Adding second floor suits younger buyers
Known for one-level living, eQ brings two storeys to its lineup
Ottawa’s master of building bungalows and low-rise condos for baby boomers is expanding, reaching out to younger buyers with a series of two-storey homes.
Designing them for eQ Homes was Marc Lalonde, a quiet veteran of Ottawa’s housing industry, who turned up his creative juices and came up with 14 designs for Saturday’s launch of eQ’s second phase at Fernbank Crossing, a developing community that straddles Kanata and Stittsville. There are also singles linked by their garages.
The company wants to expand its appeal, says marketing manager Tobin Kardish.
“We have been asked since launching the condos and bungalows to offer two-storey homes,” he says. “We expect these homes will attract younger buyers from Stittsville and the west end.”
eQ Homes, which has carved out a golden niche for bungalows and low-rise condos in its masterplanned golf course community of eQuinelle outside Kemptville, turned to Lalonde for his design chops.
Lalonde, a graduate of Algonquin College’s architectural program, worked with Holitzner Homes for 37 years, helping the builder earn several design laurels before the owners scaled back to focus on custom homes.
For Fernbank Crossing, he says, “I was given different sizes and features and then started looking for a starting point in magazines and on the Net. You always change things.” He has a liking for traditional Craftsman styling, adding lots of finishing touches, including gables. “It’s a comfortable style.”
He also took cues from eQ’s bungalows at eQuinelle, which were designed by Barry Hobin. It was also Hobin who designed the lowrise condos at eQuinelle and a second generation on Terry Fox Drive that sold like hotcakes almost four years ago. A third version of Hobin’s low-rise condos and bungalows are already a success at Fernbank. The two-storey designs are all from the pen of the quiet Lalonde.
His favourite of the 14 is the Baffin, a 2,615-square-foot, energysmart three-bedroom that can grow to 3,199 square feet, including four bedrooms and a finished basement. All of the homes sit on 42- or 50-foot lots.
The Baffin is designed for a 42foot lot and includes a back deck and enclosed sunroom off the great room and a slim porch accessed from a second-floor bonus room that boasts high ceilings.
“The bedrooms wrap around the bonus room and I can see kids making it their own,” he says.
The back master bedroom is designed for parent satisfaction, with a sunny alcove for quiet moments and an ensuite with a corner tub for those who want to soak and a corner shower for the time-pressed.
“The house has it all — everything a family would need,” Lalonde says.
The bedrooms wrap around the bonus room and I can see kids making it their own.