Fenwyck puts focus on active lifestyles
Spruce Grove’s newest residential development will, at build-out, add as many as 1,400 people to this popular city just 11 kilometres down the road from Edmonton. And while Fenwyck will no doubt benefit from its closeness to the western edge of the bigger city’s municipal boundaries, there are so many more advantages the new neighbourhood — and Spruce Grove itself — has to attract homebuyers, says Avillia Developments president Patrick Shaver.
While the primary one is housing affordability — “apples to apples,” Shaver says homes in Spruce Grove are $30,000 to $40,000 less than in west Edmonton — it includes an overall focus on outdoor, healthy family living.
Nearly half the 160-acre Fenwyck — that Avillia is doing with developer Landrex — will be open space, parks, trails, a creek, storm water lake and environmental reserve. “It’s a wonderful piece of land that really lends itself to how we like to develop neighbourhood space to promote active living,” says Shaver.
Forty per cent of the homes in the community will be on amenity lots, backing on to the creek, storm lake, the trail system or the fen (thus the name Fenwyck) of mature thick trees.
The new neighbourhood located down Hwy. 16A off the newly constructed Pioneer Road — one of more than 10 residential developments currently underway in Spruce Grove — is just one example of the abundant natural amenities the city offers its 36,000 residents.
Along with being one of the fastest growing communities in Canada (it has an annual average five per cent growth rate and saw 300 housing starts last year alone, the second highest in the Capital region) it has what Mayor Stuart Houston has referred to as a hidden gem in Jubilee Park, with 66 acres of everything from walking and bike trails, to Frisbee golf and picnic areas, to a new spray park with more than 50 interactive and integrated play features.
There’s another 40 kilometres of trails in Heritage Grove Park, including 8.6 acres in a fenced, off-leash dog park (with a separate small dog area).
That’s in addition to two new elementary schools, at a cost of $45 million; $32 million in new commercial/industrial space in 2018 (with the $300 million Westwinds Centre’s additional 110,000 sq. ft. of retail space under construction); and $90 million in new housing development, invested in the city.
It is why, says both the mayor and Shaver, families are attracted to Spruce Grove.
“It’s a community of critical mass with all the retail, employment, education, other services you need, and don’t have to go to Edmonton for,” says Shaver.
Fenwyck expects to see a mix of local, Edmonton and new-to-thearea buyers for its homes that will range from duplex to single-family options all the way to estate homes. It also includes a 6.5-acre seniors’ housing project and 2.5 acres of commercial development with construction to start in the next several months.
Home builders include Alquinn Homes, UrbanAge Homes and Southbend Developments.