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Aspen Lakes developer expecting big changes

The developer behind a major residential subdivision in Blackfalds expects big changes this year.
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A siding crew works on a house in the Aspen Lakes on the north side of Blackfalds on Tuesday.

The developer behind a major residential subdivision in Blackfalds expects big changes this year.

NewRock Developments of Medicine Hat began selling homes in Aspen Lakes a year and a half ago. Plans for the neighbourhood on the north end of town include 241 single-detached homes, split between two housing types.

Seventy-one of the homes are for NewRock’s Signature line, which come in 11 floor plans and range in size from about 1,300 to 1,900 square feet.

They qualify for the company’s mortgage assistance program, which provides up to $25,500 in financial assistance to buyers.

The remaining 170 homes in Aspen Lakes are being developed as Estate homes, which will be built to buyers’ specifications but are not eligible for NewRock’s mortgage assistance program.

Cam Ens, the company’s president and co-founder, said about 17 homes in Aspen Lakes have been completed to date.

“We’re going hard on the Signature lots,” he said. “

We’ve sold about 28 of the homes.”

Ens said work on the Estate lots is expected to pick up in the next few months.

“Those are going through a bit of a relaunch this spring,” he said. “There are going to be some other builders coming in to try to get that whole thing kicked off.”

Ens said Blackfalds has been a strong market, pointing out that 25 sales in 1 1/2 years is pretty good.

“November, December was a bit quiet, but then we saw things pick up in January.”

“We’ve got some high hopes for 2013. It’s been fairly steady; 2012 was a good year, but we do expect 2013 to move up a notch.”

Aspen Lakes was launched several years before NewRock arrived on the scene by another developer, which completed much of the servicing work before running into financial problems.

The lender behind the project, Romspen Mortgage Investment Fund, partnered with NewRock to push the subdivision forward.

hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com