Maple Ridge builder Woodlock Developments has won an award for their Everwood townhouse project on Fern Crescent.
The Homebuilders Association Vancouver (HAVAN) held its16th annual awards for housing excellence, at a gala held on April 12in Vancouver. Everwood was chosen for the best interior design display suite for a multi-family home. Fifth Avenue Real Estate Marketing and the Collaborative Design Study were also named in the win.
There were 451 entries across 65 categories, and 181 builders, renovators and designers.
Everwood is a unique, hourglass-shaped development at 23697 Fern Crescent that is being built by brothers Jag and Tal Mann of Woodlock, who have completed numerous projects in Maple Ridge.
“To be selected (for a HAVAN award) is pretty cool,” said Jag. “It’s a pat on the back from your peers.”
“But we want whoever the end buyer is to be proud and happy.”
Their father Harnek was a builder, who also lives in Maple Ridge, and he was a mentor to his sons.
Tal is on site every day to ensure the level of craftsmanship they want. Jag heads up sales and marketing, and sees Maple Ridge getting a lot of buzz right now for its real estate offerings.
At street level at Everwood there are 21 townhouses, with nine being two-storeys, and 12 three-storeys. They won the HAVAN award for the design of their two-storey townhouse display suite.
It is the same suite that is a grand prize homes for the 2025 Hometown Heroes Lottery.
Their design aims at coming “as close as possible to single family living in a townhouse,” explained Jag. “A well-designed townhouse can check all the same boxes as a single family home.”
Typical townhouse complaints include a lack of storage space, small bedrooms, and no room to park, he said. They have tried to address those issues.
Walking through the winning display unit they point out the 10 foot ceilings and the over-height doors that “makes you feel like you’re in a bigger space than you are.”
It’s about 1,700 square feet, and the height allows for storage space in high kitchen cabinets. They go for big walk-in closets, a large laundry room with more cabinets, and point out the en suite bathroom with floor-to-ceiling tiles and heated tile floors.
“We spend the money in the right places,” said Tal.
The back yard has a six-foot-fence for privacy, and a covered balcony for barbecuing.
Their market research shows the popularity of pickups in Maple Ridge, so they have long driveways to accommodate bigger vehicles.
It’s a gated community with a parkette in the middle of the lower-level units. It will have playground equipment and a fire pit.
“We ask, if our kids lived here, what would we want to see for them,” said Jag.
Walking past the parkette is a wooded area, with a creek and a pathway running through it. Then the 14 units in the top bench, which they call The Lookout.
It’s market is empty nesters who are downsizing from a house into their “forever” townhome. Their master bedrooms are on the main floor, but there is a second master-sized bedroom downstairs in the display suite. These units feature huge carports, large yards that all border green space, and the display suite has 2,450 square feet on two floors.
The ceilings are 12 feet upstairs, and in the basements they are nine feet, so mechanical drop-downs are still eight feet high, adding to the feeling of size.
They point out features including a pot-filler movable tap over the stove, a dining room that can seat 10, a wine rack built into the kitchen island, and an oven placed higher in the kitchen – rather than under the stove – so nobody has to bend down to get out a roasting pan.
The brothers explain it’s that attention to little details that won Everwood the award.
https://www.mapleridgenews.com/local-news/fern-crescent-townhomes-win-award-for-housing-excellence-7958291
