The large-scale Aspen Village mixed-use development in the Springbank Hill area of southwest Calgary is moving closer to becoming a reality.

Developer Vesta Properties has begun preselling condominium units within the project’s first phase. Vesta has set up a sales centre on site.

A.J. van der Linden, Vesta’s Alberta sales director, told Connect that the firm’s total investment is expected to range from $300-$400 million. Aspen Village is slated to comprise 1,200 residential units across 15 buildings on a 13-acre site.

Vesta is deploying a Scandinavian architectural style that with features that include slanted roofs and lighter colours inside and outside the homes.

“We wanted to go with a little bit more simplistic architectural design on the exteriors of our buildings, going more to the natural tones the white exteriors with black accents and wood features on the buildings,” said van der Linden. “We’re in an era where where everything is rectangular boxes with bright yellow or pink colors on the buildings these days.

“We just wanted to bring it back to a more simple design for for this community, and create a more cohesive village feel here in Aspen Village. “We went with a lot more of the natural colors on the interior of these units, high-end finishing, but very simple, streamlined designs that have created a lot of comfort for our buyers up here.”

Vesta aims to have the first buildings ready for occupancy in 18-24 months with the entire project’s construction slated to conclude in five to seven years.

“We will have our first four buildings, so two rental buildings and two market [condo] buildings done right away,” said van der Linden. “So, construction has already started on those ones. Then the balance of the site, because it’s across 15 buildings, for putting up those ones we’ll go as the sales program progresses.”

Home sizes will range from 640 square feet for one-bedroom units to about 1,600 sf for three-bedroom suites. The residential mix is slated to be split evenly between rental units and owned homes.

Condo unit prices will range from about $350,000 to more than $700,000.

The site is fully approved and shovel-ready with the initial foundations having been poured.

The residential mix will also contain an affordable-housing component in accordance with the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s MLI Select mortgage-insurance program for multi-unit properties.

“The MLI low-income, or affordable rents [program] is based on the average income from the neighbourhood,” said van der Linden. “Because we will be building some of our rentals under the CMHC program, there will be some units that will be available rates compared to others inside of the complex. But it’s only a very small percentage of units that will be under the [affordable-housing] program.”

Plans also call for Aspen Village to contain 60,000 square feet of retail space in the heart of the community.

“[There are] not a lot of sites where we built six-storey apartment buildings that have commercial included as well,” he noted. “So, this one’s got a mixed-use component to it as well. The nice thing is, the residents here will have boutique shops, restaurants, cafes, a grocery store and all those things available to them as well.”

Vesta expects to obtain preleasing commitments from retail tenants during the winter with the first leases signed next spring. All of the retail units will be rentals rather than strata-ownership properties. As a result, condo owners will not have share the cost of retail-property maintenance.

Local brokerage Taurus Property Group is co-ordinating retail leasing after assisting Vesta with the design and layout of the commercial properties in the past few months. Blue Peak Property Solutions, a Vesta subsidiary, is managing residential-leasing services.

Vesta is an integrated builder and developer. Based in Langley, B.C., the company has been operating in the Calgary area for about 25 years and has a downtown office in the city.

The Aspen Village project should not be confused with another nearby project in Springbank Hill. Area residents have strongly opposed that project, known as Augusta Village, which has yet to be approved by city council.

The Calgary Planning Commission endorsed the project in early September, but council postponed it until January 2026. Residents had sought to delay the hearing until after the October 26 municipal election because Ward 6, in which Springbank Hill is located, has been without council representation for more than a year. Former Ward 6 councillor Richard Pootman resigned for health reasons and a by-election has not been held.

Residents lost a court bid to block the originally scheduled September meeting, but council still put it off, passing a motion from Coun. Sonya Sharp. She has been acting for Ward 6 while also handling responsibilities for her usual ward.

Residents contend the the proposed townhomes project would disrupt the low-density area.

Pictured: A future part of the Aspen Village project in southwest Calgary’s Springbank Hill area.

Rendering: Vesta Properties