Picture John Dutton taking his Dodge Ram down the gravel road that leads to the Dutton Ranch. Peel the mountains out of the picture and replace them with prairies and you have Sturgeon County. Take the big city life, shrink it down ten-fold, mix in that small town feel with trees, parks, a river, historical monuments and you get St. Albert.
If you live in Sturgeon County, you know that you’re doing most of your shopping and recreation in St. Albert. The summer farmers market downtown is one of the largest markets in Alberta. Rockn August saw thousands of people admiring all the classic cars in Lions and Red Willow Park. It’s that perfect blend of small-town charm and big city amenities and it’s growing, along with Sturgeon County.
River’s Gate, Greystone Manor, Pinnacle Ridge and Riverstone Pointe are a few of the “estate” communities in Sturgeon County. If you’re looking for that kind of lifestyle on a ¼ to a full acre lot, those communities are where you should start. You’ll spend more money building or buying out there versus St. Albert, depending on what you’re looking for, generally speaking. Although St. Albert seems to be heading in the direction of production-built neighborhoods, there’s a lot of opportunities for infills in mature neighborhoods like Grandin and Braeside for example. You could also find some stunning older properties here in St. Albert with huge potential for full-scale renovations.
When you’re all said and done in a neighborhood like River’s Gate, you’re going to be in the range of a million-dollar plus for your house and lot. That’s a good ballpark figure, now I’m sure there’s ways to minimize that and it’s a solid price range to bank on. If you buy a 1980s bungalow in Grandin, let’s say, for around 500k, you could sink in roughly 150-300k into a full-scale renovation and be at that 650-800k mark.
When we work on new house plans in Sturgeon County, the house sizes typically range from a 2000 SF bungalow to a 4000SF two storey. We get to know your vision for the house and we do that through questionnaires, meetings and inspirational plans and pictures. We start with the floorplans, then exterior walls and roof, then photorealistic renderings. Once you sign off on all of that, we finish your construction drawings.
With a full-scale renovation, we measure out the existing property, inside and out, and draw it all out. Then we work on the new floorplans, the new exterior elevations, then jump into renderings. During that period, we can also specify interior finishes for you and show you some of our go to shops. Once you sign off on that, we finish the construction drawings. Big difference with a renovation is having a structural engineer do a preliminary site review on the property. Always expect, at the very least, one surprise throughout the demolition and construction… it’s inevitable with renovations and totally worth it in the end!
There’s a lot of opportunity to build a nice life out here in St. Albert and Sturgeon County while still being close to the hustle and bustle of Edmonton. So hop in your car, turn on the Yellowstone theme song, and come on down and see it for yourself!