Calgary’s first wired community is so popular that the developer is opening up extra lots for builders and home buyers.
“We are now servicing 115 lots that we had planned for next year, but we have run out of inventory,” says James Hammermeister, Calgary region vice-president of Genstar Development Co.
Panorama, on the northwest site of Country Hills Boulevard N.W. in the city’s north end, has become one of the best-selling areas of the city. Right now it’s in the No. 2 spot behind Carma’s Tuscany in the northwest.
Panorama is a 900-acre, 18-year project for the developer. Opened last fall, it is Calgary’s first e-community – followed later by Evergreen.
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| Chris Wood, Business Edge |
| Showhomes on parade in Panorama Hills, a northwest community which has become one of the best-selling areas in the city. |
“Sales in the area have gone incredibly well. For a lot of builders, it’s been one of the best areas,” says Shane Wenzel, sales and marketing vice-president of Shane Homes Ltd.
An e-community is one in which all the new homes are wired for multiple cable and Internet hook-ups and other electronic services, often including central control of entertainment, security and lighting. The community is served by its own intranet and each address comes with an account for the network.
Hammermeister says the intranet is still being set up, so the customers probably haven’t taken advantage of it yet. A survey of customers who have bought in the area showed e-community wiring and access standards would be a resale price asset. Consumers set the standard at $3,000 to $10,000, but Wenzel prices the extra wiring required and the basement hub at about $1,800 originally.
“Consumers think it will be part of the way we live, the lifestyle of the future,” Hammermeister adds.
At the same time, having the house of the future isn’t everything. “It will be part of a master-planned community, not the be-all and end-all,” says Hammermeister. New communities still need location, landscaping and public amenities.
Wenzel says mater-planning is one way builders and developers can add value. With 6,000 homes, residents could secure house insurance, natural gas or electricity as a group – a long-term benefit to the neighbourhood.
Builders are also looking at changes in house plans. Does the consumer want the computer in a public area of the home? E-communities have existed for three or four years in the United States and U.S. builders often will install a computer space in a central working area between two kids’ rooms.
Wenzel says it’s a learning experience for developers and house builders Basement hubs are already becoming more sophisticated as designers try to accommodate everything home buyers want.
At the same time, gadgets are dropping in price. Cable connections have gone from one in the family room to a minimum of three, and people are trying to imagine their future uses.
Hammermeister says 400 acres in northeast Coventry will also be an e-community. Builders already have 22 signed orders from customers and Genstar hasn’t started paving the subdivision yet. With three e-communities in Calgary, Genstar is also looking at the concept for Edmonton and Vancouver.
Construction plywood production was almost two per cent higher in August than a year earlier, Statistics Canada reports.
The national statistical agency said last week that firms produced 158,215 cubic metres of construction-type plywood in August this year, up 1.9 per cent from the same month in 2000. Production to the end of August 2001 was 1,366,660 cubic metres, which is 3.2 per cent more than the 1,323,763 cubic metres produced in the first eight months of 2000. Meanwhile, cement manufacturers shipped almost five per cent less in September than August.
September shipments were up two per cent from a year earlier, however. Cement shipments to the end of September this year were 9.6 million tonnes, up 1.3 per cent from 9.5 million tonnes in the first three quarters of 2000.
A Statistics Canada spokeswoman said the cement survey didn’t specify whether the product was going to the construction industry.
Real estate company Urbco Inc. posted sharply improved results for the fiscal year ending July 31.
The company saw sales grow 56 per cent to $37.7 million from $24.2 million Net income was 61 cents a share, compared to 18 cents in 2000, but 38 cents was attributed to a cut in future income tax due to lower corporate tax rates. Without the tax windfall, net income was 23 cents a share.
Urbco’s main Northwest Territories and Nunavut rental markets had vacancies near zero. Its rental revenue rose to $21 million from $15 million.
Urbco attributed the market strength to strong diamond and oil and gas industries in the N.W.T. and demand for staff accommodation in Nunavut.
Urbco reported a 55-per-cent rise in land sales to $4 million from $2.6 million. It cited strong sales in Sheep River Heights at Okotoks and its Willowside Equestrian Estates joint venture between Okotoks and Calgary.
Urbco’s Ninety North Construction and Development Ltd. building subsidiary recorded sales of $11.9 million. It won several contracts that will contribute to income in 2002 and 2003.
Urbco paid a dividend of four cents a share in 2001.
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