‘TIMELESS DESIGN, MODERN FEEL’
Holland Park construction on multi-family development begins in Walden on July 11
A townhome development with European-inspired exterior architecture and a planned community garden is taking root in Walden.
Excel Homes celebrated the upcoming start of construction at Holland Park — planned for July 11 — with a shovel turning ceremony recently. The development, which will contain 126 townhomes across 21 buildings, is slated to have first possessions available in the first quarter of 2019.
Thinking about the work needed to get to the point of shovels in the ground, Alex Ferguson, Excel’s president, multi-family, calls the milestone a “celebration of the team and what they (accomplished) to get here.”
It’s also an important step for people in the market for a new townhome. Along with Holland Park’s two show homes, there’s a benefit to now being able to watch it take shape.
“There’s a group of buyers who need to be able to walk in and touch it, and that’s what we have in our (show homes) today,” Ferguson says. “To see it on site and how the whole future community will layout, it makes a big deal to people. Housing is so emotional and so visual, that it makes a big difference to be able to see it.”
The multi-family division of Excel is fully-integrated with GableCraft Homes, a brand that’s responsible for such developments as the Timbers, Bridgeland Hill, and Bridgeland Crossings II.
Under the Excel brand, Holland Park is the first multi-family development that includes a condo fee format, covering costs such as the exterior maintenance and the exterior insurance of its homes.
Prices start from $279,900, plus GST. This includes floor plan orientations of two bedrooms, two bedrooms plus den, three bedrooms, and three bedrooms plus den, and an overall size range of 1,177 to 1,452 square feet.
Eighty-three per cent of these townhomes will have a double or tandem car garage and the balance will have a single car garage with a full-length driveway for a second car.
Holland Park’s show homes present its 1,293-square-foot Plan K and 1,452-square-foot Plan P.
“We really tried to create a (multi-family) community that had a timeless design with that modern feel,” Ferguson says, of its exterior elevation that nods to a look seen in European countries, inspiring the use of Holland in the development’s name.
“We’ve come here with that modern design and it’s connecting,” says Ferguson.
The buildings are designed around a planned central green space and community garden.
One of the benefits to a community garden, says Ferguson, is that it not only allows green thumbs — and more casual gardeners — a convenient place to enjoy the relaxing pastime, but it also gives residents of the development a natural place to connect with other people living there.
Ferguson has worked on developments, under the GableCraft brand, that have included community gardens.
He especially enjoys visiting these developments late summer and seeing the results of how well the community garden has been embraced by the owners.
“It’s really beautiful to see,” says Ferguson.
Walden is a master-planned community by Genstar Development Co., located east of Macleod Trail. It has 49 hectares in green space and nearly eight kilometres of pathways. From Walden, a regional pathways system eventually links to Fish Creek Provincial Park.
Within the community there’s a commercial complex, anchored by a Save-on-Foods grocery store.