‘JUST KNEW IT WAS THE ONE’
Alpine Park and spacious Pinnacle 2 home immediately won over first-time buyers
Striking a balance between modern and traditional design, one of Cardel Homes’ newest creations, the Pinnacle 2, immediately caught the eye of first-time homebuyers Dmytro and Jana Babat.
“It’s such a spacious home and we just loved how it looked,” says Dmytro, who was sold the moment he crossed the threshold of the Pinnacle 2 show home in the southwest community of Alpine Park.
“It has a really big office on the main floor with lots of windows and lots of light and that was it. I saw that and I knew,” he says.
The couple owns and runs a moving company — Paramount Movers — and they work from home, so a well-defined and functional floor plan was a must for them.
The Pinnacle 2 is a revised version of Cardel’s popular Pinnacle model, designed to accommodate zero lot line homesites. The 2,233-square-foot, three-bedroom, 2½ bathroom, two-storey home offers plenty of room to personalize with loads of floor plan options, including adding a fourth bedroom with walk-in closet and ensuite.
Jana’s favourite area is the main floor open-concept living space with its large great room and dining room leading to the outside patio. “It’s just so big and light and airy,” she says.
The kitchen was also a big plus. The couple loves to entertain and cook and with a large pantry to stock up on favourites and a ninefoot island for preparing feasts, having friends over is easy and enjoyable.
The home demonstrates excellent use of space and is sophisticated in its design. An attached rear double garage carves out a secluded and sheltered outdoor area, perfect for hosting outdoor dinner parties or just lounging with the family.
The extra bedrooms will allow the couple’s extended family, who are all in Ukraine and Czechia (also known as the Czech Republic), to come and visit.
“Now it’s going to be really easy to have them come over and stay,” says Dmytro. “We haven’t been able to do that.”
The recent newlyweds — they were married last year — had been renting a one-bedroom apartment downtown in Calgary close to the river, but knew that they wanted to start a family.
So, last summer they approached a mortgage broker and got pre-approval.
“For us that was the most important step. We could then go forward because we knew what our budget was going to be,” says Dmytro.
They knew that they wanted a new-build home, one large enough to accommodate a growing family in a community that was family-centric, and close to the mountains and to amenities.
“We never considered a used property because we wanted to have the ability to choose what we wanted in design,” says Dmytro.
They began their search by touring a few communities on both sides of the river, including Cranston and Mahogany in the southeast and Rockland Park in the northwest. When they drove into the community of Alpine Park in Calgary’s southwest, they “just knew it was the one.”
“It’s on a hill with beautiful views and it’s close to the mountains and with Stoney Trail right there. Everything is so close,” says Dmytro.
For Jana, the community’s mature trees, plenty of green space, playgrounds (there’s one across the street from their new home) and walking trails were big draws.
“It’s so beautiful. It actually has grown fruit trees. It’s so unusual for a new community,” says Jana, who moved to Calgary from Czechia two years ago.
The community’s developer,
Dream Developments, ensured that all of the detailing was in place early on, including planting semi-mature trees along the boulevards and throughout the community. Dream worked with international landscape architecture firm Civitas, which also redesigned St. Patrick’s Island in Calgary.
The inspiration for the almost 600-acre community involved staying authentic to what Calgary offers, from easy access to plenty of wilderness — Kananaskis is just 30 minutes away — to great restaurants and close proximity to the cultural and sporting events in the city’s downtown core.
“We like to get to the mountains at least once a week,” says Dmytro, noting that they are avid outdoor enthusiasts. “We love it all: paddleboarding, hiking, canoeing.”
Architecture that connects to the streetscape with generous use of front porches, as well as green space design with interactive barbecue areas, picnic areas, community gardens and a common firepit are designed to draw people together and create community.
“We were really drawn to the architecture with the front porch and the garage in the back. You just feel that new families are here and it’s going to look beautiful,” says Dmytro.
At the heart of the community is the village centre, which will be comprised of a high street brimming with shops and services and where enhanced event programming will take place, like markets and festivals.
Once the couple toured the Pinnacle 2 and chatted with the sales team at Cardel Homes, who presented all of the options and were “amazing,” they gave themselves 24 hours to think about it.
“But it really only took us a quick conversation to decide,” says Jana with a laugh.
The next day, they signed the paperwork.
The couple is excited to take possession at the end of May and are slowly buying new furniture. And recently, the first addition to their family arrived — Gigi, a Labradoodle puppy.
“We stop by to look at our new house once a week, just to see what is happening and to introduce Gigi to the community,” says Jana. “It’s really starting to feel like home.”