All in the details
Zenterra’s Fairways designed to incorporate plenty of charm
Zenterra Developments has made its mark with the young crowd, selling its SOHO and SOHO 2 new townhomes largely to an under-40 crowd. Now it turns its attention to older and more affluent downsizers with its Fairways project of 22 townhomes backing on to the popular Peace Portal Golf Course.
“We’re looking at a different demographic than SOHO because Fairways is going to appeal to people in their 60s,” said Bryanna Christopherson, Zenterra’s sales manager. While younger buyers were thrilled with the rooftop patios among the 230 homes in SOHO and SOHO 2, she said, “older buyers wondered to sales staff, ‘How am I going to walk all my barbecue stuff up there?’”
Christopherson noted that there is a give and take with the Fairways design. While the homes in four buildings don’t have rooftop patios, they have more space on the upper level because stairs aren’t needed to reach the roof. That let the architects dedicate more space to elements such as walk-in closets, which SOHO homes don’t have.
Also appealing to the downsizers is the more intimate boutique size of the development and the privacy created by a determined effort to retain as many old-growth trees as possible and locating it adjacent to a golf course, she said.
Having a backyard that looks on to the golf course will prove popular with older buyers, she said. “People are willing to pay for that because they want the privacy they had coming from a single-family home.
“Many just can’t give up what they are used to, but Fairways makes it easier for a lot of people who are taking that step of downsizing by having so much privacy.”
Fairways is farther from Morgan Crossing shopping compared with earlier Zenterra projects. Fairways is about 12 minutes’ drive from Morgan Crossing, eight minutes from White Rock’s beach and restaurants and two minutes from the Peace Arch border crossing.
Inside the SOHO and SOHO 2 show homes, similar to what Zenterra is building at the Fairways, the finishings in everything from the mouldings and flooring to the premium appliances speak to Zenterra’s industry awards over the last few years. SOHO, for instance, has been nominated for Best MultiFamily Home Development of the Year and Residential Community of the Year at next month’s Georgie Awards, the development industry’s version of the Oscars.
Architect Bernard Decosse, whose firm designed Fairways, described the project as somewhat more traditional with its use of brick, shingle sidewalls, pitched roofs and brackets and Craftsman pillars, making it attractive to the older demographic.
“It’s a much more traditional expression (than SOHO), but still I think a reasonably crisp-looking product,” he said. “The units are very generous in size. And fortunately we were able to save a good number of trees and that creates a situation where it looks like the project has been there for a while.”
Eight of the 10 models available have double garages, while two smaller designs have tandem garages. Some models come with the kitchen at one end of the living space with adjacent dining and living spaces, while others have the kitchen located in the centre with dining and living on each side.
Four-bedroom models have a bedroom on the ground level adjacent to the garage with the remaining three bedrooms on the third level. In the three-bedroom model, all three bedrooms are on the top level. All homes have two balconies off each end of the second level.
All homes feature durable wideplank laminate flooring with plush carpeting on upper floors, stairs, hallways, bedrooms and flex rooms.
Kitchens come in either a galley style or L-shape and have premium Jenn-Air appliances including 36inch counter-depth refrigerators, 30-inch five-burner gas cooktops and dishwashers.
Tandem-garage homes come with a 30-inch Jenn-Air wall oven, while double-garage homes have a five-burner gas range with convection oven. All homes have AEG pullout range hoods and KitchenAid microwaves.
Another feature that particularly appeals to older, more affluent buyers is the provision of forced air natural gas heating, with the built-in ductwork allowing for optional air conditioning, said Christopherson.
The master ensuite bathroom has double porcelain undermount sinks, floor-to-ceiling Italian style porcelain tiles and a frameless glass shower. Kohler plumbing fixtures and Navien on-demand hot water heaters are standard.
Interior designer Gene Guindon said he tried two different styles for the Fairways’ show homes.
“For our larger unit, we went with a more executive refined look with a colour palette of khaki neutrals and navy blues. It’s exciting to have velvets back in fashion, so we have sprinkled luxurious velvet touches throughout. In the expansive kitchen island, we used navy blue velvet Etta stools to set off our whole look.
“In our second, inside unit townhome, we decided to showcase a younger more urban theme. I had in mind a cool Gastown artist loft. I really wanted to show how flexible a space Zenterra has created.
“Zenterra is a cool and creative developer, so I wanted to make sure this place was cool. The space really feels full of light, and the volume of space really felt loft-like to me, therefore we rolled with it.”
Guindon said space is a luxury in the region, and a pleasure for designers to work with.
“Well-designed and laid out floor plans are so much easier to decorate, you don’t have size constraints to hamper the design process. Also, leaving some breathing room around furniture really adds the volume of luxury that has been lost almost everywhere else.”