URBAN APPEAL
Millennium Development Group launches Étoile, a 398-home highrise development in Burnaby
The densification that has been happening in the Lower Mainland in recent years has started to produce some attractive and mature urban communities, often centred around mass transit hubs. Brentwood Town Centre in Burnaby is one example, and it’s here that Millennium Development Group has plans for two highrise residential towers to be collectively known as Étoile.
We have eight units per floor and we’ve been able to make them all corner units because of the design of the building — the footprint is kind of a clover shape.
“The homes we’re offering here are very special in that they are all corner units,” said Peter Marek, director at Millennium Development. “The design challenge we gave to the architect was to make every home a corner suite and they’ve done a fantastic job with it. We have eight units per floor and we’ve been able to make them all corner units because of the design of the building — the footprint is kind of a clover shape, with two homes facing each direction.”
This leaves the central part of each building for the elevators and lobbies, maximizing the views for residents from their units, each of which will include an expansive outdoor terrace. Chris Dikeakos Architects are the people behind the design of the development, and the two residential towers will be connected by an amenity on the fourth floor. This will include a 50-foot outdoor pool, a hot tub and a cabana. Each tower will also have separate steam rooms, social lounges, fitness centres and rooftop green spaces of more than 37,000 square feet combined.
“We expect buyers from the Brentwood area for sure — people who have lived there for a long time and kids who have grown up in the area,” said George Wong, principal at Magnum Projects, the company that is marketing Étoile. “But the map that people are looking at for buying property in the Lower Mainland has expanded a lot in recent years, so we’ll be seeing people from places like Vancouver, the Tri-Cities and Coquitlam as well.”
Despite its urban setting and easy access to mass transit, Wong is keen to point out that Étoile will also be within walking distance of Burnaby Lake Regional Park, a natural sanctuary of 770 acres that includes the Lower Mainland’s largest lake and more than 19 kilometres of walking trails.
Amenities in the park include picnic areas and a rowing course suitable for canoeing, kayaking and rowing training. The rowing pavilion at Burnaby Lake Sports Complex has change rooms and a public canoe launch. In place of the sawmills that used to be part of the Burnaby Lake scenery a century ago, there is now a wildlife viewing tower, from where you can get an up-close look at beavers, ducks and turtles as well as a wide range of local and migratory birds.
Also close by is Burnaby Mountain Golf Course, an 18-hole course with a 60-stall driving range.
Great recreational facilities aside, Wong expects that the convenience of Étoile’s urban location and its proximity to rapid transit will be the project’s main appeal.
“Brentwood Town Centre now has a critical mass to it now that means it’s really becoming an urban centre and Étoile will be very much a part of it,” he noted. “It’s attracting buyers from outside of the area because they can see the convenience of being able to walk to shops, entertainment, restaurants, banks, grocery stores and medical and dental offices right there in the community.
“For young professionals, the length of the commute to work remains among the very top factors in their decisions about where they buy,” he added. “We’re drawing a lot of people from Vancouver because you’re paying maybe as much as 40 per cent more for a condominium there. A lot of people have opted to move a bit further out and take that bit of a commute on the SkyTrain, where they can sit and do their work if they need to.”
Buyers at Étoile will have a choice of two colour schemes and wide plank laminate wood flooring in all living areas. All homes come with air conditioning, ceilings of at least nine feet, Blomberg frontloading washers and dryers, and roller shade window coverings.
Kitchens feature two-tone, softclose cabinetry, quartz slab countertops with waterfall finishes in Calacatta Nuvo or Coastal Grey, and marble-inspired porcelain tile backsplashes. They also have rectilinear stainless-steel sinks and professional kitchen faucets with built-in sprays. The Bosch appliance packages include gas cooktops, integrated stainless-steel wall ovens and hood fans.
In the bathrooms, there are European-style vanities with softclose hardware, polished quartz countertops and above-counter double vessel sinks. There are floating mirrors and mirrored backlit medicine cabinets in master bathrooms, environmentally friendly dual-flush toilets and marble-inspired porcelain floor tiles and tub/shower surrounds.
Homes at Étoile will have between one and three bedrooms and range in size from 569 to 1,818 square feet. Prices are available on request and public previews are scheduled for the end of August.
We’re drawing ... from Vancouver because you’re paying maybe as much as 40 per cent more for a condominium there.