After walking through the door, immediately to your right you will find the kitchen, complete with granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. Directly ahead you will find the classic, clean and uncluttered living/dining area, housing a cosy gas fireplace. The flooring is a combination of hardwood, ceramic, and carpet in the bedroom and nine-foot ceiling walls are painted in a mixture of light and dark taupe. Assured Developments went for a funky and hip look when designing the three-storey Kabo condominiums, located beside the builder’s upscale Galleries townhomes, targeting first-time, entry-level buyers.

Calgary was a very different city when Beattie moved here in the early ’80s, back when there were more empty fields than buildings. Beattie has lived in the city for about half her life, and her friends, daughter Lauren and job are all here. She says she would probably never move back to her hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario.

Beattie purchased her condo about three years ago when it was brand-new and priced at just over $140,000—a unit that today is worth at least $100,000 more. She prefers this area as opposed to Garrison Woods, which she felt was a little more congested. Just far enough for peace and quiet but still fairly close to 14  Avenue S.W., River Park and downtown, Beattie’s Kabo address is accessible to everything she needs. 

“I really like my condo,” she says. “It’s just perfect for me.” Not interested in maintaining a house, a condo allows her to travel the world freely without having to worry about maintenance. Far from a homebody, Beattie has travelled extensively throughout North America, Mexico, Greece, Ukraine, and Cuba four times. Next on her plate of overseas destinations is Italy—and more specifically, Tuscany. 

A culinary enthusiast, Beattie notes the way the kitchen is laid out allows for two people to cook comfortably, while the adjacent patio has room for a table, chairs and a barbecue, the perfect spot for entertaining her guests.

Beattie is eager to point out the large antique armoire she purchased from the coffee shop near her old Parkdale home. The light pine, rustic-looking armoire was too big to fit in the elevator so she was forced to cut it in two separate parts, losing the antique value in the process.

“I didn’t care, because I wouldn’t sell it anyway,” she says.

The bedroom has three paintings of nude women. One of them is a scene of a woman from behind, wrapped in a towel, with hair similar to Beattie’s. “I like to pretend it’s a picture of me,” she says with a laugh.

The people in the building are generally friendly, and the average age of residents is 30 to 50. Because they need seven members, Beattie says she became a board member for her building. While doesn’t really have a role, she attends all the meetings, which are rotated amongst each of the members’ suites.

Renovations are on the horizon, for Beattie, who is always thinking of different decorating ideas. One includes transforming a portion of the main living area and giving it the look of exposed brick.
Beattie says she would never sell her condo but would probably rent it out in the future as an investment property, to ensure it will always be there if ever she needed it as a primary residence. CL