Builders marketing new homes to extended and larger families are increasingly offering separate, lock-off suites as options in their communities. B.C. developer Panatch Group has joined the trend at its Cavendish townhome project in Richmond.

Panatch, a family-owned company based in the Metro Vancouver-area city, is offering four such townhomes at a 35-unit development that is set to be completed by this summer.

“If someone has a growing family, it’s an income helper," until extra space is required, Eshleen Panatch, the executive vice-president of Panatch Group, said during an interview with RENX Homes.

"When you have another child, you have that extra bedroom downstairs, or you have an aging parent and you have a space that you can bring them into because the reality is, young families don’t have these large, single-family homes where if a parent needs care: ‘No problem. We have an entire basement available.’ ” 

Cavendish had its sales grand opening on May 3, and the response was encouraging, according to Panatch. Construction began in spring 2024, and it is expected to be complete by July or August.

“The fact that we generated 70 groups coming through on Mother’s Day weekend, I think there is some positivity and excitement in the market.”

That sentiment is magnified because marketing for Cavendish has been minimal: mailers were sent to west Richmond residents, and the developer posted a sign, Panatch said.

The Cavendish community

Each lock-off suite at Cavendish includes its own kitchenette, washroom, closet and is “finished to the same standard as the rest of the home, so they are really beautiful, kind of micro-suites,” she said. 

The lock-off suites range between 300 and 400 square feet with a separate entrance, suitable for use as rentals or for multi-generational families who live together.

The developers wanted to enhance the four homes with extra space due to market conditions.

“Townhomes are not what they used to be, and we’ve tried to be as price-point conscious as we can with some of the smaller homes," Panatch said. "The reality is now a townhome in Richmond starts at just under $1.2 million so if you’re buying that mid-range home that is now approaching $1.6 million, you do need a bit of a mortgage helper.”

In addition to the lock-off suites, Panatch is offering six rental homes through Richmond’s low-end market rental (LEMR) program, she said.

The developer received positive encouragement from the City of Richmond for the initiatives, according to Panatch, as it recognizes the prices of this style of new homes can be out of reach for some potential buyers.

“Having these smaller spaces available for aging parents but also, if we want to keep young people within the city, we need to offer a unit mix that allows for that,” she said. 

Development offers 14 floor plans

There are 14 different floor plans in the Cavendish development, ranging from 1,160 square feet up to 1,750 square feet. It’s an infill build that will eventually also include two standalone homes.

Two units are “under contract” so far, she said, but all the homes with lock-off suites were still available for sale.

The designs fit with the philosophy of the approximately 14-person, 35-year-old company.

“We’re a family company, and so we don’t want to build anything that we wouldn’t be happy to live in ourselves," she said. "I’m 100 per cent confident when someone walks through these homes, they’re not going to have any complaints."

External amenities include two outdoor spaces, along with “two large mature trees that are at the centre of the site and we’re going to be building an amenity deck for people to gather, and then we have a small children’s play area,” Panatch said, although the developer is limiting the amenities to keep costs more affordable.

“Our goal is to keep our strata fees as low as possible. The strata fees for these homes are $0.22 per square foot, which is on the low side and so far, the feedback that we’ve gotten from people is that this is appreciated.”

Looking ahead for Panatch Group

Panatch is hoping to continue offering such lock-off suites in future developments.

“Definitely. I think that this style of development is what families in the city need," she said. "So going forward, our focus for the next few years is to build some purpose-built rental buildings also in Richmond, and then pick up similar sites to this, where we can do infill, townhome developments and really cater to what the city is looking for."

It also hopes to offer more rent-to-own options, which Panatch did with a recent community it built in Port Moody, B.C.

“The way that program worked was, we had people sign a contract to purchase a pre-sale development. They had two years to save up, and then when the project was completed, they moved in and they paid below-market rents for two years, and basically, we saved that rent for them for those two years, and then put that toward their purchase price,” Panatch explained.

The response was great, and it had more than 600 applicants for the 30 homes that were available under the program.

“In the short-term, we’re doing more of these rental developments, but our hope is that within every development we do, we can do some sort of unique program like that.”