Belpark 375 West 59th Avenue 120 homes in a 6 storey building by Intracorp
Intracorp?s Belpark attracting plenty of interest from its immediate Vancouver area
Simon Briault
The Vancouver Sun
Belpark
Project location: 375 West 59th Ave
Project size: 120 apartments. The project is already at least 80 per cent sold. The two-to-four-bedroom homes still available start at $1,877,900 and are between 1,426 and 2,312 square feet
Developer: Intracorp
Interior designer: Scott Trepp
Architect: Ramsay Worden Architects
Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Sat — Thur
Telephone: 604-891-1281
Website: http://www.belparkliving.com
Finding a tranquil, natural setting that still provides easy access to rapid transit is a hard thing to pull off in Vancouver’s increasingly tightly developed neighbourhoods. But the people at Intracorp reckon they’ve nailed it with Belpark, a 120-home development of three buildings planned for a block east of Cambie Street on West 59th Avenue.
“We have an extensive history building on the west side of Vancouver, including at UBC,” said Barrett Sprowson, vice-president of sales at Intracorp. “The appeal of those buildings was their tranquil settings and lots of interaction with water. We wanted to pull in some of that history at Belpark with the idea of a courtyard with water features and reflecting pools in a very peaceful setting.”
Belpark will be built between the Langara Golf Course to the north and Winona Park to the south, making it a rare location in Vancouver’s city limits in that there’s green space all round. At the same time, the development will also be just a couple blocks from rapid transit after a new Canada Line station is completed at Cambie and West 57th Avenue.
The natural setting was an important factor for Deborah Jennings, who has bought a two-bedroom home at Belpark with a media room and a large rooftop terrace.
“I had a house in Dunbar on Olympic Street for 21 years,” she said. “It’s a combination of downsizing and moving in with a new partner. He’s always felt like it was my home that he moved into, so this will be our first home moving in together.”
“We were actually looking for a duplex, but we kept getting outbid on them,” Jennings added. “We looked at this because there’s a nature trail right outside and there’s the golf course right there so we know it won’t be like downtown where there’s the possibility of a building coming up in front of you and taking your view away. Then there’s Winona Park as well and we have two dogs. It was really important for us to have green space around us.”
Sprowson said that many of the buyers so far are very familiar with the area and understand the benefits of the location with the park and the golf course being right next to all the amenities available on Cambie Street.
“We’ve seen a lot of people who I would describe as hyper local – from the absolute immediate area – and they’re primarily downsizers,” he said. “They get what a great spot this is so we don’t have to sell them on the neighbourhood because they already know it so well.”
“There are also some younger folks who are getting help from their parents and then, when we still had one-bedroom homes available, we had a few investors as well,” Sprowson added. “Again, these were really local people who knew the area and had to have a piece of this because they understood that in the future a location like this is not replaceable.”
Given the benefits of the location, it’s perhaps not surprising that the project is already 80 per cent sold. But there are still some larger homes available, which Sprowson said would appeal to the local downsizer market that Intracorp is targeting.
“We often hear people saying they want to be in more than 1,500 square feet,” he said. “We go up to 2,300 square feet, which is a ton of usable space given how well we lay things out these days. We make sure we make use of every single square inch and offer a lot of functionality. You can take somebody from their 3,500 square-foot single family home and they come in here and it doesn’t feel small to them at all. That’s rare in the Cambie corridor.”
Homes at Belpark feature a choice of two colour schemes, hardwood flooring, private patios and oversized windows. The development also includes a games room, a fitness studio and a climate-controlled wine room.
Bathrooms have wall-hung toilets, storage niches, recessed medicine cabinets, marble accent feature walls and heated floors in ensuites. Kitchens come with custom-made Italian cabinetry, LED strip lighting and stone countertops with elevated island extensions. The high-end appliance packages are by Gaggenau.
“Downsize buyers have all done renovations over they years and they’ve done exactly what they want in the space that they have,” said Sprowson. “We’re building condos that are not custom homes, but we’re looking to achieve some of that same desirability. That’s why we looked after all the luxury details that you won’t see generally in the market.”
As for Jennings, the move to Belpark represents a big change from her current living arrangement in Dunbar.
“It’s the start of something new and different for me and that’s very exciting,” she said. “I also want to do a little more travelling so it’s great that it’s turn-key.”
The Belpark sales centre at 660 West 41st Ave (Oakridge Mall) is open from noon to 5 p.m. every day except Fridays. Completion is scheduled for summer 2019.
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