Foster Martin development poised to bring new energy to community?s town centre
Simon Brault
The Vancouver Sun
Foster Martin
Project location: 1484 Martin Street
Project size: 334 homes in three towers, one to four bedrooms ranging from 806 to 3,748 square feet. Prices range from the mid-$500,000s up to more than $6 million
Developer: Landmark Premiere Properties Ltd.
Architect: IBI Group
Interior designer: Studio Finlay
Sales centre: #105 — 1688 152nd Street
Sales phone: 604-531-7111
Hours: noon — 5 p.m. daily
Website: http://www.fostermartin.ca
For many decades, White Rock has been famous for its waterfront: its wooden pier and promenade, the 500-ton white boulder that sits on miles of sandy beach and the shops, cafes and restaurants along Marine Drive. Now, with the development of three new towers by Landmark Premiere Properties, the community’s town centre is set for a major revitalization.
Foster Martin is a development of 334 homes of between one and four bedrooms. It gets its name from Foster and Martin streets, which run parallel north to south through the heart of White Rock. The development will provide a public, pedestrian connection between the two thoroughfares.
“Our vision was to create a landmark in the town centre by providing homes for downsizers, some commercial and retail space for the business sector and also a public space for the local community,” said Michael Kenchington, project manager for developer Landmark Premiere Properties.
“When you think about White Rock, you think about the waterfront and the pier. We’re hoping that this project will help to put the town centre on the map as a great place to visit in itself. We’re not just building a highrise development here; we’re building a community.”
Health and wellness practitioners, cafés, restaurants, a spa, daycare and other retailers will be located at Foster Martin and Kenchington said that the developers are looking to align with businesses that are about living well. The lifestyle on offer is proving popular with buyers.
“There is a large segment of the population in the Lower Mainland and in South Surrey and White Rock in particular who are looking to downsize,” Kenchington said. “But crucially, they want to do that without having to compromise. Our one-bedroom homes start at around 800 square feet and our two-bedrooms from about 1,100 square feet, which is much more generous than you would typically find in this type of development.”
Fifth Avenue is handling the sales and marketing of Foster Martin. The company’s president and CEO Scott Brown said that there’s a big demand for downsizer-friendly homes in White Rock.
“This is a community that is near a city, near an airport and on the water, but still has a bit of that small-town charm,” Brown said. “The people who live there right now want to stay there, but they realize that the current form of housing isn’t going to meet their needs any more. It’s just too stressful and too large. But up to this point, nobody has been able to offer downsizer-friendly homes right in the town centre.”
Homes at Foster Martin will have nine-foot-high ceilings, engineered wood floors and (for two-bedroom homes and larger) laundry rooms with full-sized washers and dryers, laundry sinks and stone countertops.
“At Foster Martin, every one of our kitchens will be the envy of a full-size home,” Kenchington said. “We’ve got things like 48-inch Miele fridge freezers, 36-inch gas cooktops and integrated wall ovens and microwaves. The other thing we’ve done here is to offer a much broader range of options for buyers to customize their homes than you would find in a typical condo development. Buyers will be able to choose from two distinct lifestyle design schemes, each with two original colour palettes.”
Other kitchen features include either quartz, granite or marble countertops with contiguous slab backsplashes, Miele hood fans and under-mounted stainless-steel sinks with Grohe faucets in polished chrome with integral toggle sprays.
Master bathrooms feature oval soaker tubs with Riobel polished chrome fixtures, floating vanities matched to the kitchen cabinetry and quartz, granite or marble countertops. The showers are enclosed by frameless glass and feature two-piece Riobel contemporary polished chrome rain heads and hand wands.
Foster Martin will also include a 10,000-square-foot health club with a 75-foot indoor/outdoor pool and a hot tub. There’s also a fitness studio, a business lounge, a party room, a billiards/pool room and car and bike-charging stations.
“One of the things we’re most excited about is that we’ll be providing a shuttle bus service to and from the waterfront,” Kenchington said. “People love their walks along the boardwalk, they don’t necessarily want to take on that hill and parking is always a problem down there. The shuttle will mean that residents can get to and from the water without having to drive.”
Homes range in size from 806 to 3,748 square feet and are priced from the mid-$500,000s up to more than $6 million. The first two towers are scheduled for completion in the spring of 2020, by which time White Rock town centre will look strikingly different, according to Brown.
“The civic heart of White Rock has always been at the waterfront,” he said. “What we’re trying to do at Foster Martin is create a second civic heart for the community – an urban pier, if you will – and the response from the locals has been fantastic.”
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