In Aldershot, urban living meets country style

Nov 2016 | Toronto Sun

For the small town of Aldershot, the challenge is clear — it’s striking the perfect balance between the peacefulness that small-town living affords, while enjoying a newfound vibrancy brought about by a recent spurt of growth.

Regardless, the mood was celebratory as the sun shone brightly on an unexpectedly warm November Saturday morning at the Rosehaven sales centre for the Grand Opening of Affinity Condominiums in “the rediscovered neighbourhood” of Aldershot in Burlington.

The six-storey condominium will consist of two buildings, each with its own set of urban-like amenities including a rooftop terrace, gyms, party rooms and bike storage.

Silvio Guglietti, a principal with Rosehaven Homes, spoke to the audience of how proud the builder felt to bring this new building to the area, and how the structure will help to refresh the face of Plains Road East “even more.”

Key to the project, he added, will be respecting the neighbourhood and striking that elusive balance between peacefulness and vibrancy in a community that has changing needs.

The new Affinity condo will be located on the main street just a few minutes from its revitalized downtown.

It is not always been easy for this small town located in the eastern part of Burlington and it wasn’t that long ago that the town had hit hard times.

“The Town of Aldershot has not always a been a happy place, from several business and retail closures, to young families leaving and not feeling there was a home for them here,” says regional councillor Rick Craven who was on hand for a ribbon cutting to celebrate the opening.

A few years ago, the town embarked on an ambitious economic and downtown revival plan and the hard work appears to have paid off.

Several infrastructure projects were launched and key among them was the construction of the 403/ QEW interchange “which changed everything and opened up access to the community,” says Craven.

These days, the town is again enjoying good times and its newfound reputation for offering a nice blend of urban and country living.

Craven kiddingly refers to Aldershot as a “home and garden community,” given its “two most popular tourist attractions” — a large IKEA store on the east side and the Royal Botanical Gardens located in the south part of town — have brought a lot of attention to the area.

“But it’s not just a place to visit, we want people to live here,” he adds. “The vision (now) is to become an urban village,” as it continues to work both on attracting more industry to the area and keeping its close connection to the outdoors.

At the Rosehaven opening, visitors were given a sense of what such a community could look like.

The building itself is designed to create an urban feel with all of its modern amenities and conveniences, but at the same time, it sits on a spacious lot adjacent to a private, landscaped park, giving it the sense of being at nature’s doorstep.

At the sales once, the Cascade model suite is available for viewing. It features a one- bedroom plus den floor plan that showcases quartz countertops in the kitchen and bathroom, state-of-the-art roller blinds, stainless steel appliances and wide-plank laminate flooring throughout.

Rosehaven expects to break ground on the site next spring with the first of two buildings to be opened in fall of 2018.

Suites range from a 567 sq.ft., one bedroom unit up to 1,101 sq.ft. for a two-bedroom with den layout. Prices start from the low $300s and range up to $527,990 for the two- bedroom unit.