The LaCaille Group conjures up images of grandeur.
After all, under the helm of Peter Livaditis, the company made its name with one of the city's first-- and grandest--high-end restaurants on the banks of the Bow River in tony Eau Claire. Now the company is looking to the suburbs as it works with IBI
Group to plan a "city within a city," says LaCaille Group vice-president Al Schmidt.
"It's not suburban, but it will be a complete community," he says. The company started with the LaCaille on the Bow restaurant, where Livaditis built an executive, exclusive condominium tower attached to the restaurant.
Its success led to a second tower across the street, LaCaille Parke Place.
"Then we built Five West and it's been a great success," says Livaditis, an entrepreneur whose humble roots are still planted in Greece.
"We have been fortunate and we're still planning for a big expansion."
His second-in-command calls it more than good fortune.
"It's a combination of location, quality of product and name recognition," says vice-president Al Schmidt. "People know we work hard and pay attention to detail. We know the business and are dedicated and passionate."
The west end is one of the locations the group believes in, says Schmidt.
"We have three more sites in the downtown area, including a very high-end, 50-storey building that includes a five-star hotel," he says.
"We're just wrapping up the tendering process now to give us an idea of construction costs. We'd like to introduce this to the public by spring 2010 probably.
"We're very optimistic because of the unique offering."
The building proposed for 4th Avenue and 5th Street S.W. is "head and shoulders beyond anything else you see in Calgary today and will be a landmark," says Livaditis.
But some people may not know that LaCaille isn't just a high-end condo tower builder.
"People forget that we've done other things," says Schmidt.
"West Market Square, for example, was ours--and it is one of the proudest things for us that LaCaille has ever done. It has a different signature all over it compared to many other strip malls."
West Market Square is located on the west side on Sirocco Drive S.W.
Now the developer is taking its vision even further. "We saw an opportunity to do something that's very different in an area that's outside the core of the city," says Livaditis. "We'd love the chance to do something that doesn't exist in the city right now."
That "chance" is in two areas in Calgary's suburbs, where LaCaille is working with IBI Group on the "city within a city," says Schmidt.
The areas--one in Sage Hill in the north-central sector and the other within SkyView Ranch in the far northeast--will have a town centre, public spaces and amenities, with high-density condos mixed in.
The plans are following the city's Plan It vision, a new transportation and planning document that is meant to guide the city's growth for the next 60 years.
The largest of LaCaille's areas is one in the heart of Walton Developments' SkyView Ranch. Tentatively called North Pointe, the centre of the area is at Country Hills Boulevard and 60th Street N.E. "The master plan includes a 65-hectare town centre in the heart of the neighbourhood," says Steve Shawcross, a director with IBI Group.
"It will include one million square feet of office space, half a million square feet of retail, an LRT station, a community centre with a library and recreation facilities of roughly 10 acres (four hectares), and up to 8,800 residential units. The majority of these will be multi-family--everything from duplexes, to townhouses, brownstones and walkups-- and, in future, highrises."
The model for some of the proposed building forms is a mixture of Old-World market squares, unique architecture, and pedestrian-friendly streets--all with the aim of creating a "vibrant" community, says Shawcross.
"The setbacks from the street, the heights of buildings, the details of addressing the buildings to the street to create a pedestrian environment--regulating the architectural form helps meet the objectives of Plan It, yet ensures a high-quality public realm," he says.
At the end of the day, says Schmidt, "it will be much more a European-style town centre with a number of public squares. Part of High Street will have no vehicles allowed, but the LRT access will be there with public access to a park.
"It will be contributing 24/7 to a lively, vibrant environment that we are striving to achieve. It's the next level of a mixed-use town centre."
The initial plans were approved by city council in July.
"We anticipate starting the first phase within the next two years," says Schmidt.
More immediate is Sage Hill Farm in the heart of Genesis Land Developments' newest neighbourhood of Sage Hill Crossing.
Sage Hill Farm is bounded by land recently approved for future regional commercial development on the north; 37th Street N.W. on the east, Sage Hill Drive N.W. on the south, and a future road on the west.
Much smaller than North Pointe, the area is about 4.7 hectares and will be a "test case for the North Pointe proposal," says Shawcross.
"It will be mixed-use as well with 152,000 square feet of retail/ office space based on a high street, with the possibility of a larger-format grocery store that will be addressed to the main street."
In fact, preliminary plans call for creating a "series of small-town Alberta streetscapes," says Shawcross. "These will be things like a faux-barn that is like the original farmstead, but would be the grocery store. The bank will be in a brick building.
"We want to create a small-town feel to it all to foster social interaction and make it an interesting, community-based place."
The key: "There will be a high stress on creating a pedestrian environment."
Sage Hill Farm will include 350 to 500 residential units, he says.
"There will be an opportunity to create mid-rise condominium towers in the future, but the first will be four storeys," says Shawcross. "These will mix with retail and office space."
These are all similar to the concepts for North Pointe, but on a smaller scale, he says.
"It's all about developing the details, the architecture and the spaces so people will want to spend time here," says Schmidt. "It will be an oasis in a sea of hustle and bustle that is the city.".
LaCaille will likely be taking its development plan to the city in January, says Livaditis.
From there, LaCaille is hoping to start construction by the fall of 2010, with the first buildings to market by 2011.
LaCaille Group continues to work on Solaire, its tower on 4th Avenue and 8th Street S.W. that has 15 units left for sale.
Other projects are in the planning stages, including twin towers along the newly-designed and widened 16th Avenue North at 8th Street N.W.
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald