There’s much to be said for a low maintenance, lock-and-leave condo lifestyle. According to stats from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC), the number of owner-occupied condos in Canada grew sevenfold between 1981 and 2011 to 1.6 million homes. That’s nine times faster than any other type of home in the past 30 years. Per capita, twice as many Canadians live in condos as Americans.
Demand is being driven primarily by young childless adults or seniors. Both of these demographics have increased their share of the condo market substantially in recent years; seniors now account for the majority with 29 per cent.
Condos continue to out grow every other type of housing construction in Canada. Statistics released last month show that, while year-over-year investment in residential construction is down 27 per cent in Alberta, national investment in condos is up nearly 20 per cent.
But with a condo lifestyle often comes compromises: high-density living, smaller floor space, lack of privacy and noisy neighbours being just some of the problems.
The solution? Build yourself a bespoke, duplex condo-of-two with separate entrances on a large inner-city corner lot.
That’s what Margo and Brant Randles, 58 and 56 repectively, did when weighing up a desire to return to the lifestyle they enjoyed before raising a family with a desire to retain the floor space and privacy of their single-family house in Calgary's Bel-Aire neighbourhood.
“Before raising our daughters in Calgary, we lived in Johannesburg, and before that, Singapore,” Ms. Randles says. “We lived in amazing inner-city condos and we loved the metropolitan, low-responsibility lifestyle they gave us: We walked everywhere, we ate in great restaurants. Now the girls have moved on and left the family home, we have an opportunity to return to that.”
The Randleses spent a year looking for the right space to become available for their project and in July, 2013, they purchased a large derelict home on a hilltop corner lot in the community of Bankview.
“We immediately loved the area. It’s a really diverse neighbourhood. There’s five parks within a block and a half of the house and it’s walkable to downtown.”
In the summer of 2013, demand was high from developers for properties such as this one.
“A couple of days after we got it, we got an offer from a developer for substantially more than we paid because it’s zoned for four units. But that just wasn’t an option.”
The Randleses have lived in 13 homes in six cities spanning four different countries. They’ve built a timber-frame house and undertaken two major renovations.
“We knew what we wanted: two luxury units with a large bungalow feel inside. We were okay with sharing, but we wanted privacy too. We knew we were going to need an innovative architect.”
The architect they chose for the job was Sean McCormick of Jackson McCormick Design Group and the 20-month build commenced in the summer of 2014.
“It’s a spectacular site, from records we know the house was one of the oldest homes in Bankview. It had a prime position,” says Mr. McCormick, who admits designing homes for sites with such prominence “can be a little nerve racking.”
“Bankview as a neighbourhood has a San Fran feel to it; there’s a lot of ups and downs. This lot has a pretty serious gradient. There’s a 10-foot fall line north to south and a 20-foot fall line east to west.”
The gradient of the lot steered Mr. McCormick toward a non-typical up-down duplex rather than a side-by-side duplex. According to the CMHC, only 4 per cent of condos in Canada fall into this category. The Randles would take the top two floors while creating a similar suite to sell from the ground floor and basement.
The living space for lower suite would be 3,300 square feet, while the Randleses’ new home would total an expansive 4,000 square feet, which is comparable with their single-family house in Belair and satisfied their desire to retain space.
“The gradients allowed us to stack four floors on top of one another without the building being obtrusive. It’s not typical but was the best use of the site.”
The lot continued to shape the project as Mr. McCormick worked to the Randleses’ specifications of maximizing views and privacy while minimizing sound travel.
“Because the hill falls away in three directions, the lot gives an unobstructed view of the city skyline in one direction and the river valley and Nose Hill in the other. We wanted to take advantage of those views while ensuring both units also retained their sense of individuality. Having the units face different directions achieved that. Each home has a different outlook plus separate entrances on adjacent walls. They also have separate garages and outdoor spaces facing in opposite directions.”
“We went all out to create the biggest sense of separation we could,” Ms. Randles says. “That was important. This had to feel like two unique properties while having the benefits of being one.”
With this in mind, sound-proofing was also a design priority.
“The shared floor and ceiling has been fully soundproofed with a sandwich of concrete, rubber, plywood and drywall,” Mr. McCormick explains. “You can’t hear anything in the lower suite. There’s only one party wall and it’s closets and a bathroom.”
“The finish in both suites is identical in terms of quality, appliances and materials,” says Ms. Randles of the finished product, and “the entire project, including land, cost us in the region of $5-million.”
Joining the Randleses in their luxury bungalow-condo lifestyle will cost prospective buyers $1,699,000 which the Randle’s agent, John McNeill, claims “is reflective of the new reality in Calgary.”
“The home fills an interesting gap in the luxury market between downsizing from a big single-family home and riding an elevator to your front door,” Mr. McNeill says.
“Comparable products out there would be gated community villas or infill townhouses,” he explains. “But villas are generally found outside of the inner-city so lack that walkability and townhouses tend to be more vertical than expansive. The unique thing about this property is that it feels like a large bungalow rather than a narrow infill because all major rooms are on one floor.”
Having lived in the suburban, single-family-home community of Bel-Aire for the last 18 years, the Randleses haven’t entered into their new lifestyle lightly.
“We’ve always owned our own home and now we’re sharing a building, so it’s a big step for us,” Ms. Randles says. “The plus is that you share the cost of the infrastructure with someone else but the minus is that you share the infrastructure with someone else.”
But they remain undeterred in their quest to return to the condo-lifestyle of their expat days.
“We have a cottage in B.C. and we love to golf and travel. We want to do more of those things without the responsibility of a big house. But we still want to entertain and have guests to stay. We want to be able to walk downtown to go to a nice restaurant. But we still want privacy and quiet in our own home. We figure we can’t be the only ones looking for the best of both worlds.”