Stonewall showcase

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This article was published 21/08/2023 (775 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Haven Apartments’ brown and grey vinyl exterior mark the midpoint in Quarry Ridge Park’s development and have ushered in the second half of Stonewall’s most significant residential development in decades.

The walk-up style apartment block — which features 32 suites at the entrance of the subdivision, all deemed “affordable” by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. — is the first of 13 Haven-style apartments (220 suites) that will be erected in the next four years at Quarry Ridge Park.

The same 140-acre lot will eventually be the site for more than 700 homes in the southwest corner of the town, bordered by Fifth Street West, Third Avenue South, 12th Street West and Highway 67.

Quarry Ridge Park broke ground in 2014 and is expected to cost Ventura Developments anywhere from $350 million-$400 million to complete. Phases 1 to 7 included 33 purpose-built 55-plus apartment units. The second half of the project — phases 8 through 15 — has been approved and is expected to be completed in the next decade.

“There’s a blend of housing styles and types here,” said Tim Comack, vice-president of development for Ventura Developments. “There’s townhouses, duplex two-storeys, bungalows, condos, duplexes, walk-up apartments, 50-plus apartments and single-family homes. And everything from your standard 50 by 140 (foot) lot with a standard home all the way through park amenity lots, forested lots, et cetera.

“So there’s a variety of housing styles and types throughout the whole community with the focus of the more dense use in phases 1 through 7 and now phases 8 through 15 will focus primarily on single-family homes.”

Stonewall, which is home to a little north of 5,000 people, was a prime destination for Ventura to build Quarry Ridge Park because of what it offers its prospective residents, according to Comack.

“It’s certainly the most amenity-rich, self-contained, largest town in the capital region. It serves the entire Interlake as a whole, it’s got every amenity times two or three that you need,” he said.

“From that perspective, it’s an interesting town. It’s also got a hospital, and that’s what made it really unique to us, was it one of the only major urban centres of its kind in the capital region that also has a hospital. That’s a big feature for the people downsizing and some families, as well.”

Comack credited Stonewall’s municipal council for its support through the pandemic, which has allowed the project to stay on schedule for the most part. Stonewall’s mayor, Sandra Smith, was a councillor on the town council when Quarry Ridge Park was first proposed. She liked the idea then, and nothing has changed since she was elected last October.

“Obviously, when Ventura came in and was interested in developing, of course, we were (open to it) because we know that in order to grow, we need to have a good housing supply and work with a developer that had the same kind of goals we did,” Smith said.

“Stonewall, we have had a fairly steady growth rate. We know that as families start to grow and kids grow up that there’s enough housing supply here to keep them here. So with Ventura coming in, they’re offering more single-family and they’re now going into multiples and to apartments, so more options to offer people who want to stay in Stonewall and raise their families to stay.”

The parcel of land was previously used for farming before Ventura took ownership. Smith said she’s looking forward to Quarry Ridge Park perhaps bringing more eyes to Stonewall and leading more people to learn about the town.

“It’s very exciting,” she said. “With a development like this, we’re able to open up Stonewall to more people. Stonewall does have a lot to offer, it’s pretty much a full-service town — we have every amenity you can almost think of — and with the new development, that’s bringing more people into Stonewall and we can showcase our town and have that growth.”

jfreysam@freepress.mb.ca