RETHINKING LAND USE PAYS OFF IN SYMONS GATE
Brookfield Residential is using an innovative lot configuration in a portion of Symons Gate that’s shaving costs on single-family and semi-detached homes.
The builder has opened sales on the Keys of Symons Gate, a fee-simple site exclusive to Brookfield that will be built with six single-family and 10 semi-detached homes that are now under construction.
Symons Gate is a community in northwest Calgary by Brookfield.
“We’re always looking at new ways to find choice for Calgarians,” says Ryan Moon, Brookfield’s director, business development, Calgary homes.
“If anyone feels they’ve been priced out of the market in Calgary, they need to check this product out,” he says. “This is a new layer of affordability that they haven’t seen, and they’ll be pleasantly surprised that they’re able to afford the square footage that we’re providing.”
Front-drive single-family homes that would be about $530,000 on a conventional lot are in the $490,000s at the Keys, says the builder.
For the semi-detached homes, which include a double car attached-garage, prices are in the $380,000s. Moon says comparable models are typically in the $420,000s.
“Land, as a component of the overall purchase price of the house, is significant,” Moon says. “By thinking of land differently and configuring the lots differently, what we’ve done is reduce the amount of land per home.”
The plan for the Keys is to have five front- drive single- family homes along the street and five semi- detached homes with a sixth single-family home behind them. The semi-detached models, which have rear-attached garages, also have access from the street. Walkways located between the single-family homes go from the street to the front door of the semidetached homes.
“You still get your own front door, you still get outdoor amenity space, as you would with any conventional home,” says Moon. “It’s just laid out in a different way.”
The single-family homes are fenced, providing a layer of privacy from the people using the walkways.
“One of the benefits of the Keys is that it comes fully-landscaped, including the fencing,” Moon says. “Many of the homes are zeroscaping for a very low maintenance.”
For the single-family home on the back row, which also has a rearattached garage, there’s front door access from a side road.
“We’ve carefully considered and strategically designed the homes to maximize light,” Moon says. “Where your conventional (single-family) home has eightfoot side yards, these homes are 16 feet apart.
“We’re just thinking of land differently,” he adds.
“A large backyard that may not be needed or desired by a certain style of customer, we’re just taking that out of the equation and repurposing it into square footage. So the actual overall square footage price is a lot lower here.”
The Keys provides buyers with green space, just in a different format.
“The front homes have a very similar setback to what you would see typically,” Moon says. “The homes in the back have a very appropriate front yard, if not larger than your typical front yard, but don’t have a rear yard. The amenity space is programmed differently.”
Front-drive single-family homes at the Keys are new models for Brookfield, while the semi-detached options are refined ver- sions of what have been offered through the builder previously.
The front-drive single-family lineup — which offers both three and four bedroom orientations — includes the 2,336-square-foot Ledger, the 2,339- square- foot Sharp, the 2,220-square-foot Timbre, the 2,437-square-foot Treble, and the 2,437-square-foot Bass. The Bass is the only home with a three-car garage, the rest have two.
For semi-detached buyers, it’s the Cadence floor plan, which ranges from 1,494 to 1,780 square feet.
The aforementioned single-family option on the back row of the Keys is also done in the Cadence floor plan, just as a detached home instead.
Sales at the Keys are offered through Brookfield’s move- up show homes in the community.