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Ground broken on 'bungaloft' project aimed at local seniors

'Bungalofts are ideal for many seniors looking to downsize to a more manageable home, with most amenities on a single floor,' says councillor
LionsPark
The Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury and Serena Homes officially broke ground on the Villas of Lions Estates, housing aimed at seniors in the community.

There's a new housing alternative on Bradford's horizon.

Officials from Serena Homes and the Town of Bradford West Gwillimbury broke ground on the Villas of Lions Estates. The area, near Lions Park, will have 14 new “bungalofts,” bungalows with an upstairs loft bedroom. The new homes are aimed at seniors.

“We’re thrilled to add an innovative new type of housing to our local market,” said Coun. Jonathan Scott. “These bungalofts are ideal for many seniors looking to downsize to a more manageable home, with most amenities on a single floor.”

The project is environmentally friendly, using insulated concrete-form construction, electrical heating and smart thermostats to promote green design and energy conservation, say officials.

"The beautiful homes will also benefit from green-energy and efficient construction, helping meet our goals around climate change mitigation,” added Scott. “At the same time, we’re investing as a town to deliver new basketball courts and an outdoor ice rink to Lions Park next door, alongside coming improvements to the parking lot and more tree planting. So, all in all, this is a nice part of revitalization of the east end of town.”

Initially, Serena Homes, the developer heading the project, was planning to build 27 stacked townhouses, but saw a different need arise in the community.

“We wanted to build something that would align with the community and look nice in a park setting,” said Karim P. Lalji, owner of Serena Homes. “We also wanted it to be more low rise, something a more mature community would enjoy.”

With aging populations, many communities that can’t support seniors with housing have seen them move away. That’s why both the town and Serena Homes see this as an opportunity to keep seniors close to home.

“We decided to build the bungalows because we had done some research back in 2017 and found that a lot of seniors tend to move away from Bradford,” Lalji explained.

“What’s happened over time is there’s a large number of seniors who want to be independent but at the same time they don’t want a pick house where they have to do the maintenance," he explained. "That’s why we came up with these 1,300-square-foot bungalows.”

Lions Park was the "perfect setting" for the housing according to Lalji, because it offered a more senior friendly surrounding.

“The area is not as noisy as the newer area of Bradford,” he said. “The newer area has a lot more traffic, it’s two lanes, and there’s a lot of shopping plazas. This area is older and has a lot of trees.

"When you look at this project, it’s almost immersed inside Lions Park. We’ve got two sides, the south and east, and there’s nothing else around it. It’s a nice quiet neighbourhood. It’s going to stand out as very independent and unique.”