Adera Development Corporation’s newest stacked townhome community, Kestrel in West Coquitlam, will be constructed out of a sustainable material developed by the Vancouver-based company which it believes is the future of the industry.

Adera will once again showcase its SmartWood technology at Kestrel, employing prefabricated cross-laminated mass-timber panels it says are durable, safe, economical and climate-friendly.

“We believe that wood, specifically mass timber . . . is the building material of the next 100 years or more,” Eric Andreasen, senior vice-president at Adera, told RENX Homes in an interview.

The developer has made sustainability a priority, which has not only enhanced its environmental credentials and reduced costs, but also brought in customers attracted to the green attributes of its homes, he continued.

And with the threat of a trade war between Canada and the U.S. that is expected to elevate costs in the construction sector, SmartWood is a made-in-Canada product that can help sidestep that pressure.

Adera’s Kestrel

Kestrel is situated on a property Adera purchased, which has been assembled from what used to be single-family home lots. The community will be spread across five buildings that total 118 residential units.

Over half of the community will consist of two-bedroom stacked townhomes in the 1,000-square-foot range. Approximately a quarter will be one-bedroom units ranging from 400 to just under 500 square feet, and rest will be three-bedroom townhomes that range up to 1,300 square feet.

The ground floor units will be one- and two-bedroom units, with two- and three-bedroom units on the upper floors as two-level housing.

Noting the importance of missing middle housing, Andreasen said a stacked townhome community like Kestrel delivers more supply, “allowing people to have more affordable access to this middle component to the marketplace.”

Adera expects to price the one-bedroom units in the mid-$400,000s, the two-bedroom units around the high-$900,000 range, and the three-bedroom units just over $1 million.

Based on Adera’s experience with Duet, an urban flats and stacked townhome project just down the street from Kestrel, it anticipates a similar spectrum of buyers.

“We have a lot of young people that are merging their lives, looking to find enough space to grow into,” Andreasen said, such as young couples looking to start a family. Single buyers, empty nesters, downsizers and people looking to avoid the bustle of downtown Vancouver are other expected customers.

Kestrel will feature 6,500 square feet of shared amenities spread across the community: a gym, multi-purpose recreational room, a dog wash area, play area for children and a co-working facility. Residents will also have access to Adera’s multi-purpose amenity space named the West Coast Club.

The Burquitlam SkyTrain station is a few blocks from the site, which provides access downtown Vancouver and up to Port Moody. Simon Fraser University will be close by, as will the lakes and mountains of the region for lovers of the outdoors.

Construction on Kestrel will start soon, with first occupancy expected in the fall of 2027.

Attributes of Adera's SmartWood

While not Adera’s first mass timber townhome community, it will be a residential development that demonstrates the developer's emphasis on the material and its array of advantages.

Made by gluing layers of lumber into panels, SmartWood can match steel and concrete on durability while being lighter. It offers strong seismic performance as it bends, rather than breaking. SmartWood stores carbon and is produced with less greenhouse gas emissions compared to steel and concrete.

Adera says it is also fire resistant.

“We’re looking to the future. Mass timber is what we believe in,” Andreasen said.

The emphasis on sustainability is a boon not just for the environment, but the financial performance of Adera. SmartWood is a strong insulator which cuts heating and maintenance costs. The green features of its housing have been cited by customers as a reason why they chose Adera’s products, and improves their resale value, Andreasen said.

As the raw materials for SmartWood are grown in Canada and the material is manufactured in B.C., it can bolster the country’s domestic supply of construction materials, as the threat of a trade war between Canada and the U.S. looms, he explained.

Uncertain time to be followed by 'smooth sailing'

The threat of tariffs introduced “incredible uncertainty” to Adera. Planning around such instability is very difficult, Andreasen said, but he believes “our moment of uncertainty here is going to change relatively quickly.”

Interest rates are trending down which helps with affordability, and he added there is a wide variety of housing to choose from. Once the uncertainty goes away — either when the tariffs finally take place or are rescinded — buyers will be able to release their pent-up demand.

“Once you cut through all that uncertainty,” Andreasen said, “I think that everything’s going to be smooth sailing and I think you’re going to see a number of years where the market picks up steam as we go forward.”

The developer also has other Vancouver-area projects such as its condo community Edge and urban homes mass timber community Pura under development.