Project co-ordinator Erich Jaeger beckoned a visitor to the balcony door of the airy two-bedroom suite on the top floor of the Place on Park Avenue, an about-to-open new housing project overlooking Douglas Park in Langley City.
“See, these are French doors, they’re not sliders,” Jaeger said, directing attention to the solid metal door handles.
“See how sturdy they are? These are not Mickey Mouse.”
When the nearly-completed five-storey building at 20458 Park Ave., on the western edge of Douglas Park, is ready for occupancy in a few weeks, Jaeger said it will offer a level of fit and finish that has never been seen locally.
“This is what the future of Langley is going to look like,” he said, as he pointed out features like the nine-foot ceilings, extra-wide corridors and electric car charging stations (three) and then listed the less visible selling points, such as the advanced climate control system, soundproofing and fire protection.
“We’ve got sprinklers everywhere, even in the closets and the attic,” Jaeger said.
The building’s 37 units will range in size from 1,034 to 1,658 square feet, with the largest ‘penthouse’ suites located on the fifth floor.
There have been more applications than available units, even before the official opening, he said.
Jaeger said the suites will lease between $2,500 and $3,300 a month on a one-year lease, a bargain when you consider identical-quality units go for $5,000 to $6,000 in Vancouver.
“There’s nothing like it in the Township. You have to go to Vancouver.”
The target market for The Place is older, well-off people who have sold their homes and don’t want to tie up money in a condominium project.
“These people have lots of money to spend,” Jaeger said.
“Whoever is living in our units will have a lot of money left over to spend at the casino and the (nearby) stores.
Leasing allows the owners better control over the building than they would have if they were selling the suites outright, Jaeger said.
“We control who gets in here. Everyone who gets in the building will be highly screened.”
It also eliminates the possibility of investors buying suites and renting them out to less-than-suitable tenants, Jaeger explained.
“That’s why we don’t want to sell.”
The Place design is expected to change the overall tone of the area and pave the way for more, similarly high-end, projects.
“The Place is a fabulous addition to the City of Langley and the downtown core, further demonstrating (that) our award-winning Downtown Master Plan continues to be a catalyst to attract investment and development” City mayor Ted Schaffer said.
The Place is going up on one of three parcels intended for a luxurious master planned multi-unit development that began in the early 1990s with the James Court development project.
It’s in the Park Avenue Special Design District in the Downtown Master plan, which aims to create a higher amenity residential area adjacent to Douglas Park and within the downtown core.
“We’re helping the city to upgrade the downtown,” Jaeger said.
“We’re exactly what they were looking for in the master plan.”
He has a low opinion of most existing multi-unit condominiums in the Lower Mainland.
“They’re built quick, fast and mediocre,” Jaeger said.
“They last 50 to 60 years.”
The Place, he said, is designed to last a lot longer.
“You look at it 100 years from now, it will be the same.”
The Place is phase one of a three-phase project.
Two equally luxurious buildings built to the same standards are coming, one next door to The Place and the other across the street, Jaeger said.
Site manager Randall Janzen looks over the high-ceiling living room of a top-floor suite in the Place on Park Avenue near Douglas Park. The building is the first high-end residential project to proceed under a Langley City plan that aims to add more luxury units to local housing stock. Dan Ferguson/Langley Times.
Erich Jaeger said there is nothing in Langley City or Township to match the high-end units in The Place on Park Avenue. “You have to go to Vancouver” to find their equal, he maintains. Dan Ferguson/Langley Times.
