Study finds major Canadian cities have room to improve when it comes to densification

Densification is a buzzword now in the real estate industry, and it's certainly on the minds of many policy makers in cities across Canada, including Calgary.

If you travel to cities around the world, you will see firsthand how the other half lives, so to speak. More people are living close together in those global cities.

Ring road construction accelerates plans for new Richmond-Sarcee interchange

Plans for a $106-million interchange at Richmond Road and Sarcee Trail are taking on added importance as construction continues along Calgary's southwest ring road.

Residents of surrounding communities, and the area's city councillor, want the interchange plan to be funded and built in time to handle traffic when the ring road opens around the end of 2021.

Proposed Inglewood condo tower will stand tall, but hurdles remain

A proposed 20-storey, mixed-use condo development for Inglewood would be the first of its kind in the neighbourhood, but has also raised concerns among some of the community's residents.

B&A Planning Group has been hired to consult on the project on behalf of a group of investors, and launched a community engagement process last year with brochures, open houses and town hall meetings.

The project plan includes 180 condo units, plus 14 townhouses and small-scale commercial spaces at its base.

Minerva and Glenn Kraushar plunged head first into homeownership in family-friendly Evanston

Eight years ago, Edmontonians Minerva and Glenn Kraushar tied the knot and then travelled south down the QEII to begin an exciting new adventure in Calgary. Glenn was beginning medical school at the University of Calgary and Minerva was finishing off her marketing degree. While in school, the couple bounced from rental home to rental home, their lives contingent upon the whims of landlords.

New Green Line LRT stations are poised to bring transit-oriented development to several communities

Proposed transit-oriented development (TOD) around first-stage Green Line stations is expected to turn city thoroughfares that currently lack curb appeal into new live, work, shop and play destination areas.

Later this year, station area plans or area redevelopment plans will go to city council for six of the 14 stations in the initial stage of the new LRT line – 16 Ave N., Inglewood/Ramsay, 26 Ave S.E., Lynnwood/Millican, Ogden and South Hill.

The Green Line's first phase will extend from 16th Avenue N. to 126 Avenue S.E., with construction slated to begin in 2020.

Sheila Darragh is searching for her next home, after a quick sale left her scrambling

Sheila Darragh is a woman in transition. Her husband recently passed away, and, finding herself alone in a big home, she knew it was time for a change. She placed her single-family, bi-level home on the market and it quickly sold, leaving her scrambling for a new home in an area with a strong sense of community. Over several weeks, she looked around the city, toured several neighbourhoods, compared home styles and visited showhomes. Nothing felt quite right, until she visited a friend in Cochrane. She fell in love with the quaint feel of the town. But with a rapidly approaching possession date, allowing her little time to suss out a new home purchase, she's decided to rent in Cochrane while exploring the market.

Top attractions in picturesque Priddis

When many people think of Priddis, the first thing that comes to mind is often the quiet hamlet southwest of Calgary that bears the name. However, the Priddis area has so much more to offer, including world-class golf, beautiful acreage properties, luxury homes and vast natural areas to explore.

Calgary's Seedy Saturday offers unprecedented opportunity for local gardeners to try new things

What is the big green event for gardeners this month? If you guessed St. Paddy's Day, you've got the right date, but the wrong activity.

The garden event in Calgary on March 17 involves green, but goes so much further than green beer or shamrocks. Seedy Saturday is a worldwide adventure for gardeners who want to grow their own organic food from locally sourced and selected seeds. Supporting Seedy Saturdays builds community and local habitat.

HGTV star Todd Talbot shares advice from 20 years in real estate at the Calgary Home and Garden Show

At the age of 22, Vancouver actor Todd Talbot bought his first home, paying his mortgage with the help of a rent-paying friend.

It was a unique occurrence among his theatre colleagues.

"(As an actor) you don't make a ton of money and you are pretty transient," said Talbot, who, as a teenager, appeared on the Hillside TV series with fellow Vancouverite and current Hollywood heavyweight Ryan Reynolds.

However, it was this initial foray into real estate – $190,000 for a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo two blocks from Kitsilano Beach – that sparked Talbot's second career as an entrepreneur, leveraging one piece of property for another, and then another, and eventually leading to ownership of several real estate companies.

Industrial real estate market hopes to maintain momentum in 2018

When it comes to the Calgary commercial real estate market, downtown office space grabs all the headlines.
Just like in sports, where star players occupy the limelight and grinders are often overlooked, the struggles of the downtown office market continue to dominate discussions of commercial real estate, while the industrial sector has quietly weathered the economic storm over the past three years.