Base31’s Hilltop housing to begin construction this year, first with apartments

By Sharon Harrison
Residential construction is to begin this year for Base 31’s Hilltop development at the corner of Kingsley Road and County Road 22. The area is formerly known as Loch Sloy Business Park and Airport, ‘The Heights’ and home of the Royal Airforce’s No. 31 Bombing and Gunnery School.

This is part of a massive development proposal, which once fully complete, which anticipates “housing for all” with a wide variety of housing types, including stacked townhomes, bungalow townhomes, twin entry townhomes and detached homes, among them.

Two of the PEC Community Partners that make up the Base31 partnership, Jack Winberg, Rockport Group CEO, and Chris Marchese, development manager with Deco Communities, gave a presentation at Wednesday’s planning and development committee meeting providing a housing update, along with several announcements.

Hilltop (formerly known as Village A) is to comprise 450 units, along with a 120-unit, seven-storey purpose-built rental building with a 10 per cent affordability component.

Winberg announced a target date of Oct. 1 for the construction of the rental apartment building to begin, which is expected to take 24 months to complete.

“I don’t see any infrastructure in the ground there yet. When will that be starting?” asked councillor Brad Nieman.

Winberg confirmed the infrastructure is planned to begin in September. Marchese added there are no pipes in ground, but the pre-servicing agreement is close to being completed, and expected by the end of September.

However, when Nieman asked what the price range for the apartments would be, and if they would be one-, two- or three-bedrooms, Winberg didn’t have answers, or the pricing at hand. Nieman also asked about the timeline for the entire build-out for the 450 homes.

“We will build it as fast as we are able to sell it. Three years at least. It may take longer if the market is not as responsive as we think.”

Winberg did have an announcement on the Hilltop homes pricing.

“I know affordability has been a big issue lately, and we are thrilled to say that we believe that we are going to be able to start our selling at a door-crashing price of $299,000 for a small stacked townhome,” added Winberg. The $299,000 will get you a 450-square-foot, one-bedroom condo with garage, he said.

“We expect that our freehold lane townhomes will start at $399,000 and go to the low $500,000’s. We expect our bungalow towns to start at $499,900 and go to $699,900. And our detached homes, which will be 30’s- to 50-foot single family homes, they will start at $599,900 and go to just over $1 million.

“Those are our starting prices and we hope that will make a huge impact. The starting price at $299,000 is affordable in every conceivable definition that applies to the County or otherwise.”

They expect to begin selling new homes toward the end of September with the opening of a discovery centre, with Winberg saying the draft plan for Hilltop is reaching its “very final moments of approval and process”.

“It’s been a long time coming, and an enormous amount of thought and attention have gone into creating that product,” he said.

“We came at this after a tremendous amount of work, a tremendous amount of consideration of various different principles, and mostly as a result of a series of open houses that we held when we asked the community what they want, how could they help inform our decisions to plan for Base31,” shared Winberg. “Housing, and housing for all, was what people saw for Base31.”

Winberg outlined how the proposed sub-division is informed by a number of principles, the first and most important being architect-designed architecture, with their philosophy of people over cars. “We truly believe that this will be bringing a new wave of sub-division and home design to the County.”

He said the first phase is framed around a five-acre park, where they plan a number of different housing types, such as stacked condominium townhomes, freehold townhomes, bungalow townhomes and detached homes.

“They are all mixed together, when you walk down a street in our sub-division, you will see a varied form of housing as you go. There is nothing in this sub-division which could be called standard.”

Councillor Bill Roberts stated the “guiding principle for housing is brilliant”.

“People over cars is also wonderful. Ensuring 10 per cent affordable for rentals is great. That $299,000 price point is definitely affordable. Is our development community speculating on too many variables, too many if’s?” he asked.

The market is an interesting thing and it teaches us a lot all the time, said Winberg.

“The experience we have seen now in the market in a few different locations is, product that is well-designed, that addresses the needs or desires of people for the kinds of homes they want to live in, and most importantly, are well-priced, are selling.“

“We believe if we do a really good job and design a product with purpose, we think that the market is going to be very responsive to what we’re doing. I can tell you that we are aggressively pricing these units. We want Base31 to come out and to get a good start and to get the shovels in the ground and to get the community forming. And when I say door crashers, loss leaders, we are not making money on the $299,000 home. But we hope to bring people here, we hope to put Base31 on the wish list of a lot of people. We are going to make Base31 a very attractive place to be.

Winberg said they were confident Hilltop will be “truly seen as a new way of living, we call this Base Living. It’s our philosophy in which our homes and neighbourhoods are shaped with purpose with the idea of bringing people closer together, closer to nature, highlighting the elements of the County that people love, and fostering a connected community experience.”

He said of the basic design principles, first is people over cars so all of the homes that front on the sub-division have garages at the rear on the back lanes, and will be out of sight.

“Our designs all propose and all contain in many cases, large welcoming front porches, inviting neighbours to interact, very few fences on the property that will keep people out or form a barrier of any kind.”

There is lots of open space in the sub-division, we have gardens and parks throughout the community inviting children to play, seniors to stroll, he said. “Really, we have a built-in neighbourhood watch, that is part of the program and part of the thinking. And community gardens, practical landscapes bringing people together, and in many ways, building community.“

The streetscapes are going to be interesting and varied too, he said.

“We have architecture that in many respects is overwhelming in terms of the thoughts we have regarding our sales program. We have 39 models, and 103 elevations, we have seven housing types, and each have five to seven different models.”

Councillor Sam Branderhorst enquired what the HOA (home owners association) fee will be for the Hilltop homes, where Winberg said the fees would be based upon the size of the lot, but said, “they are very modest, less than $600 a year for the community fee”.

He added that the community club will have a similar fee.

“We intend to start them out as modest, and we intend to start them out to ensure there is a perception of value associated with the community association as it grows and grows, as it continues to provide additional amenities.

With the final word going to Mayor Steve Ferguson, he offered the municipality’s thanks.

“We hear all the time about challenges developers are having in the real estate markets, it’s a tough market, but you and the partners have taken a tremendous risk in investing in this project and in Prince Edward County,” shared Ferguson. “I want to thank you for taking that risk and for supporting this community, and that should be recognized.”

“I think this is a very exciting project, and I wish you all the luck in the world to build Hilltop, the whole sub-division, as soon as possible.”