Encore/Brava
Given Intergulf-Cidex’s success with its now sold-out Brava tower in the west side’s Spruce Cliff, it stands to reason the developer would follow up with a worthy Encore.

The tower is the second of three planned highrises to comprise Westgate Park. With completion – and possessions – of the first, 22-storey building on schedule for this summer, its sister tower of 27 floors is already 85 per cent sold.

“We had a lot of people who waited until we brought Encore on, because many of the larger units sold right away in Brava,” says Ingrid Hewitt, sales manager for Westgate Park. “What really sets it apart is we have fantastic views in every direction and five-minute access to downtown.”

With the completion of Brava comes Westgate Park Club, which will give all residents access to its lap pool and hot tub, kitchen and a
fitness centre sporting downtown views.

While Encore’s penthouses are spoken for, a selection of two-bedroom/two-bath and suites are available in the sophomore Westside highrise from $379,900, while two-bedroom-and-den Encore addresses are also for sale from the $429,900 mark, with possessions expected to happen “right on schedule” in early 2007, says Hewitt.

A third tower is also slated, which when complete, will link the tower trio via plus-15s.

Sasso and Vetro
Now rising up in Victoria Park and overlooking Macleod Trail and the Stampede Grounds, it’s virtually impossible to miss Cove Properties’ two highrises already at work changing the Calgary skyline forever, at 1338 1 St. S.E.

Five top-floor addresses will round out the offerings of the 23-storey Sasso, and will soon be available, ranging from 1,000 to 1,900 square feet, dolled up to the height of finishing. In the meantime, construction is in full swing for both Sasso and its big brother Vetro, says Cove Properties sales guru Chad Hanas.

“We’re pretty excited. We are now working on the tenth floor in Sasso, and Vetro’s parkade is already about half done, and we expect it to be finished in May,” he says, adding remaining buyers will likely call Sasso home by August.

It’s out with the old sales centre, and in with the new showsuites – a pair of them – on the ninth floor of the debut tower. A handful of two-bedroom suites spanning up to 1,100 square feet are still available in Vetro, from $385,000 to $435,000 and boasting amazing views from their elevated status on 19th to 23rd floors.

“Really we sold pretty much he whole building in less than nine months,” says Hanas of the success of the 34-storey, 305-home Vetro.

Amenities planned for Sasso and Vetro include a 28,000-square-foot landscaped patio with a 12-person hot tub, BBQ pit, and a TV lounge, as well as a cutting-edge gym and scores of main-floor boutiques, eateries and services.

Union Square and The National
Apex Limited Partnership didn’t need the help of a SAM design award (which it won anyway), for its show suite to buoy sales for Union Square in the Underwood block overlooking historical Haultain Park. Just 35 per cent of suites remain in Phase I, with groundbreaking expected at 1 St. S.W. between 13 Ave. and 14 Ave. this summer.

“People just really want to live down here in the inner city, so much they are willing to wait and not be able to move for a couple of years,” says Michel Heggedal, project manager for Union Square.

While firm pricing is still up in the air for the remaining suites of the first 26-storey tower, would-be buyers are being given a range – one-bedrooms of 740 square feet from $260,000 to $270,000, larger 948- to 1,313-square-foot Union Square digs priced starting from about $320,000, and a two-storey “city home,” will likely come in around the $600,000 mark.
Paul Betts, vice-president of newly-crowned (Multifamily) Builder of the Year, Apex Limited Partnership, credits strong sales for the first phase with “an undersupply in the market,” adding he expects supply and demand to steady by the end of the year.

Given the current market conditions, one thing there seems to be no shortage of are interested condo shoppers, says Heggedal, who estimates a waiting list for a second Apex project, slated for the former National Hotel grounds in Inglewood, to be at about 600.

The proposed project for 10 Ave. and 11 St. S.E. had attracted deposits for 60 per cent of its first phase before an aquifer was found under the site last month. Betts says the project will still go ahead, with engineers now studying solutions to the water woes. Original purchasers – who have been refunded their deposits – are first in line when pre-sales resume, with construction possible perhaps as early as this fall.

Gateway Midtown and Gateway South Centre
With a well-deserved SAM for Best-Selling project under its belt, Gateway Midtown  has taken its future 4 St. and 10 Ave. S.W. location by storm, selling one tower’s proposed suites and the majority of a second in a matter of months.

Sales have shot through the project’s future roof at such an unprecedented level that the developer has put the brakes on sales, at least temporarily. “Normally projects don’t sell out in months – we like to see them extend their shelf life,” says Barry Chow, executive vice-president of Resiance Corporation, Gateway Midtown’s developer.

With 485 pre-sales on record, Gateway Midtown will, after all approvals are in place, offer another 165 opportunities to buy into the chic downtown digs. The twin towers are also slated to include retail space, heated underground parking and an in-house fitness mecca all within walking distance to careers.

Sales have all but gone south for the developer’s other current Gateway – at press time Gateway South Centre had seen 450 of its available 500 units snapped up, with construction well underway for all five phases of the funky southerly address.

“The superstructure is up. It’s like taking a big highrise and laying it on its side, it’s that spread out,” says Chow, adding interiors are being finessed in the first two phases while the remaining three are at various stages of construction. Drawing its design from a post-Industrial Chicago warehouse, and boasting a geo-thermal heat and cooling system, the six-floor wraparound complex will float a pond with an island gazebo without and a 2,400-square-foot gym within the Lake Bonavista address.

“We are striving to have it all done by next year,” says Chow, who adds reservations for an opportunity to buy are being accepted at the sales centre.  CL