Developer Section23 breaks ground on Rangeview, a new community in Calgary's southeast embracing the theme of garden to table.

PROFILE BY Cindy Stephen 

PHOTO BY SUPPLIED BY Section23

The not quite frozen ground has broken on a 322-acre parcel of land in southeast Calgary as Rangeview, a neighbourhood 97 years in the making, officially launches.

Calgary-based Section23 Developments Ltd. unleashed heavy equipment earlier in October to prepare the site of the former Ollerenshaw Ranch, located due east of the South Health Campus Hospital. Originally settled by the family in 1923, the agricultural heritage of the land will live on in Rangeview, designed as Calgary’s first garden-to-table community.

“My father had one motto for his life. He said, ‘Be sure to take care of the land and the land will take care of you.’ This philosophy continues to resonate with me today,” says Robert Ollerenshaw, founder and executive chairman of Section23. The company name comes from one of the three sections once farmed by his father, Fred.

“It is an honour to see my vision for the community of Rangeview come to life, and we are pleased to share this land and my family’s legacy with the next generation.”

The family business has transitioned from agriculture to real estate under the leadership of Robert Ollerenshaw. Under the Section23 banner, the business has evolved into a diversified real estate group with a focus on inner-city and suburban residential architecture, land development and commercial redevelopment.

Built on two quarter-sections of land, with a future capacity of 10,000 people, Rangeview will have integrated prairie wetlands, a plethora of amenities governed by a homeowner’s association. The garden-to-table theme of Rangeview, a source of pride for Ollerenshaw, is based on the emerging practice of agricultural urbanism. As a growing trend in urban planning across North America, agricultural urbanism is about integrating local food systems in the design and programming of communities to help people rediscover how food grows, how it’s processed, packaged, distributed, sold, delivered, prepared, consumed and celebrated. It’s about growing and producing food in urban areas, where more than 80 per cent of Canadians live, and connecting community members as a result.

Community gardens, orchards and food production opportunities are part of the garden-to-table vision and given the history of the area, the developers deemed Rangeview the right place to pioneer this concept.

Section23 received unanimous approval for the development from Calgary city council in December 2018. Section 23 senior vice-president Marion Murray says the city identified the new community as a priority area for development because of the existing infrastructure to support it. That includes Stoney Trail, the 212th Avenue S.E. interchange, South Health Campus Hospital, the Pine Creek sewage treatment plant, Seton fire hall, Brookfield Residential Seton YMCA, a Calgary Public Library branch, schools and the future green line of the LRT.
“Rangeview will help replenish the southeast market’s depleting housing supply in one of the city’s fast-growing sectors,” Murray adds.

Builders in Rangeview are Baywest Homes, a Section23 company, Homes by Avi and Jayman Built. The product mix, with a focus on affordability, will include apartment-style condominiums, street townhomes, single-detached garage homes and attached garage homes, attracting homebuyers spanning multiple generations and life stages.

The show homes in Phase 1 are expected to open mid-2021 with a grand opening scheduled for fall 2021.

Pictured in photo from left: Caleb Hazel, Brittany Hazel, Justin Hazel, Robert Ollerenshaw, Section23 Developments' founder and executive chairman, June Hazel (née Ollerenshaw), and Chris Plosz, president Section23 Developments. 

Click Here To View Full Article In Calgary Herald on October 24, 2020