OPTIONS ABOUND IN COWAN’S GROVE
Contemporary homes available in all configurations
The options are getting plentiful in south Ottawa. With seven other builders joining trailblazers Tamarack Homes and Tartan Homes in the Findlay Creek area near Bank Street and Leitrim Road, there’s “a lot of choice, a lot of selection for homeowners,” notes George Georgaras, president of HN Homes.
HN and frequent building partner Urbandale Construction are the latest to launch a community here, opening Cowan’s Grove across Bank Street from Findlay Creek just before Christmas.
Taking its name from one of the area’s founding families, Cowan’s Grove is a planned community of more than 500 contemporary towns, semi-detached homes, bungalows and two-storey singles, tucked between the Greenbelt and the city’s urban boundary, which means it’s surrounded by nature while being conveniently close to amenities.
And while Cowan’s Grove is among other growing neighbourhoods in the area, having just the two builders means it will have an intimate community feel to it, says Melissa Boudreau, Urbandale’s marketing communications manager.
“There’s a beautiful community park that’s going to have a lot of features. I think it’s going to be very well used, not only by the people who live in Cowan’s Grove, but neighbouring communities as well,” she says. The multi-use park, which is expected to include a fullsize soccer pitch, a basketball court that converts to a skating rink in winter, splash pad, skateboard facility, toboggan hill and more, is to be set next to an expanded stormwater pond outfitted with nature trails.
“Having the paths and the option to go walking and cycling and have that green space to explore is going to be really nice for the community,” says Boudreau. “It’s a unique feature.”
The community also has space set aside for an elementary school as well as mixed-use development fronting Bank Street.
Both Urbandale and HN have released some of all the housing types being offered and have included both lots that back onto the stormwater pond and ones with walkout basements.
“We’ve released enough that there’s a range of locations and a range of options,” says Georgaras.
Launching just before Christmas is an unusual move for a builder as the market tends to get quiet at the end of the year, but both builders wanted to give buyers the option of getting ahead of new mortgage rule changes that came into effect Jan. 1.
Those rules include the expansion of a stress test that measures whether a borrower would be able to keep making mortgage payments if interest rates rise two percentage points. Previously, this test was applied to those with a down payment of less than 20 per cent, but it now also affects buyers with a down payment of 20 per cent or more, in effect reducing their buying power.
Interest in Cowan’s Grove so far has been positive, both builders say, despite the fact that neither has actively promoted the project until now.
“The main thing that attracted me was the customer service,” says J.P. Makhoul, one of the first buyers of an Urbandale townhome in the development. A Findlay Creek resident for the past six years, he loves the area and bought a 2,100-square-foot end unit as an investment property.
“It’s a nice layout from outside and inside. I saw a model home similar to it in Riverside South and I fell in love with it.”
HN’s first buyers, meanwhile, are a young family moving up to a single-family home from a townhome in Riverside South.
Matt Vadnais and his wife, Meenakshi Sharma, have spent the past three or four years looking for their “forever” home. They had been through HN’s models at Riverside South several times and fell in love with the Kenson, but did their due diligence and made the rounds of several other builders before coming back to their first choice and a lot just steps from the park and pond.
“I loved how as soon as you open the door you could just see front to back of the house,” says Sharma. “It’s just very modern and very contemporary.”
Adds Matt: “Although their base price is a bit higher, we found that we got a lot more for our money. By the time we added upgrades to the other models we found that in the end we paid more and HN is a lot more flexible in terms of making changes and alterations to their plans.”
HN is bringing to Cowan’s Grove its popular modern lineup of homes designed by award-winning architect Christopher Simmonds and introducing semi-detached homes inspired by its townhome floor plans. “Our towns aren’t small towns; we have lots of square footage,” says Georgaras, which means they work well when applied to a semi-detached option.
HN and Simmonds have taken great care to give the semis the look of a single-family home, particularly with the corner lot options, where “it feels more like a home that happens to have two entrances,” Georgaras says.
Urbandale, meanwhile, has revamped its entire lineup, tweaking some of its popular homes, creating new floor plans, and introducing a new series of more contemporary exteriors called the Pacific series to replace its more traditional California line. Featuring brick, Hardie board and steel panelling accents with a faux wood finish, “it’s an eclectic mix of materials,” Boudreau says, that joins their trendsetting black-framed windows and trim.
Many elevations feature garage doors with full frosted-glass panels and a new and unique window pattern, while inside extra attention has been paid to providing generous closet and storage space, and offering a variety of floor plans to meet all buyer needs.
“Our homes are really designed from the inside out,” Boudreau says. “Not everybody wants the same type of home.”
So, with all the choice in builders now in the area — joining HN, Urbandale, Tamarack and Tartan are Claridge, Lemay Homes, eQ Homes, Phoenix and soon Richcraft — what do HN and Urbandale feel sets them apart?
For Urbandale, there is its longstanding commitment to build homes well above Energy Star-certified, including windows designed for the Arctic and a basement system that keeps it warm and dry, plus its new lineup of homes and the fact it includes finished basement space in its singles as well as its towns, says Boudreau.
And HN points to modern architecture that stays true to the original design. “You have a custom home architect designing all of your product line,” says Georgaras. Adds HN communications and marketing co-ordinator Vasi Georgaras: “They’re not just ‘modern’ on the exterior; they’re actually through and through … every little detail has been thought out to have this consistent (look).”
Combined with high-end features that are included, rather than being costly upgrades, and a process that lets each buyer work closely with award-winning interior designer Leonhard Vogt to complete the look of their home, George Georgaras says their buyers see the value HN is providing, in an area of the city that is a great opportunity.
The south end “is a nice little secret,” says Georgaras, who has lived nearby for 35 years. “You’re downtown in a relatively short period of time, you have easy access east and west. Geographically you’re closer, commuting times you’re closer; I think it’s a great location.”
Occupancy is expected in the spring of 2019.