I went for a bike in Blatchford on Tuesday night. I didn't take any pictures since it was pretty dark and I didn't want to look suspicious, but I went down every single street there (apologies to our resident Blatchford residents for not saying hi). It was great to all the lights on - including in garage suites. I'd guesstimate that of the houses currently finished, all except for a small handful (between 4-8) are sold. I also really appreciated the Halloween and holiday decorations/lights at some of the homes; it made it seem much more like a community. The new shared-use path along Airport Road is quite nice, though I wish it didn't stop at the eastern boundary of Blatchford - it would be nice to see that path continue along the remaining stretch of Airport Road.
Many of the houses currently under construction (namely Encore's and Landmark's) are already sold; though the ones that have yet to break ground are not sold yet. A lot of NX's seem to be unsold still (I saw one for-sale sign, one sold sign, and the rest I saw had no signs), and the same goes for Streetside (going off
their website), even though both have projects that are well underway. Hopefully that changes once they have showhomes open, because these homes are visible from Kingsway and Princess Elizabeth, and it'd make a big difference for Blatchford's image to have these homes visibly lit up and occupied. Streetside also has yet to start on the fourth townhouse in their project, although I did see markings for utilities or something. The
plot map also indicates that they now own the adjacent property too.
The Carbon Busters homes haven't made any visible progress in a little while - I'd love to hear from the Blatchford residents on here if work is still happening there regularly.
It looked like they're making a lot of progress on the utilities for stage 6 west, though they haven't seemed to start on the roads and sidewalks yet; I wonder if they'll be able to do any paving this year. I also wonder if they'll make any green space for the amiskwaciy academy like the stage 6 contract alluded to. I'd love to see the school be more integrated with the community, rather than being surrounded by barbed wire fencing as if Blatchford was still an active airport.
Overall, Blatchford is really becoming a happening place. Quite a change from when I first visited, before any of the homes were finished or occupied. I still remember standing at the energy centre in early 2020, listening to the soft humming of the equipment and imagining a time when it would finally be serving residents. On my way there, I passed a young family who regularly biked over to use the playground; putting me at ease, considering I had to bike past a big "active construction site" sign at the neighbourhood entrance, and I was half-worried about being kicked out or getting the cops called on me for trespassing. I can't wait to see how it grows in the next five years!
