Keynote Urban Village

keynotecalgary.com

This is a high-density mixed-use development of three towers: a 14-floor office building on the west side of the site completed late in 2009, two residential condo towers totalling 429 suites at the east end, all atop a broader podium of retail spaces topped with gardens. The address is 220 Twelfth Avenue S.E. for the 26-floor residential tower One completed and occuplied early in 2010. Keynote One residential tower houses 179 suites over 25 floors, and there's one more storey for mechanicals. There are eight one and two-bedroom suites on floors three through 23, then four large all-end-unit suites on 24 and 26, and a single sprawling penthouse suite with extensive patio space on 26. The second floor houses amenities and the show suite for Keynote two.

The door at 225 Eleventh Avenue S.E. will be the entry for the 36-floor residential tower Two, which was postponed in 2009 and was capped for a while at four storeys, with pre-construction sales started in the fall of 2011, construction to start over the winter, and possession of suites to take place by mid-2013.

The Keynote Two tower will have 250 suites of which 80% will be one-bedroom homes, which seem to be most in demand and most affordable to the 25 to 35-year-old buyers. The one-bedroom suite floor areas will range from 566 to 675 square feet, while the smaller number of two-bedroom suites will be 843 through 848 square feet.

A distant-future phase of this project is to include a second office tower and a third condo apartment tower of 18 storeys at MacLoed Trail northbound (Second Street East).

In-ground parking for the current-phase commercial tower and two residential condo towers houses several hundred stalls on four in-ground levels with separation between parking for the offices, the retail functions, and the condominium residents.

I like Keynote's unique six-sided floor plates for all three towers, set a jaunty 45 degrees off the street grid, and the anged and almost triangular floor plans of end-unit suites at both Keynote condo towers. As well, some of the more square condo apartment suite plans in both towers have an all-glass pointed projection off the living rooms, which make for a bright reading nook in those suites.

The block's retail podium opened in August of 2010 featuring a Sunterra Market with a Grab 'n' Go ready-made meals section and a two-storey restaurant/cafeteria/bar that opens onto the roof garden at the "Plus-15" level. There is also a Starbucks, a wine store and a Royal Bank branch.

The two condo towers will eventually operate as a single corporation. They will share a large gym and an owners' lounge and each tower will have two small guest suites to rent for when Mom and Dad come to visit. All suites come with a parking stall and there's ample indoor bicycle storage. Lockers are available as an option; I recommend buying a big one. Exterior windows and doors at the Keynote condo towers are common property. I have on file all floor plans for both towers and the Condominium Plan for tower One. The tower Two condominium plan will be registered upon its completion.

Keynote is being developed by Balboa Land Investments, which also owns much of the balance of the city block to the east. Tenants of the west-side office tower are CH2M Hill Energy Canada and AON Reed Stenhouse, and Balboa itself may take up some of the remaining space.