MAKING A HOME AT MILL HOUSE
Longtime North Shore residents find right fit
I am very impressed with what Mill House is going to be or else I wouldn’t be buying.
KEN MCKEEN CONDOMINIUM BUYER
Project: Mill House Project location: 3205 Mountain Highway, North Vancouver
Project size/scope: 75 one-, two-, two-bedroom-and-den and three-bedroom woodframe condo homes in an alpine-inspired four-storey building close to the Lynn Valley town centre and public transportation. Homes range from 624 — 1,100 sq. ft. Prices: $299,900 — $629,900 Strata fees: 27 cents a sq. ft. Developer: Marcon Lynn Valley
Homes Architect: Rositch Hemphill
Architects Interior designer: Gannon Ross
Designs Sales centre: 1268-D Lynn Valley Rd., North Vancouver
Sales contact: Wendy Pirie, sales manager
Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thurs Telephone: 604-986-0007
Website: marcon.ca/millhouse Occupancy: June 2016
For Ken and Shirley McKeen, who have lived in the same three-bedroom home in North Vancouver for 46 years, downsizing to a Mill House condominium offered the best of all worlds.
It kept them within easy reach of their two children and their families in North Vancouver. It allowed them to maintain their cherished habits, like going for coffee with friends or hiking every morning in Lynn Valley.
And it freed them of the toil of maintaining a large yard and the dreaded “H” word.
“The yard is now too big for us to manage and we don’t anticipate it becoming any easier as we get older,” said Shirley, adding with a laugh, “housework is not my favourite occupation.”
“We have been talking about downsizing, knowing we have to do it, and this has been instrumental in moving to Mill House,” she said.
It didn’t hurt that Ken had a good working knowledge about both the developer and the site, close to the new Lynn Valley town centre.
He sits on the building committee of Lynn Valley United Church, which is working with Marcon Developments on both the construction of the 75 condominium homes and a new church on the property.
“I was a structural engineer (by training),” said Ken, now retired. “I worked for the B.C. forest industry in market development and my career was all about introducing this kind of construction in Europe and Japan.
“I am very familiar with construction and construction detail,” he continues, “and I am very impressed with what I see here. The quality of construction is very good. I am very impressed with what Mill House is going to be, or else I wouldn’t be buying here.”
The McKeens bought a twobedroom-and-den home on the southeast corner of the fourth floor, which they say will give them lots of natural light and a view of Mount Seymour.
Sales manager Wendy Pirie, also a longtime North Shore resident, said the McKeens are typical of the downsizers she has seen register on the Mill House website or come in the showroom door.
“These people are in their 70s and 80s and they are saying they need to move and downsize,” she said. But instead of downsizing being a negative, they are excited because they don’t have to move out of their neighbourhood. “These people are active hikers and bikers and they’ve got the mountains and trails and Lynn Canyon, plus they have all the amenities of Lynn Valley shopping centre, Karen Magnuson community centre, the library and public transportation.”
Pirie points out that the high walk score of 93 — a 100-point rating system assigned to developments based on proximity to various amenities — puts Mill House on par with many downtown Vancouver residential developments.
Bryce Rositch, whose architecture firm Rositch Hemphill designed Mill House, said in an email that the style is one he calls “North Shore contemporary” with stone and cedar exteriors, large balconies and generous roof overhangs.
“It’s a new era for Lynn Valley, but very appropriate to its setting.”
He noted the site is on two tree-lined streets and backs on to a protected creek and forest on the third side.
“It’s an ideal setting, especially with the new library and Lynn Valley Mall located within two blocks. Across the street are a school and museum plus a civic park. It’s a short distance to walking paths heading north into the mountains or west across the creek.
“There are features in the design that may not be immediately evident. There are two elevators that are spread apart, so that the distance from an owner’s parking stall to his/her apartment is shorter. Taller and wider windows, in addition to the open design of the suites, will make them feel very spacious. True storage rooms are provided, large enough to accommodate all the stuff that active North Shore residents have. The homes on the creek side will always look on to green, verdant forest.”
The show home — it has two bedrooms and a den — shows off some of the features common to all homes. All units have at least nine-foot ceilings, which allow more light in through oversized windows that stretch to the ceilings. The penthouse ceilings rise to 12 feet in some areas. Balconies have the same nine-foot ceilings, and are inset and weather protected, providing for yearround use. Windows come with two-inch faux wood blinds.
The show suite’s bathrooms and the laundry rooms provide plenty of shelving, as do closets in the master and secondary bedrooms, with the master allowing space for a king-sized bed in most suites. Laminate flooring in the kitchen, den, living and dining areas is in two shades — Cinnamon and Meridian Oak — and both have a premium acoustical underlay to dampen sound transfer. Bedrooms have a scrolled level-loop nylon carpeting.
In the kitchen, Marcon has installed a Fisher and Paykel Energy Star fridge with an internal water-filtration system, built-in ice maker and water dispenser, a GE ceramic glass cooktop and self-clean wall oven and a chest- high Panasonic microwave. Overhead is a Venmar Jazz European-style chimney hood fan. A GE Energy Star tall tub dishwasher completes the appliance suite. All are set within Shaker-style frost white cabinetry with 36-inch upper cabinets that meet a bulkhead that drops from the ceiling. Lower cabinets are finished in either a white or pecan colour with softclose hardware.
In some homes, there are large pantries for added storage, and all homes have solid quartz countertops and a porcelain tile backsplash. Sinks are double-bowl undermount style. Lighting of countertops is by under-cabinet LED accent strips.
In the ensuites, the LED lighting is controlled by motion detectors, making late-night visits easier. Countertops are again solid quartz, and bathrooms are equipped with deep soaker tubs and frameless glass showers.
All suites come equipped with LG Energy Star full-sized stacked front-loading washer and dryer.
Kitchen and bedrooms are equipped with USB chargers for smartphones and other electronic devices. All homes come installation-ready for Telus’ Smart Hub Wi-Fi connectivity and high-speed Internet access. As a perk, Marcon is throwing in free Telus TV and Internet for one year.
Indoor and outdoor amenities include a lounge area and outdoor patio. A particularly nice feature in the garage is a fivefoot-by-seven-foot-by-eightfoot-high storage locker with a metal roll-down door, sufficient for the largest paddle board, skis, bikes, golf clubs and other toys common to North Shore residents.