Kelowna's Dual DP Submissions!

Development Permits have been been submitted for Badke Mills Road Multi & Mills Road Townhomes by Kerr Developments.

Gravity’s is thrilled to be meaningfully contributing to the BC Interior’s growth strategy by helping to fill the gaps in both rental and market housing. Kelowna will be seeing two major developments come to the community of Rutland that aim to offer residents more housing options.

The Badke Mills Road project will introduce 120 rental housing units through the development potential outlined in the 2024 Official Community Plan (OCP). This purpose-built 121,000 ft², 6 -storey wood-frame building was inspired by brownstone-lined streets that provide residents contemporary features with a harvest-hued warmth. Ranging from 1-, 2-, and 3-bedroom configurations residents can enjoy spacious balconies, patios and shared amenity spaces. To maintain momentum with the project schedule, this project depended on early engagement with the Kelowna planning team to ensure that the technical design complied with the newly enacted Zoning Bylaw. The development permit was submitted early January 2024 and we are looking forward to make more progress on this rental development in 2024.

To learn more about this project click here.

Secondly, we have our Mills Road Townhomes development which will also be located in Kelowna’s Rutland community, making it an exciting expansion to this up-and-coming area. This project has been designed for diverse groups and intergenerational families, and will contain 3 different townhome typologies with different layouts to best suit multi-family needs. Our team developed a site plan that accommodates 55 townhome units, aligning with the Official Community Plan (OCP) designation, and maintains context with the surrounding developments. The site slopes gradually down towards the south property line which created a challenge when trying to meet the Zoning Bylaw’s building height requirements. Our team was able to resolve this issue and meet the City’s height requirement by producing grading studies and working closely with the Civil team.

To learn more about this project click here.

Seton West Phase 2 DP Approval

Development permit approved for this forward-thinking transit oriented development

Seton West Phase 2 is a three-building multi-residential project designed for Logel Homes on the south edge of the community of Seton. The development has three buildings with a total of 238 units and features two 4-storey buildings and one 5-storey. Bordered by a stormwater pond to the north and the future Green Line LRT platform to the east, making this an important development for small to medium sized families who value sustainability and accessibility. The landscape design offers exterior gathering spaces for opportunities to connect with neighbours and gather with friends and family via a shared pathway system. Additionally, off-leash dog areas are accessible from the walking paths allowing residents the freedom to explore with their furry companions. This LRT Line is highly anticipated by Calgarians, and Seton West’s convenient access—along with its impressive landscape—allows first-time home owners, families, or retired individuals to enjoy these amenities with ease and comfort.

Each building, housing 1- and 2-bedroom units, features large black frames that integrate the balconies into the façade, creating a striking visual effect. These frames are consistent in height across all the buildings, establishing a cohesive horizontal datum that is complemented by a clean, uninterrupted roofline. The entrances to each building are marked by distinct rectangular white arches, supporting canopies that accompany the black frame elements. The buildings have been designed for maximum sun exposure, therefore units will have light-filled spaces, open floor plans, and large balconies. 

We are thrilled to share this Development Permit approval and further modernize residential design, with the added benefits of nature, convenience and community. Click here to find more information on this project. 

Zen Mahogany NetZero Towns & Care Facility DP Approved!

Our team is thrilled to announce the DP approval for the Zen Mahogany NetZero Residential & Care Facility!

Situated in Calgary's southeast community of Mahogany, this project an example of sustainable and family-oriented development. It features a mix of residential buildings, including several townhome typologies offering a total of 144 residential units with 1-3 bedroom configurations.

A key aspect of this development is its integrated Care Facility, which provides 24/7 support for individuals with diverse care needs. Our goal with this design is to help keep multi-generational families together and to help curb the loneliness epidemic. We ensured to foster a connection with the outdoors, as that is essential for mental health and well-being, especially for those with limited mobility. 

Responding to the client’s design brief, this building’s exterior imbues a sense of warmth with durable materials reflecting a wood-grain metal cladding, white board and batten, and black metal siding, accented with mass timber elements, maximizing the allowable glazing on each side to achieve airy, light-filled rooms. In addition to residential spaces, the development includes outdoor amenities like landscaped patios and covered porches with built-in seating.

We are driven by the challenge to continually address zoning, density, and accessibility issues and are excited with the progress achieved alongside Avalon Master Builders in taking steps towards creating more sustainable and inclusive living environments.

For more information on this project click here.

Sage Walk Towns DP Approval

We are excited to announce that the development permit for the Logel Sage Hill townhouse development in the northwest community of Sage Hill has been approved! This project was design by Gravity for Logel Homes and features 52, three-storey townhomes across ten buildings. The exteriors are clad with a combination of James Hardie panels and TrueGrain Series siding. We designed the homes to each be identifiable through the massing of the building.

pLAnt Studio designed the landscaping including the private and common outdoor amenity space. The common space is defined by a central pergola. The majority of the units have private fenced-in patios, and all of the units have their own balconies. Because these balconies are inset into the buildings, residents have private outdoor spaces.

The grading of this parcel provided the opportunity to create two distinct entry styles. One entry is lowered and is below the level of the garage entry. The other is more like a split level, where the entry is elevated at a landing between the garage and main living levels. The floor plans have been designed with three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and a flex space that could be used as an additional bedroom. Homeowners will have the option to upgrade the bedroom level to a two-bedroom, two-suited bathroom layout.

A public pathway was coordinated to connect the City's sidewalks in the community to the north with the adjacent environmental reserve pathway that runs along the west property line.

Find out more about this development here.

Planning Mission Road

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Artist's Rendering of Mission Road from 2012 Consultant’s Report

In addition to the challenges presented by any site and budget, Gravity often has to respond to complex planning documents. Our Mission Road project has certainly been no exception.

In the summer of 2011, the City of Calgary began an ambitious planning project. The goal was to bring citizens, landowners, and City staff together with an international consulting team “to translate years worth of lessons learned into a plan for healthy growth along Mission Road.” It was also a way of seeing if workshops like this could be a better way of doing planning. On June 17 of that year, the City brought in well-known new urbanist planner Andués Duany of Duany Plater-Zyberk and Company (now DPZ) for a lecture at the Glenbow, and then a charette with the stakeholders for Mission Road. Some may recall that DPZ was the firm that had previously consulted with Carma on the first (and most successful) phases of MacKenzie Towne in southeast Calgary.

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Illustrative Plan from Parkhill Stanley Park ARP

The outcome of that process was initially a 78-page Final Consultant’s Report describing a human-scaled (and somewhat Italianate) urban future for Mission Road. While occasionally fantastical, the report described a plausible development pattern that reached across MacLeod Trail to integrate the nearby LRT corridor. Illustrations described narrower streets, mixed uses and more trees.

Ultimately, this work got its legal teeth as an amendment to the Parkhill Stanley Park Area Redevelopment Plan. Section 3.2 describes this Special Policy Area with form-based controls for building massing and frontage, outlines street improvements, and attempts to preserve the pedestrian-oriented streetscapes and scale that was envisioned at the charette.

In 2018, the owner of three long, steep parcels on the south side of Mission Road asked Gravity to prepare a feasibility study for a mixed-use project on the site. While we were not able to practically bring vehicles in from the back of the site (it being over three storeys above Mission Road), we were able to prove that a viable multi-residential building with a commercial frontage and a private courtyard was possible. Carlisle Group subsequently purchased the property, saw our feasibility study, and asked us to get to work! 

A selected diagram from Gravity’s 2018 Feasibility Study

Our assessment of the charade and resulting ARP was not that the community and City wanted historicist architecture or City Beautiful movement grand staircases over grottoes transformed into six-stool taverns. Rather, they wanted safe, attractive streets that are both walkable and wheelable. 

We therefore generated a contemporary building with a commercial street front behind a wide tree-lined sidewalk. Floating above this are three interrelated masses that contain the residential suites. Behind these, an internal courtyard meets the grade of the adjacent heavily treed parcel allowing users of the space to enjoy a backdrop of dense foliage. At the south end, an existing laneway provides access for loading as well as waste and recycling pickup. We have recently submitted a Development Permit application and are awaiting stakeholder comments and the Detailed Team Review.

With Mission Road, Gravity was able to incorporate the intent of the planning policy and deliver a viable building design to a prudent developer, which is what we strive to deliver to our clients whether they are in Alberta or BC.

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Bridgeland Commercial DP Submission

We recently submitted a development permit application for a small commercial building in Bridgeland. The application number is DP2020-2409.

First Avenue NE has been Bridgeland’s main street for as long as anyone can remember. The street got a massive boost as a commercial and mixed-use area with the Bridges Masterplan in 1999 and the subsequent redevelopment of the south side of the street and former hospital lands. However, the main street hasn’t been fully built out, and there are a few non-commercial blocks between the main shopping area (between 7th Street and 9a Street) and the shops on Edmonton Trail to the west.

This development permit submission is for a five-bay commercial building which aims to be part of the connection between these two commercial streets. With a new wider sidewalk (matching the rest of the street to the east), there will be plenty of room for street trees, restaurant patios, bike racks, and of course pedestrians.

While each retail bay is small, most of them have additional space on a mezzanine level that extends out over the small parking area behind the building. Garbage, recycling and compost will be collected in modest semi-underground bins rather than dumpsters in the lane.

This development replaces a picturesque but awkward cluster of three aging houses, two of which do not have lane access. The new building features brick and steel cladding, bridging traditional styling with contemporary massing. 

If you are interested in commenting on the proposal, please visit the City of Calgary Development Map.

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