From The Globe and Mail - Sydnia Yu
New England Village
Baywood
Homes says the response to its master-planned golf community just minutes from
Wasaga Beach has been "overwhelming."
More
than 60 per cent of the 96 condominium townhouses and semi-detached residences
in the first phase of New England Village have been purchased since the launch
on Victoria Day weekend.
Nearly
1,000 houses will be built around the fairways of the Links at New England
Village — previously the Baywood Golf Course — near the world's longest
freshwater beach on the south shore of Georgian Bay, about 125 kilometres north
of Toronto.
"The
response has been overwhelming: Our grand opening exceeded even our own
expectations in terms of sales," says Erin Millar, communications manager
for Baywood.
The
fact that the homes are maintenance-free has been a strong selling point, Ms.
Millar adds, "but also, the golf course setting gives people a real sense
of community and an assurance that other communities won't be built on top of
them."
Purchasers
get free membership in the golf club for one year and special access to the
planned clubhouse.
Wasaga
Beach offers a number of activities and attractions throughout the year.
Along
the water, there is swimming and sailing, but the small town also has trails
for hiking or cross-country skiing, as well as restaurants and national
retailers.
The
project's recreational lifestyle, which the builder says will appeal primarily
to empty-nesters and people who are downsizing, has been a major attraction,
Ms. Millar says, but so have been the "charming" home designs that
are suggested by its name.
Models
will feature hardie board facades, steeply pitched roof, covered porches with
coach lights, Palladian windows and attached garages at the front or rear.
Purchasers
can select from bungalows with lofts and two-storey plans with two or three
bedrooms.
All
of them will have main-floor master suites with private bathrooms and walk-in
closets, great rooms that are open to the floor below, and eat-in kitchens with
extended breakfast bars. Some plans will include main-floor laundry rooms.
Basements
will include cold cellars, and buyers have the option of bathrooms as well as
recreation, hobby and computer rooms on that level.
Homes
will have nine-foot ceilings on the main floor, oak pickets and railings on
stairways and 35-ounce carpeting.
Among
the standard energy-efficient features that will be incorporated into the
suites are heat-recovery ventilators, low-E argon gas windows and water-saving showers
and toilets.
A
monthly fee of about $200 will cover snow removal, grass cutting and
maintenance of common elements.
Sales centre: 205 River Rd. West, east of Main Street in Wasaga Beach.
Open daily, noon to 6 p.m.
Contact: (800) 387-2750, (705) 429-7376 or http://www.newenglandvillage.ca
