Where: 930 West 13th Ave., Vancouver.
What: Brownstone introduces the venerable brownstone-look typically seen in eastern parts of the country and the U.S. to the inner city with these 26 townhomes.
When: Occupancy in late October.
Who: Millennium Urban Homes, Ltd. is part of the Millennium Group that has developed projects here and offshore for many years.
How much? The three-bedroom units start at $544,900.
What’s newNULL/B> The elegant real brownstone exterior incorporates the English “mews” style.
Marketing: Rennie Marketing Systems.

This development may set a new tone for the up-market townhouses in the inner city.

The brownstone exterior gives the project an air of conservative, permanence not often seen in Vancouver.

Very European — not surprising seeing as Millennium has developed 51 luxury apartments in the heart of the Montrouge district of Paris — in design with bedrooms on the lower and top floors sandwiching the kitchen and living area on the second floor, these units are spacious.

Well, relatively, given the postage-stamp units that are popping out of the ground all over the city.

The smallest unit is 1,396 square feet with the largest 1,524 square feet.

That has allowed the designers to put in large, open kitchens with good dining space and certainly enough living room space to install one of the new monster-screen television/home-theatre units without feeling cramped.

Residents also have their individual entrances from the underground parking and, in stark contrast to most downtown developments, the units are large and well planned.

Apart from the common wall with other units these are literally stand alone units.

The back and front views on the street and inner courtyard give a sense of a single-family home and all units come with two terraces.

© The Vancouver Province 2004