'Not just sprawl anymore': Sales launch for Broadway on 17th, Calgary's future tallest condo development

Those who want to live in what will be Calgary’s tallest residential tower community will be able to stake their claim starting this weekend.

On Saturday, Vesta Properties will host its sales launch for Broadway on 17th, a three-tower luxury condo development planned for the corner of 4th Street and 17th Avenue S.W.

The Beltline-area development is slated to include nearly 1,100 units when complete, with the tallest of the three towers topping out at 47 storeys.

Construction is slated to break ground next October, with occupancy expected by late 2030.

While it won’t be the tallest mixed-use skyscraper in Calgary to house condo units — that would be Telus Sky — a sales manager with Vesta Properties says Broadway on 17th will be the tallest highrise in the city with a solely residential clientele.

It will also, temporarily, be Calgary’s tallest tower outside of the immediate downtown.

“It’s exciting to see that the vision for Calgary is changing a little bit,” A.J. van der Linden said at a media event at the development’s sales centre on Thursday.

“It’s not just sprawl anymore … This right here, with the housing shortages and everything that we’ve had over the past few years, just fills in the gap of housing that we haven’t seen in a long time.”

Units will include studio and one-bedroom condos starting in the mid-$300,000s, as well as two- and three-bedroom apartments ranging from the mid-$500,000s to the $800,000s, van der Linden said.

One of the towers will be devoted to rentals, housing approximately 300 units.

The project’s three penthouse suites will range from $1 million to $1.6 million, the sales manager added.

Amenities for tenants will include a grocery store, a 10,000-square-foot daycare, a spa and fitness rooms, rooftop patios, residents’ lounges and a golf simulator.

‘Helping to revitalize the Beltline’

With the corner of 4th Street and 17th Avenue having sat mostly vacant since the 10-storey Grosvenor building was torn down two years ago, van der Linden argued many Beltline residents and businesses are keen to see the parcel revitalized.

City council unanimously supported the proposed development at a public hearing in February.

“A lot of people, especially that live in the south Beltline and Mission, were very excited for the space to be changed,” van der Linden said.

“There has not been any real new construction on 17th Avenue for a very long time, so bringing this is helping to revitalize the Beltline as well as the Mission district, and showing what the new vision can be for the 17th Avenue corridor.”

And while the condo markets in other large Canadian cities, including Toronto and Vancouver, have become saturated amid recent development booms, van der Linden said the demand for smaller units in Calgary is still strong.

He also said Broadway on 17th is a long-term project that won’t see units filled for several years, meaning demand will ebb and flow in the interim.

Peter Oliver, the director of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, agrees the Broadway project will be positive for the area, pointing not just to the residential component, but the project’s commercial amenities and public realm improvements.

“(Vesta) sees a real business case for people wanting to live in the Beltline,” he said, calling the development an “important gateway” for 17th Avenue, which he calls Calgary’s most prominent main street.

“I think what more people are concentrated on is the quality of the build and the quality of the public realm they create on the site,” Oliver added. “From what they’ve proposed so far, it looks very strong.”

Fourth Street S.W. was previously called Broadway.

While the project — which van der Linden predicts will ultimately cost Vesta more than $700 million — makes that nod to the past, he said it’s primarily a future-focused endeavour.

“We can change the vision of what the city is going to be over the next 20 (to) 50 years,” van der Linden said. “We’re trying to help the city tell a good story about what can happen here in Calgary.”

sstrasser@postmedia.com