Ardrossan’s elbow room provides plenty of space to play

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Ardrossan is changing.

Today the Strathcona County hamlet, which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2008, is a growing community that’s attracting new home buyers from in and around greater Edmonton. Ultimately, it could see some 6,000 residents living there — a dramatic increase from the 1,500 now enjoying the rural community that has a bit of an urban feel while remaining true to its country roots.

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“This is a growth hamlet,” said Andrew Usenik, partner in Strata Developments, the developer behind the new Ardrossan. Initially, he added, new home buyers there were almost exclusively from neighbouring Sherwood Park, about 15 kilometres away. Now, however, buyers can also be found leaving their homes in northeast, southeast and southwest Edmonton, preferring to live in what Usenik calls a rural urban hybrid neighbourhood.

Quieter Pace

For Greg Jensen, choosing to move his family from the bustling Windermere neighbourhood in southwest Edmonton was a no brainer.

The family was looking for more elbow space as Greg calls it and wanted to leave the hustle and bustle of Edmonton behind. They wanted that quieter pace of life, added his wife, Jodie. Greg was also familiar with Ardrossan as at one point his oldest daughter had gone to school there and as an avid cyclist he had ridden in and out of Ardrossan many times — he had a home in Fort Saskatchewan prior to moving into Jodie’s Windermere house.

“The seeds were being planted,” said Greg, referring to those earlier days of living near Strathcona County.

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They ultimately bought and built with Coventry Homes, moving in to their new home — Coventry’s Kaillope model — in mid-2022.

“We weren’t looking super diligently,” said Greg. “We were very picky. “We knew what we were looking for and if it wasn’t exactly what we wanted, we wouldn’t take it.”

When they built, they were in a bit of an older part of the new Ardrossan, where streets are wider, the lots bigger, and even though there are numerous homes near each other, the residential development feels more spacious than a typical suburban community. That attracted the Jensens, as well as having a three-car garage, a south facing lot, and backing onto a walking path with trees behind it.

“It gives us the illusion of more space,” said Greg, in regards to their outdoor view.

The Kaillope is one of Coventry’s most popular models, said Coventry’s sales manager Antonius Magureanu. It’s also the Coventry show home in Ardrossan, which comes in at 2,571 square feet, is two storeys, has four bedrooms and 3½ bathrooms. An optional maximum living package adds 927 sq. ft. by finishing the basement. It also offers an open concept main living area, with large rear windows flooding the space with natural light.

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The Jensens, since Coventry allows buyers to modify floor plans, opted for a different master ensuite layout so they could eliminate one of the two separate vanities and instead increase the space of the primary walk-in closet. Meanwhile, they added that third bay to create the three-car garage they wanted.

Coventry’s single-family homes in Ardrossan are priced in the $500,000 range. It’s also building duplexes there at the $400,000 level. Further, it will be the exclusive builder of townhomes in the community, likely to be available next year and likely priced in the $400,000 range as well.

Along with Coventry, Cantiro Homes and Daytona Homes are building in Ardrossan.

No Longer Low Key

Strata actually started developing the newer part of Ardrossan back in 2014, however, it kept things low key for a good portion of the past 10 years.

“It was a bit of strategy to underplay the community until now,” said Usenik. “The piece of it that was holding us back was not having a commercial amenity there.”

The idea, said Usenik, was that he wanted people to get the right first impression when they came to Ardrossan. Now with the commercial and some services in place, buyers not only get the amenities they need in this more rural space but do not necessarily need to head to Sherwood Park for their everyday needs. A grocery store would have been a valued addition but even though it is not in the cards for now, Usemik said the Petro-Canada convenience store does double duty with it being about triple the size of a regular gas station convenience outlet and offers a small-scale grocery option. The commercial complements existing schools and the revitalized Ardrossan recreation complex.

Meanwhile, at just about 25 per cent complete, Usenik said Ardrossan has a good 10 years of growth ahead. Development is now centred in the southeast portion of the community and while newer segments will be denser than what has been built so far, Strata is working within development guidelines to keep some of the larger single-family homes (ones with three-car garages, for example) by balancing this with the addition of townhomes and duplexes.

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