Attainable inner city

AHCC announces Glenbrook and Varsity developments

With easy access to established amenities, transit and the downtown core, living in Calgary's inner city comes with a lot of perks.

While you may have to dip a little deeper in your pockets to live there – the benchmark average of the inner city, according to CREB®, was $557,100 in February – there are also some affordable opportunities.

With service in high demand, Attainable Homes Calgary Corp. has announced 42 new units in Glenbrook, a community bordered by Sarcee Trail, Richmond Road, 37 Street and 26 Avenue in the city's southwest. "In January we sold 21 townhomes in two hours," said AHCC president and CEO David Watson. "In February, 60 people showed up at a single open house.

"There is demand for our service and our homes because the vacancy rate in Calgary is low and the cost of renting remains high."

Calgary's vacancy rate was among the country`s lowest in 2014, hovering around one per cent for most of the year before improving slightly to 1.4 per cent late in the year.

Glenbrook Park will offer one-, two- and two-bedroom-plus-den units ranging from 600 to 1,050 square feet with prices starting at $265,500. Under the AHCC guidelines, those who qualify can buy a home with a $2,000 down payment and a minimum mortgage of $241,942 or monthly payments of around $1,100.

The development will be constructed by Truman Homes by the end of the year.

AHCC had 45 home sales in the first quarter of this year, with a further 42 families moving into new homes, 300 people completing the home education session and more than 1,000 registered online.

Bordering the inner city, the community of Varsity is the home of another recently announced AHCC development. The 26-unit building, located on the corner of Varsity Drive and Shaganappi Trail N.W., will include both attainable homes and market-priced units.

"We're excited because it's got everything to do with what we believe in about diversifying our community and having a mixed group of different economic, different cultural, different social levels to make a strong community," said Gord Smith, general manager for the Varsity Community Association. "So we're 110 per cent behind it."

Tagged: AHCC | Feature | Glenbrook