Detached garages may be commonplace, but the ones going up on Sylvan Lake’s Erickson Crescent are more detached than most.
Work is well underway on My Space Garage, a collection of 44 bays designed for vehicle storage, tinkering, kicking back and anything else a person might typically do in their garage.
Each will have metered water, gas and power, a 45,000-BTU heater, access to telephone and cable hook-ups, a floor sump, and roughed-in sewer and water connections — allowing for the addition of bathroom and kitchen facilities, if desired.
“The sky’s the limit,” said Carl Stepp, the selling agent for developer Eagle Builders of Blackfalds.
Stepp, who is a Realtor with Re/Max Real Estate Central Alberta in Sylvan Lake, said off-site garages are popular in the United States but the concept is new here.
He said a similar facility is being constructed in Calgary, and Eagle Builders is considering developing others in Edmonton and Sicamous, B.C.
“If it’s going to work anywhere it should work here, with all the recreational vehicles and such that we have,” said Stepp of the market in Sylvan Lake.
“It’s not uncommon to drive down the street and see 10, $100,000 ski boats sitting in somebody’s driveway, or big motorhomes and things like that.
“It seems that residential lots are getting smaller and smaller all the time, and garages are getting smaller and smaller. Everybody seems to have one or two quads and a boat and a camper, and it’s all sitting outside.”
Units in My Space Garage will consist of 20-foot by 48-foot and 24-foot by 48-foot bays, with a walk-through door and a 16-foot overhead door.
“They’re 18 feet high so you’ll be able to stack cars in them,” said Stepp.
The bays will be contained in two parallel buildings with insulated concrete walls and a metal roof. The dividing walls between the units will also be concrete.
The facility will be served by common washrooms and surrounded by a security fence.
The first of the two buildings is nearly up, said Stepp, with units expected to be ready for occupancy by year end. Some have already been sold, he added — acknowledging that he’s one of the buyers.
Prices start at $115,000, with condominium fees to cover expenses like common lighting.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com