Despite the radio persuasion, Frank had a small inside scoop on his Rundle Villa condo. Frank was a graphic artist for the Calgary Herald for many years and in his time there he designed an ad for the newly developed condo community. What caught his eye was not the square footage or the two level house-like blueprints, but the green space.

“I saw the buildings and the green spaces for the new condos,” says Frank, of the 62 units, grouped in fours. “I've always liked the house with a second story and there is a basement too.”

Having had almost 30 years to age gracefully, the condominium community appears as if in a heavily wooded, elegantly groomed cottage hideaway. A tasteful arrangement of pine and assorted coniferous trees ads privacy to the generously portioned, brown, wood paneled units.

Three cul-de-sacs accommodate the variety of resident entrances, each with a front yard rivaling the average square-footage of grass portioned off with new homes today. Every unit is positioned with its back to the other three so that entrances are private and a balcony stems off the other side of the home.

Frank is a man of, “convenience,” purposely buying a condo within a 12-minute drive of the Calgary Herald. An even stronger indication of this attribute, was the first place that Frank lived in; a basement suite in Mayland Heights, about five minutes from the then future office of the Herald (now, overlooking Memorial Drive and Deerfoot Trail). The original Calgary Herald building was downtown on 7th Avenue and 1st Street S.W.

When he arrived here, newly immigrated from Germany after finishing an art degree at the Master School of Fashion in Munich, Frank began to rent a basement suite, in part because he wasn’t sure of too many things, including whether or not he would even like Calgary enough to stay. He rented for almost ten years and then his coworkers encouraged him to buy property as an investment.

“I paid $45,000 in 1977, but it was a lot of money for me with just one income,” he said, admitting that it was a great deal at the time. “I saved up money so in the back of my mind I would eventually buy something. I bought some artifacts, but I always put some money away for a down payment.”

Frank also has a fairly time-consuming hobby of horse riding, trick roping and performing with his horse. By the time he bought his condo, he had two horses that he visited a few times a week. A few turns out of Rundle to 36th Street, McKnight Boulevard, John Laurier Boulevard and Crowchild Trail get him to his horses within 45 minutes, shorter than a commute from the deep south of Calgary to downtown in rush hour. Navajo and Chico were Frank’s Appaloosa horses, at the time he bought the condo, staying at George Washington's farm in Cochrane. Now his lone horse Rebel lives one mile farther down the road at Windy Ridge stables.

“I bought this condo because I didn't have time to look after a garden and I wanted to get out to visit my horse,” says Frank. “I was still working and between May and September I would go two or three times a week in the evening as long as I had daylight. But those days I used to ride all through the winter.”

Although the condo sales person threw in curtains and a fridge for his 1,100 square feet, two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo, it was the convenient location and greenery that closed the deal for Frank.

“Everything is about five minutes away, even in the winter sometimes or when we have a lot of snow, you can walk to go shopping,” he said. “And the hospital is right here. You have to think about these things.”

At 68, Frank realizes he’s not getting any younger and moving to a ranch to be out under the big Alberta sky is no longer an option for him. High blood pressure has hurried him to the Peter Lougheed hospital on occasion in the last year, but thankfully it’s just a three-minute drive west of his home.
­­­

For Frank, the condominium lifestyle offers the perfect blend of freedom and security in a mature, established, residential community. Everything he needs is nearby, and there’s no shoveling, mowing, pruning or painting, so he’s got the time to do the things he really wants to. Sounds like Frank has this condo lifestyle thing all figured out.