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Nicholson Road is an ongoing photo project aimed at sharing and celebrating the different communities in Metro Vancouver. Each week Vancouver Is Awesome will be featuring an image from the previous week, shot in one of the many 'hoods around town in order to draw your attention a little bit outside of the hyper-focus that we usually have on the City of Vancouver. |
Can you believe it's already December? I see Christmas trees and strands of lights everywhere I go lately, and for some reason I'm surprised every time. Give me a couple weeks and I'll be ready!
They were all set up out in Port Moody when I swung through a few days ago, so I stopped to take a look around. This is a shot from Suter Brook Village, one of the latest 'complete communities' to popup in Metro Van and I have to say, this one took me by surprise. You should know by now I'm a little biased towards Surrey, but they haven't managed to build anything quite like this. Apart from a growing number of attempts in the City Centre, most of the new construction in Surrey is acres upon acres of townhouse complexes and visually refined strip malls.
Suter Brook Village on the other hand, currently consists of a couple towers, a few mid-rise buildings, and a number of elevated townhouse buildings (You know the Home Depot on Cambie? Retail below, interior rooftop greenspace for entry to the townhouses above). Based on the few times I've visited or driven past, the village seems to excel at the dense, walkable, amenity-rich community the planners and developers intended to create. While it may not look like it in this photo, there was quite a lot of activity from people putting their time in at the gym, scurrying to/from the grocery store, taking the dog out for a stroll, or just meeting to catch up. It was almost like I was living in a condo marketing ad… which was a rather surreal feeling, but one that made me immediately comfortable and curious - something I don't often experience in the suburbs!
There are a few other high rises in the area that sprouted up over the past few years in anticipation of the Evergreen Line (which is actually happening!), which will enter Port Moody via a tunnel near Clarke and the Barnett Highway before following the tracks through to eastern Coquitlam and Poco.
Oh, and did I mention the 27 km-long shoreline a brisk walk from where I shot this photo? #PortMoodyIsAwesome
Archives of the Nicholson Road project can be found HERE.
