HIGH STYLE
Residents of Terraces at the Peak will have stellar outlooks from their homes atop Burnaby Mountain
Throw the word “Vancouver” into any online image search and you’ll get dozens of picture-postcard photographs of city skylines and snow-topped mountains surrounded by sparkling inlets. Most people who live in the city don’t get these kinds of views from their living room windows and those that do often have had to pay big bucks for it.
Not so at Terraces at the Peak, a 117-home condo development by Intergulf set for Simon Fraser’s UniverCity, a master-planned community on top of Burnaby Mountain. Here, homeowners will get panoramic views of the region’s Sea-to-Sky backdrop at prices below what you would expect to find in much of the Lower Mainland.
“Because this is one of the highest points of land in the whole of Metro Vancouver, the views even from the lower floors will be stunning,” said Kristen Bull, marketing director at Magnum Projects, which is marketing the development on behalf of Intergulf. “There’s a whole vista from the northeast to the northwest and even to the south there will be wide-open views over the Lower Mainland.
“I would use the word majestic. I know it seems a little over the top, but it really is — you’re on top of a mountain.”
Before the development of UniverCity, the vast majority of homes at SFU were student residences. The creation of the new community, in collaboration with the City of Burnaby, significantly diversified the living options at SFU. The neighbourhood also includes commercial and retail buildings, an elementary school and a daycare, all based on sound principles of sustainability.
“I actually went to SFU from 2001 to 2006 and when I started, there was very little up there,” Bull said.
“It was a quiet and quite remote campus. Since then, it’s really blossomed into a fully functioning and healthy community, which is really nice to see.”
Intergulf was one of the pioneers of the UniverCity with its Novo 1 and Novo 2 developments, completed in 2004. In 2016, the company completed The Peak, a development on a parcel of land just to the west of Terraces, where the homes sold out within three months.
“On the back of that project, Intergulf launched Terraces at the Peak,” Bull said. “We’ve been incredibly successful again, with more than 80 per cent sold so far.”
The secret to that success, according to Intergulf vice-president Shaadi Faris, is the company’s approach to the development process.
“We apply insights gathered from our 35 years of experience — a collection of principles and processes known as ‘Intergulf Intelligence’ — that ensure uncommon attention to detail at every phase of a project’s progress,” he said. “We are capable of managing the entire development process, from land acquisition through design, construction and handover.
“We start by selecting sites that offer access to a wide range of amenities, then we consult with a carefully selected team of architects, engineers and other specialists to create projects that are tailored to their location and function.”
The result at Terraces at the Peak is a 13-storey concrete building with architecture by Ramsay Worden in a stepped form designed to maximize the views. There’s more than 3,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities, including a gym, a private dining, study and entertainment room with a chefinspired kitchen, a children’s play area, and a huge outdoor terrace with a barbecue area. The building also features a secure, fobcontrolled lobby, underground parking with spots for 24 visitors and a car wash station.
Higher up in the building, kitchens come with European-inspired cabinets, LED under-cabinet lighting, quartz countertops and porcelain tile backsplashes. The full-sized stainless-steel appliance packages are by KitchenAid with the exception of the 30-inch Blomberg refrigerators with bottom-mounted freezers.
Bathrooms feature large-format wall and floor porcelain tiles, builtin niches in the ensuite showers, soaker bathtubs, quartz counters and polished chrome fixtures.
“People have loved the views and the value can’t be beaten,” Bull said.
“The prices are significantly lower than you would find in Burnaby, Coquitlam and Vancouver so the offering is exceptional for firsttime buyers. There’s also a lot of people who have been buying at SFU, moving up and upgrading with each new development or every other one. We’ve seen a loyal SFU community who want to stay in the area and want to upgrade their homes.”
Bull said the terraced architecture has also attracted downsizers, who are keen to maintain their love of expansive outdoor living.
“There’s been interest from investors, too, because the return is among the best around,” she added. “The rents are still quite high because it’s at a university with a captive market for rentals just like UBC. The difference here is that the prices are significantly lower so there’s a more positive return on investment.”
The studio and one-bedroom homes at Terraces at the Peak are already sold out. Two-bedroom homes start at $599,900 and completion is expected for the summer of 2020.