Grow with the community of East Village
With less than a year to go before the first new residential tower opens in East Village, the community is already one of Calgary’s hottest addresses.
The 2009 master plan for East Village called for the community to provide diverse options in multi-family living. In early 2015, the first of the neighbourhood’s condo towers, Embassy BOSA’s FUSE, should be filling up with residents, with more to follow in FRAM+Slokker’s FIRST close behind.
“Our residential developer partners are complementary in so many ways,” says Susan Veres, vice-president marketing and communications with Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the master developer of East Village. “We chose them very carefully.”
FRAM+Slokker’s sold-out condominium project FIRST will rise 18 storeys over East Village when its 196 condos open next year. The company is now selling Verve, a 25-storey condo offering that will be the first along the exciting Riff pedestrian street.
❝ For this community to be successful, it needs to be inclusive and represent all ages and interests ❞
Meanwhile, Embassy BOSA is under construction and rising rapidly from the ground with Evolution, a multi-tower development that is kicking off with its first tower, FUSE, featuring 203 spacious suites with an average floor plan of approximately 1,000 square feet.
Embassy BOSA has also signed up to provide the residential component of the planned RioCan mixed-use block in the northwest corner of East Village. It will see 500 new residential units featuring the styling of Vancouver-based architect Hossein Amanat combined with a 200,000-square-foot retail centre by RioCan.
“This will add another $300 million of multi-family development to our real estate program in East Village,” says Veres, adding the yet-to-be-named development is expected to feature larger suites than have generally been seen so far in East Village development.
CMLC also recently announced a no-parking condominium project, N3, tailored toward Gen Y buyers by Knightsbridge Homes. The site is conveniently located near the LRT and the New Central Library. The N3 tower will have 160 suites on top of street-level retail. Veres says N3 spotlights how East Village’s residential component has been master-planned to appeal to a diverse range of homebuyers. N3 is geared for a younger buyer for whom driving is not as important. It is the city’s first major condo development to forego parking.
“For this community to be successful, it needs to be inclusive and represent all ages and interests,” says Veres. “This project is affordable to a young audience, and that young energy is important to our community.”
There is even a block earmarked for rental apartments, meaning East Village has the potential to be a place that appeals to those wishing to “test-drive” the neighbourhood by renting.
The plan is to offer accommodation suited to first-time buyers, all the way to the inner-city equivalent of estate living in the penthouse suite.
“FRAM is having an amazing run on penthouses,” Veres notes. “It really speaks to the momentum of East Village.”
This momentum is helped by the area’s growing cache of cultural and recreational amenities. The acclaimed RiverWalk pathway is already a popular route for both pedestrians and cyclists to travel from Inglewood, over the newly opened Elbow River Traverse, through to downtown Calgary. In addition, the long-awaited pedestrian bridge connecting East Village to St. Patrick’s Island and the community of Bridgeland on the north side of the Bow River is soon to open. Construction is well underway on the National Music Centre, and the groundwork is being laid for construction of the New Central Library to start next year.
With all the new development, existing seniors’ residential sites in the southeast part of East Village are not being forgotten. Veres says those residents have been, and continue to be, important stakeholders in the planning process.
“Our seniors are the foundation on which it was possible to build the East Village,” says Veres. “I believe they are becoming more proud to call this community their home.”
To learn more about the East Village and its residential opportunities visit evexperience.com.