with “incredible mountain views.” The Spences agree.
“It has a wrap-around balcony,” Kim says of their next Spring Creek home, adding they look forward to “fantastic, unobstructed views,” including the noted Three Sisters mountain range.
Some of the features at condos in White Spruce Lodge include quartz counters and stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors, signature rock fireplaces, and geothermal in-floor slab heating and air conditioning.
“Our condos all have a very highend spec,” Kernick says.
The building will boast a mountain contemporary design, using materials such as stone, timber and glass. There’s underground heated parking, and amenities such as an exercise room and private courtyard with an outdoor hot tub.
Buildings at Spring Creek are all built to be certified for a gold rating through Built Green Canada, a program that measures the energy efficiency of a home or development based on the materials and methods in its construction.
We like to breathe the air and look at the mountains. We have been snowshoeing, downhill skiing ... just that active lifestyle. In the summer, it’s hiking and biking, it’s having all that right at your doorstep. Kim Spence, owner at Spring Creek