A project that speaks to its location

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Twenty years ago, when Kush Panatch bought a 3.5-acre parcel of industrial land opposite Port Moody’s downtown, he knew it might take a long time for it to appreciate in value. What he hadn’t anticipated was the new SkyTrain Evergreen extension or the nearby Westcoast Express station would make it excellent space for a 358-unit condominium development.

“I remember coming here. I went down and walked around the park. It was simply a big industrial area with a sawmill,” Panatch said.

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Called 50 Electronic Avenue, the two six-storey buildings are part of a transformation the area has been undergoing in recent years.

Panatch’s family business, the Panatch Group, is fuelling that urban renewal with an offer to help young families get started in real estate by offering a rent-to-own scheme for some 30 homes in the complex.

The plan, developed after some Port Moody council members expressed concern about the lack of affordable housing in the neighbourhood, provides below-market rentals for qualifying families. Panatch said those families are given the option two years later to buy the home by applying the money they have saved on the discounted rent and receiving credit for all rent payments they have made.

The project, designed by Rob Ciccozzi and his firm Ciccozzi Architecture Inc., works hard to engage with the community and to “activate” street life on both Murray Avenue and Klahanie Drive, which the two buildings border, Ciccozzi said.

Interiors were designed to combine traditional elements with modern innovations to make family living more convenient and practical, say Cheryl Broadhead and Nicole Duval of BYU Interiors.

A tour of the two show homes — a two-bedroom unit with a rooftop patio and a one-bedroom unit — illustrate how the firm maximized the use of space. The homes make liberal use of pantry cupboards extending into the space adjacent to the kitchens. The two-bedroom home features his-and-hers closets and drawers in a corridor leading to an ensuite.

Medicine cabinets are incorporated into all bathrooms, as are the accompanying niches for storage around the mirrors.

BYU was also responsible for planning the use of Club 50, the amenity building, which has a separate area for children attached to an outside playground, a video arcade for teens and a lounge area for adults.

The amenity also has a fitness facility, yoga studio, dog-wash room, bicycle repair room, media room and co-working space with two boardrooms.

Kitchens come with a Bosch high-performance wall oven, a 30-inch gas cooktop, and quiet dishwasher with custom panel, a 36-inch Fisher & Paykel french-door refrigerator with ice maker, a Panasonic stainless steel microwave and Venmar hood fan. Countertops are quartz with a waterfall edge and porcelain tile backsplash.

The homes come in light and dark colour palettes and have open floor plans with nine-foot ceilings.

50 Electronic Avenue

What: 358 homes ranging from one- to four-bedroom units in two six-storey wood-frame buildings

Where: 50 Electronic Avenue, Port Moody

Residence size and prices: From $459,000 for a one-bedroom home; from $649,900 for a two-bedroom home and $879,000 for three-bedroom units (four- bedroom homes available in phase two)

Developer: Panatch Group

Sales centre: 50 Electronic Avenue, Port Moody

Hours: noon — 5 p.m., Saturday to Thursday

Phone: 604-492-2202