WORLD TRAVELLERS MAKE SMOOTH LANDING IN OKOTOKS
Kyle Girard and Marni Hutchinson recently took a year off to explore 17 countries — from the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, to the Albanian Riviera, to camel trekking in India’s Thar Desert.
While another full year of globetrotting isn’t in the plans anytime soon, the Okotoks couple enjoys taking advantage of the ability to leave town for two-week stints.
But one of the things travellers have to think about is how their home will hold up while they’re gone.
When they returned from their trip, they decided to transition from a 2,000-square-foot, singlefamily home to a townhome.
They bought at Arrive at the Landing by Partners Development Group, a 30-townhome development in Drake Landing, which is a master-planned community in Okotoks by Anthem United.
The development also includes a commercial component, putting Kid’s Stop Day Care on-site, along with professional offices.
Partners also has active developments in Bowness, Evanston, Redstone, and an upcoming launch in Sage Meadows, and Crestmont early this autumn.
Prices at its Drake Landing site start from $299,900 net GST, and immediate to 60-day possessions are available. For people interested in seeing a full-scale example of these townhomes, a show home is constructed and available to be toured.
“It’s a lifestyle choice,” says Girard, of the condo fees that cover the upkeep of their exterior of their home. “We like that it’s maintenance free.
“It suits our lifestyle where we can just leave and travel and do the sorts of things we like doing.”
Part of what the couple found attractive about Arrive at the Landing was the location of its site at Drake Landing Wynd. It faces a large community park.
“We find that the whole community uses it and we do have some younger families that are always over there — it’s great,” Jade Mahon, vice-president and sales and marketing for Partners, says of the park.
It features a play structure, a skating rink in the wintertime, and long stretches of pathways.
“We have a lot of green space and easy access to pathways,” Girard says. “From our front door, we can access the trail system in Okotoks, which is awesome. You can basically get around the whole town down to the river valley.”
This is key for the couple, who enjoy cycling and going for long walks. “There are many pathways in the Drake Landing, as well, that go around ponds,” says Girard. “Easy access to (natural) areas ... It’s a nice community.”
They also enjoy spending sunny evenings taking in nine innings at Seaman Stadium. This is where the Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Major Baseball League play. “We’re about a 10-minute walk from the stadium,” says Girard.
The appeal of their west-facing townhome is two-fold. They’re fans of the pleasing flow of natural light and “we get the full mountain view, which is really nice,” Girard says. Sight lines of the Rockies can even be experienced through their master bedroom window.
Townhomes at Arrive at the Landing range from 1,320 to 1,450 square feet. Floor plans with double master bedrooms and a den have a single car garage and fulldepth driveway, and those with three bedrooms have a full basement and a double car garage. The three bedroom floor plans have sold out.
The couple bought the 1,432-square-foot Stratus end floor plan, which has a double car attached garage, three bedrooms on the top floor and a fourth in the developed basement.
One of the secondary bedrooms on the top level is being used as a home office, and the bedroom in the basement will be for guests.
They’re also fond of the openconcept main level, which Girard says is ideal for entertaining, and an upstairs laundry room that he
calls “spacious,” adding “you can hang clothes to dry in there if you needed to.”
All townhomes at the development have a second floor laundry room.
When it comes to specifications, Mahon says these townhomes are “fully upgraded.”
“People do not need to upgrade anything and they have been very well-received,” she says.
Ceilings are nine feet high, and the kitchens boast stainless steel appliances, contemporary cabinets, and an island with an eating bar, featuring quartz counters.
The exterior of this development has durable Hardie cement board siding and bricks accents. The win- dow casings are black metal.
Arrive at the Landing, like all townhome developments by Partners, is constructed to receive gold level certification through Built Green Canada. Homes can earn certification for energy efficiency through this national, industrydriven program, based on the materials and methods that go into the build. Among its green-minded specifications are a 96 per cent high efficiency furnace and 100 per cent efficient electric water heater, heat recovery ventilator, water saver faucets and toilets, EnergyStar appliances, and large low-emissivity windows.