Le Germain Calgary Residences

Oh my goodness; there's luxury, and then there's LUXURY, and the 20-storey Le Germain is it. 'Sold out on its opening day in May of 2007, ground was broken immediately thereafter and construction began on this combined office tower / hotel tower (150 rooms), and straddled across the top by 40 sprawling large condo homes.  I guess the idea is that you can work in the office tower (or more likely own a professional business there), live upstairs, and call for room service from the boutique hotel.  Most owners, however, won't be working at all, but are likely retired and wealthy.  Heck, suites started at $840,000 (plus full GST), ranging up to well over $3 million.

There's no need to list all the luxurious standards built into these homes, but if you can imagine it, it's part of the package. The lists of building design features, in-suite features, services, and amenities runs to three jam-packed pages.  High environmental standards were incorporated, so if there's any pang of guilt over your wealth and living here, you can sooth it with geothermal heating and cooling, triple-glazed low-E windows, and wastewater recovery, as only a few examples.

Since the condos start at the 14th floor there are views for all homes and huge balconies off virtually every suite's living area.  There are four two-level penthouse suites and these each have a balcony/roof patio even larger than the oversized balconies of suites below.  Two elevators from the garage levels and Ninth Avenue residents' lobby are separate from the office and hotel elevators.  Residents have gym and recreation facilities on site, and can contract for linen and catering services from the hotel.  Residents can also slip into the office tower and the hotel without needing to step outdoors.
 
The entire building is a mixed-use condominium corporation with the hotel assigned 40% of total unit factors, the office tower 35% of UF, and the remaining 25% of UF assigned on a floor-area basis to the 40 suites. Four levels of in-ground garage house plenty of assigned parking stalls that have no UF and so pay no condo contribution or city property tax.  Many if not all residences have more than one parking stall.  Exterior windows and doors for the entire development are common property.  I keep on file all original marketing material and floor plans, plus the 30-page condominium plan.