Southampton Green

Condo Directory South west, south of Glenmore Trail Southampton Green

315 Southampton Drive, SW, Southwood

This is a large development with a total of 288 roomy suites in nine wood-frame buildings with extensive outdoor parking, lawns, and mature evergreen trees, two tennis courts and a recreation/rental office building. Built in 1976, the entire complex became condominiums in 1998, with some investors buying dozens of suites. Since then there's been a shift to resident owners as investors cash in on increased values. There's still a rental office on site to operate the rental pool for landlords who choose to pay for that management service for their suite or suites. The management of the condo development is independent of the rental pool operation. The rental/rec building also houses a racquetball court, a gym, and a social room.

The cedar-sided green buildings with their cedar shake roof trim (flat roofs behind these) look rustic in the treed setting, and that feeling amplifies in many suites which all have a corner wood-burning fireplace with river-rock surround. If you have a wood fire going and see snow-covered evergreens outside the window you could feel like you're in Canmore rather than in Calgary's suburbs. Of course "rustic" also means a bit old, as the buildings are past the 30 year mark, so maintenance is necessary to keep these buildings running well. All nine buildings are of three floors with slab-on-grade construction without basements of any kind. Every building has numerous entrances that each serve six suites, so there are no linear corridors.

One-bedroom homes are a roomy 657 square feet and two-bedroom homes are 840, with three-bedroom suites topping out at 1,023 square feet. Every suite has a large balcony or patio and they all have a titled storage locker accessed from the balcony. Parking is all surface assigned common property with a waiting list for those wanting a second stall. Parking priority is given to resident owners, meaning some renting residents might have to park out on Southampton Drive. Suite finishings vary dramatically, from basic rental standard to proud-homeowner upgraded quality. Exterior windows and doors are common property for maintenance and future replacement. I have on file the site layout with building and entrance numbers, plus the Condominium Plan.

To buy or sell in this condo development, write or call Gerald at 403-703-0675