That was nearly 18 years ago.

“That’s the key—one of the things that we do differently from other communities is we always put the amenities in first,” says Ted Stack, development manager of Heritage Pointe. “At the Lake at Heritage Pointe, the lake was in, and the beach club, when we opened our first show home parade; we had to make sure what we told people they were going to get, they could see.”

The buyers not only came to the pristine community south of Calgary in droves, they also helped earn the Lake at Heritage Pointe not one, but two consecutive Best Community awards at the CRHBA’s SAM Awards, in 2005 and again in 2006.

Carol Oxtoby, president of Heritage Pointe and Heritage Pointe Lake Developments, says the area has come full circle, having also taken home the SAM hardware for Best New Community in 2001. Now down to the last slices of prime real estate (the developer has sold remaining lots to its builder partners), buyers still have a few opportunities to build in the much-sought-after area.

While those who have crafted stately abodes in Heritage Pointe include Trico, Shane, Beattie, Cidex Signature Homes, Greenboro Estate Homes and Albi Homes, only Albi and Greenboro are building in the final phase at the Lake. While Albi just closed its opulent show home doors, the magnificent 3,718-square-foot Monticino, the builder is still selling lake addresses from $950,000 including lot and GST. Meanwhile, Greenboro’s palatial showcase, the 4,730-square-foot enchanting Escada, is still open to the public and the builder is building from just over the $1-million mark, with a number of pre-built homes up for grabs as well. Cidex Signature Homes, the third builder in the final show home parade for the Lake at Heritage Pointe, has sold out of its lots.

Looking around the acres upon acres (1,000 to be exact) of lush area surrounding Heritage Pointe, it’s not surprising the community has been so popular. But it didn’t just happen overnight.

“The first residential community was the golf course community which is 164 homes. When was when we held the Street of Dreams parade in 1997… it was really the turning point for us,” says Oxtoby, adding many associate the Heritage Pointe moniker with golf.

“The golf course is a 27-hole, world-class facility with a three-hole practice facility. We also have a golf academy and it is completely public, but we sell seasonal memberships for personal and corporate use, and we have a junior membership as well. The golf course has been a huge positive factor. We call this Stage One. Stage Two was the lake community. We started that in 2001.”

That marked the first time the Lake at Heritage Pointe was awarded in the SAMs. A high honour, considering the bread and butter of Upper Lakes Group—half of the Lake at Heritage Pointe’s development team (along with Intergulf-Cidex) and sole developer for the first phase of Heritage Pointe, plus the golf course, which they still manage—is actually moving commodities and cargo around the world by ship. “In the development community we are the smallest kid on the block … we’re pretty proud of what we have accomplished here,” says Oxtoby.

What will be achieved at the Lake’s build-out are 490 homes resting on 320 acres, a Village Centre and a 26-acre full-use lake stocked with fish, combined with a two-acre Upper Pond with its own storm water circulation system. A 2,800-square-foot beach club is also making a splash with homeowners—flush with paddleboats, kayaks and canoes, a swimming dock and a fire pit all for exclusive use of Lake at Heritage Pointe residents.

Heritage Pointe has become a sanctuary for homebuyers, says Stack. “You have larger lots, but there is all the green space—it’s just such an appealing arrival. You can see the mountains most days here. We’ve got some beautiful environmental reserve areas in the Pine Creek Valley, which meanders through the entire community. Its appeal is like good wine, it just seems to be getting better every year.”

And pair that with private learning institutions nearby and a first-rate school system in Okotoks, along with a six- or seven-minute drive to all the perks of big-city living, and it’s not hard to fathom the appeal of Heritage Pointe.

Stack attributes Heritage Pointe’s reputation as a very high-end quality name, and not just for golfers. “Over the years(the success is), because of the architectural controls, because of the lot sizes, because of the quality of builders that we have, because of the whole package.”

Also part of that package is having a homeowners’ association to keep the area looking its best, with every buyer a member of the body that maintains every blade of grass outside of residents’ yards.

And architectural controls have proved effective in maintaining property values. “It started here at the golf course and we have been really somewhat of a leader in terms of the architectural controls,” says Stack, citing high roof pitches, side-drive garages, limited fencing, minimal repetition of the same home, and mandated landscaping.

And with things winding down, would-be homebuyers feeling they have missed their chance after the Lake at Heritage Pointe are in luck. “Stage Three” is on the horizon, having passed first reading in the MD of Foothills, and promises to deliver a sequel under the Heritage Pointe umbrella, immediately east of the golf course and Deerfoot Trail.

“It’s about environmental sustainability and it’s about conservation planning—those are the two drivers behind Stage Three … we think there is probably going to be 275 or 280 home sites,” says Stack of the 137-acre parcel that will boast close to 50 per cent open space. Lots in the unnamed sequel to the Lake at Heritage Pointe will be 75 to 80 feet wide on average, and will back on green space or one of three storm water retention ponds.

 “We like to have sizzle in each of our communities,” explains Oxtoby. “With the lake community it was the lake, and now with Stage Three the sizzle is going to be open space—an environmentally sustainable community.”

Unmanicured spaces will flank homes while storm water ponds and extensive pathways will add a “very visual element.” Meanwhile, all homes will be Built Green™ to a gold standard. Construction is expected to start in the fall, while would-be residents should be able to tour a show home parade by late 2008. As much as 30 per cent will be a semi-detached villa product expected to cater to the aging boomers already in Heritage Pointe looking to “lock and walk,” explains Oxtoby.

For those who miss out on Stage Three, a 40-acre parcel (the original homestead of one of six original landowners) is approved to follow up the success at Heritage Pointe, and is earmarked to be home to 33 single-family abodes, concurrently or following Stage Three.  NL