A FAMILY AFFAIR
Carrington Urban Terraces’ practical, affordable townhomes have appeal for all ages
Melanie Boudreau and her fiancé Mike Hopkins purchased a new townhome in Avi Urban’s Carrington Urban Terraces development in 2019.
Like most young couples, they were very excited about their firsttime home purchase and wanted the blessing of Melanie’s parents, James and Nicole Boudreau.
Not only did James and Nicole heartily approve, they purchased a unit of their own.
They’re going to be neighbours. “We went to the show homes and looked at the Indigo plan that the kids bought, never thinking about us or our needs. Then, we had a look at the Slate floor plan. Suddenly, I was picturing where all my furniture would go,” says Nicole.
She loved everything about the floor plan, from the cupboards in the kitchen to the way the stairs curved upwards from the main floor. Each unit has a deck and a small backyard, which Nicole found more appealing than the huge backyard she says they never use at their large home in Evanston. Everything made sense, she says.
Nicole, 56, is a nurse and James, 60, works in IT. With retirement around the corner, she says, they felt ready to downsize.
James says their unit, at 1,237 square feet, is the perfect transition between their current 2,000-square-foot home and a one-level condo that they might require at age 75 or 80. For now, he still wants a home with a basement so he can tinker with his large model railroad.
“I’ll just have to retrofit it for the new place,” he says. “In my mind, those are little sacrifices that I’m ready to make so we can be a bit more comfortable.”
The Indigo, the Slate and the Mulberry are the three floor plans available in Avi Urban’s street town project, located on Genstar Development Co.’s side of Carrington in Calgary’s northwest corner. Launched in August 2019, the Urban Terraces are already 60 per cent sold.
Avi Urban area sales manager Anita Bustos says the Urban Terraces have sold well due to the community’s easy access to Stoney Trail and the very affordable prices — from the $310,000s, GST included.
Each home has two or three bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, a basement, a deck and a small yard, with the option for an oversized detached single or double garage off the rear lane.
Two full buildings of six units were released on March 31 with the last two buildings in the project still to come. Bustos says there’s a move-in ready Slate floor plan available with most possessions coming this summer.
With no condo fees, a modest amount of snow shovelling and grass cutting will need to be done, but James says he has a great relationship with his future son-inlaw and knows that when it comes down to it, “Mike will do it for me.”
Nicole says that in anticipation of a future family, her daughter has already requested the babysitting services of her parents.
“She jokes that when the kids are bad, she’ll send them to the grandparents house and watch them walk over to us, then shut the door and lock it,” Nicole says with a laugh.
Then, we had a look at the Slate floor plan. Suddenly, I was picturing where all my furniture would go.