THE PROJECT Boxgrove Village
BUILDER/DEVELOPER Arista Homes
SIZE Live/work townhouses 2,150 to 4,000 square feet; traditional towns 1,665 to 2,340 square feet
PRICE $800,000s to over $1.3-million
SALES CENTRE 110 Copper Creek Dr., east of Ninth Line in Markham. Open Monday to Thursday from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m.; weekends from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
CONTACT Phone 905-209-7667 or visit www.boxgrovevillage.com
At its new Boxgrove Village project in Markham, Arista Homes has devised some designs that aim to combine three properties in one.
The three-storey Briarwood design has a commercial space at ground level and a pair of two-bedroom suites above. Each of the units will have street-level entry and access to a rear double garage with two exterior spots.
“With affordability at times becoming an issue within the general GTA marketplace, this particular space … would appeal to a family, for example, with a business in the area. It’ll have a nice living space right above their workspace below and they’d have an opportunity to have additional family members stay in the second suite or they can rent it out and subsidize some of their monthly payments,” says vice-president of sales and marketing, Franco Crispino.
“It really offers a good opportunity or flexibility to different home buyers, from end users to investors.”
Since the unveiling of 83 out of 195 townhouses, this 4,000-square-foot plan is among the most popular of the live/work collection making up a third of the master-planned site east of Ninth Line and south of Highway 407.
“We do have a new model that’s going to be released … that’s a spin on that Briarwood model,” Mr. Crispino adds. “So it’s going to be even larger, just under 5,100 square feet … but they’ll all be three-bedroom [suites above].”
Other live/work plans within the project, called Boxgrove Village, will generally offer two-and three-storey layouts with double garages, commercial space with 11-foot ceilings and frontage onto Copper Creek Drive, and open entertaining and cooking quarters above with large balconies.
“The project is unique in that we have true live/work units,” says Mr. Crispino, who notes the builder has constructed hundreds of homes in the area in the past decade. “And to have 71 in a community is unique.”
The rest of the enclave will consist of 124 traditional brick townhouses with front garages on 25-foot lots.
“Increased intensification requirements and greenbelt legislation has seen land prices increase dramatically over the past several years, thus forcing homebuilders to opt to build on narrower lots as a means of maintaining affordability,” says Mr. Crispino, who notes 14-foot frontages as average nearby.
“In Boxgrove Village, we decided to provide homebuyers with what they really wanted – traditional two-storey townhomes on wider 25-foot lots with real backyards.”
Inside, these three and four-bedroom designs will encompass 1,665 to 2,340 square feet. “The fact they are on two storeys seems to be key for our homeowners … so they’re not going up three storeys with lots of stairs,” Mr. Crispino states.
Standard appointments will include nine-foot ceilings on the main and second floors, oak staircases and hardwood floors, as well as various Energy Star features.
Though occupancy won’t begin until summer or fall 2017, the site is a short walk to two established shopping complexes and a short drive to Cedar Brae Golf Club, Rouge Park and Milne Dam Conservation Park.
“With the location the way it is – near the shopping plazas, the hospital to the north, established schools in the area, [Highway] 407 and Viva transportation – it’s a great location,” Mr. Crispino says. “So we’re getting buyers from all across the GTA.”