The final stage of Mosaic Homes' Lynn Valley community in North Vancouver — a 10-year development project — will break ground this summer.

Trailside at Lynn is a five-storey, strata condo building containing 61 homes which will soon be under construction. It is set for completion in two years.

“Focusing on Trailside itself being the last building, we were able to incorporate everything that we learned over 10 years building the rest of the community to deliver homes that we think are going to be some of our best yet here at Lynn,” said Geoff Duyker, senior vice-president at Vancouver-based Mosaic Homes, in an interview with RENX Homes.

This final step will bring an end to a long project that is delivering 411 homes in the North Vancouver community. It also includes rental homes, townhomes and concrete mid-rise buildings.

It’s a culmination for the home builder, and Duyker said much change has happened during the decade-long build time.

“Like any large master-plan project, the process to work with the community to get the project approved is challenging. This, and any project that is 10 years in the making, goes through multiple cycles and we’ve experienced a couple of market cycles. We’ve experienced COVID; we’ve experienced significant changes in construction costs along the way.”

Lynn Valley buyer profiles have changed

The buyer profile has also changed since the project was first launched.

“When we were selling the first projects here, it was in a different market, and there were a lot of buyers who were buying for investment," Duyker said. "I would say now we’re really seeing, we call it real homes for real people: first timers, those who need more space, those who need less space, and who are, this home is for them to live in."

But with the finish line in sight, Duyker is both optimistic and realistic. “That’s just the nature of doing a 10-year-plus project.”

Trailside had its grand opening during the May 10 weekend, and the response was “super successful,” he said, especially among local residents.

“It’s been excellent. We’ve already sold 20 per cent of our homes. We’ve had over 250 visitors through our sales office — we call it our home store — in just over a week. The response has been phenomenal.”

This mirrors what is trending generally in the Vancouver housing market today, Duyker said.

“With what’s happened with interest rates over the last three years, that’s obviously delayed a lot of people from making decisions and put people on the sidelines. A lot of that uncertainty is now out of the way. 

“We now know who’s likely going to be our prime minister for the next four years, and I’d say a lot of the uncertainty that was keeping people from making a decision, we’re seeing this spring, people who’ve been waiting for a long time finally saying ‘I can’t wait any longer,’” he said.

North Vancouver offers outdoor lifestyle

The North Vancouver neighbourhood is perfect for those who “value an outdoor lifestyle; it’s centre ice for that,” Duyker added.

“It is a neighbourhood that’s really characterized by its proximity to nature. It’s right at the bottom of both Grouse Mountain and Mount Seymour. Right out the door of this community, you have an absolutely world-class trail network for hiking, for biking. You’ve got proximity to the local ski hills.”

In addition to the mountains in the background, buyers will enjoy the “really big kitchens,” and 10-foot ceilings, which are much more expansive than the much more typical nine-foot offerings.

“You really get more storage space. You get more natural light, and just more volume in your home,” he said.

As well, the homes come with a Smeg appliance package, which is one of the first to be offered in a multifamily project in Vancouver. 

The condominiums will have a wide range of options, including one-bedroom, two-bedroom and three-bedroom layouts. The five different floor plans also include a den option for the two- and three-bedroom homes.

Trailside pricing starts in high $600,000s

Prices range from the high $600,000s at the low end, to the high $800,000s for two bedrooms. Three-bedroom units will start at $1.2 million, according to Duyker.

Moving into the community will allow residents to access the Lynn Club, that offers almost 10,000 square feet (7,300 indoor and 2,500 outdoor) of amenity space.

“It has a pool, a fitness gym, an incredible great room, a movement studio, locker room, and then outdoor barbecue and social space. It’s an amazing amenity to have for such a small building because you’re participating in this larger master-plan community,” Duyker explained.

While the housing supply in Vancouver is abundant, there are not many options for new home purchasers, which puts Trailside in a unique position.

“If you want to buy a new home in this community, there’s not many homes. There are parts of the market where there is lots of supply, and there are lots of options for buyers," Duyker said, but that is a headwind in some product types and some neighbourhoods.

"I would say, even for the municipality of North Vancouver in general, if you want to buy a new home. There are not that many options, and Trailside really takes advantage of that."