Designers in the East Village are working hard to create a community that is less dependent on motorized vehicles and on Tuesday broke ground on a parkade free condo complex next to the old St. Louis Hotel.
The N3 Condo located at 502 8 Ave SE will have 167 units and won't have a traditional parkade for motorized vehicles. Instead, new home owners will receive a Biria bicycle and a $500 credit for Car2Go.
“The typical building you'd see is built with a parkade down below to service the needs of the folks above, we with Knightsbridge built the argument to our colleagues at the city and said the buyer’s not actually looking for a parkade, they're not looking for parking spots, they're looking for bike parking. They’re looking for access to the CTrain but they’re not necessarily looking for a parkade,” said Michael Brown, President and CEO of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation.
The project’s name N3 is meant to reflect a “New Attitude, New Living, New Vision” and will be a multi-family complex.
Developers say the site is the perfect location because it's close to the LRT and downtown core and fits with the East Village theme of being pedestrian friendly.
“It made sense to have this type of project right here, it’s close to the LRT station, it reinforces us as a transit orientated development. East Village has a lot of tremendous locations but for this type of product type, this made the most sense to us,” said Michael Brown, CMLC President and CEO.
The project is aimed at young buyers and the starting price for units is under $ 200,000.
The East Village will eventually be home to more than 11,000 residents.
(With files from Kevin Fleming)
