Going into the much-anticipated awards evening April 8 Statesman led the pack of Calgary’s top multi-family builders, with nine SAM nods – ranging from nominations for a pair of its salespeople, to best-selling project nods for the Wedgewoods, Chateau II, and a number of design contenders running the gamut from apartment-style to townhomes.

Brad Milne, vice-president of the Statesman Group of Companies, says the company as well as the industry has really started to take the competition to heart, and buyers have started to follow suit. “Particularly the way the market is today, you can’t help but open the paper and read about real estate in this city. People are looking for ways to set one builder apart from another, and this certainly helps,” said Milne.

The folks at Rockford Developments, who won the Grand SAM for Multi-family Builder of the Year in 2004 and in 2003, when they also took home the coveted Customer Choice award, were thrilled to be heading into the April 8 event with four nominations.

“We are really pleased, especially about the Coventry Meadows design nomination because that is our best-selling plan,” said Lana Campbell, Rockford’s marketing manager, adding the builder also garnered nominations for Newport Bay and its Springbank villas.

Campbell, who’s no stranger to the SAMs judging by the trophies around her office, said she’s pleased with this year’s splitting of multi-family categories into design and overall development, since it opens up the contest to projects under construction. She commends Rockford’s competition, especially in best-selling project.

“There are so many excellent builders and with the year we’ve been having everyone should be in this category,” she joked of the contest between Coventry Meadows, Statesman’s Chateau II and Resiance’s Gateway Midtown.

Sandlewood Developments, who won the Grand SAM back in 2002, also went into the tight contest with a strong showing, netting four nods in design categories for its Pontefino, Essex Lane and Copperwood projects.

Streetside Developments, part of the Qualico Group, seems to have a project in every neighbourhood, so it is not surprising they saw a showing in most every category as well.

“Every one of the projects was nominated in one category or another,” said Kendra Milne, marketing co-ordinator at Streetside. In addition to landing finalist nods for marketing, the mainstay condo developer was in the running for top showhome design for Robson, Blue Sky and Latitude, as well as Best Villa and Townhome considerations for Latitude and Okotoks’ Tucker Hill respectively.

Homes by Avi also stacked up well against its building peers in the single-family as well as multi-family contests, with a finalist spot for marketing and a design kudo for its urban townhome project, the Olive in Bridgeland.

Single-family giant Jayman MasterBuilt  saw a pair of Top 5 spots  in multi-family categories, both for the Garrison Green’s Newbury project, which Brian McIntyre dubs “the next evolution after the Versailles,” (a previous SAM winner). While winning is always nice,

Aspire Condo Living (Jayman’s multi-family arm) COO McIntyre says just being in the running for such a prestigious award has merit with customers.

“We are honoured, as always to be acknowledged by our peers, but the real recognition comes from our customers; I am amazed at the number of people who have come to the showhomes for design ideas.”

Beattie Homes netted ten chances to bring the coveted SAM bird home, including two multi-family nods – one for its Bay Club in Chestermere, and a second in the Best Villa category for its westerly Wentworth Landing.

Beattie Operations Manager Diane MacLeod said the design acknowledgement means a great deal, especially considering Wentworth Landing is similar to other Beattie designs.

“It’s really as though all of the projects are getting recoginized,” she said, adding she appreciates the competitive aspect to the awards. “It’s always exciting to win, but it’s great because now we’re seeing everyone entering – it’s interesting to see where you check in with your peers.”

Gina Roland, marketing director for Today’s Communities was thrilled at two top spots going into the SAM awards, both for home designs in the UBG builder’s Eversyde Park. “It’s the first time we entered for Today’s Communities and we were a finalist in both categories. We’re really pleased with the nomination and with this project – it was very strong architecturally.”

Vancouver-based Bucci Developments also stacked up nods for Bella Citta for both its townhome and apartment-style models in the Bridgeland multi-family community.

Forte Builders also carried their weight with a pair of nods for Carriage Homes, in both Garrison Green and Discovery Ridge locations, while Knightsbridge went into the contest strong with a Best Showhome finalist spot for Riverside Villa in Elbow Valley.

Apex Limited Partnership’s inner-city National and Union Square were also among finalists in the tough competition for Best Show Home, as were Assured Developments’ J-suite in Canmore, and Trico Homes’ Trio plan in Copperfield.   CL