SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
It didn't take long for Konge Construction Ltd. crews to put up the city's newest condo development. The Granite Ventures building has been completely framed in for almost two weeks now, after excavators went to work on 5604 Franklin Ave. only last September.

Granite Ventures director Greg Littlefair beside a window rough out on an upper floor of the four-storey condo under construction on Franklin Avenue. Visible in the photo is hardened spray foam insulation which seals off small but unavoidable gaps in building materials creating a building- enveloping energy-efficient seal. - Walter Strong/NNSL photo

Granite Ventures, the Yellowknife-based and Yellowknifer-owned project developer of the condo, held a roof-topping party recently to showcase how far the project has advanced.

It was something of an open house, but with only a few of the condo's 24 units still available for purchase, many of the guests were there to see progress on already- purchased units rather than consider buying in.

"Condos are the fastest growing sector in Canada," said Coldwell Bankers' Kelsey Sernoskie, the project's realtor.

"You're certainly seeing that (reflected) in this city. Gen-Y'rs, people having kids late and starting families late, young professionals. they have the money and they want a maintenance-free lifestyle."

"Those demographics are fuelling the condo industry."

But the Franklin Avenue development, located just east of Aven Manor, targeted a different demographic when it was first conceived.

When Granite Ventures began the process of tearing down the former alcohol addictions centre that occupied the space in May 2013, company director Greg Littlefair said the four-storey project was going to cater to seniors.

It was to be the first building in the city exclusively for people 50-years of age or older. Since then Littlefair said that restriction on purchase had to be removed, making the project open to any buyer.

"At one time we were thinking of restricted living - 50 plus - but we ran into problems with CMHC (the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation) and the banks," Littlefair said.

"They wouldn't finance the purchase of condos with a restricted bylaw, so we removed it (the bylaw)."

It wasn't hard to find buyers. Sernoskie said that at least 70 per cent of the units were sold within the first six weeks.

Unit prices ranged from $200,000 for an approximately 600 square foot unit, to more than $400,000 for more than 1,200 square feet. All units have balconies, or if they're on the ground floor, a deck. Condo fees are $0.48 per square foot.

Littlefair said construction went well this winter thanks, in part, to very few lost days due to bad weather.

"The winter has cost us maybe two weeks in delays," Littlefair said.

Something which may be unique to this new condo in Yellowknife was the decision to completely wrap the building with spray-foam insulation from foundation to roof.

Applied in a thick, foamy state, the insulation expands to fill even the slight crevasses and cracks that may exist where lumber meets lumber on exterior walls or on the roof.

"By insulating on the outside, we stop air infiltration at the plates and around the floor joists so that it's (the building) completely sealed on the outside as well on the inside," Littlefair said.

"For energy efficiency, it's the continuity and air tightness that is really more important than the amount of insulation. (With) the other houses we've done this way, heating bills are a fraction of what other people pay with a similar sized home."

Littlefair expects the project to be complete and ready for occupancy this fall.