They did the opposite of what most couples with young children do.
Coun. Jonathan Cote and his wife, Alix, sold their Queen's Park house and bought a condo in downtown New Westminster.
The couple packed up their then two young children (they now have three daughters, aged five, three and five months), and moved to a Yaletown-inspired, three bedroom, almost 1,500-square-foot condo.
"We weren't planning on moving to an apartment. We were looking at other single-family homes," said Cote, a third-term councillor. "The main challenge was how expensive single-family homes were."
They had sold their charming-but-not-so-functional heritage house and went looking for a new one. But the search proved difficult. They found a couple of houses, but the deals fell through. Many of the properties they looked at in the their price-range, which was from 500K to 700K, were less-than ideal.
Many of the properties offered the same challenges they faced at their other house, and the ones that didn't were too expensive.
"There were a lot of houses we would have loved to live in, but the reality was it just wasn't affordable," Cote said. "I often think there's great single-family homes in Langley we could probably afford, (but) there's a reason we wanted to live in New Westminster."
That reason is proximity. They wanted to use their car less - to live somewhere that they didn't have to jump in the car every time they left the house.
They both work in New West - Alix, who is on maternity leave, is a software implementation specialist, and, along with being a city councillor, Cote works for ICBC and is studying for his master's degree in urban planning.
"One thing we really found lacking was the in-between option, which in New West would be the townhouse or rowhouse," Cote said.
When their Realtor brought the couple to the condo the first time, they didn't seriously consider it.
"We just hadn't gotten our mind around living in an apartment," Cote said.
But they weighed out the benefits - primarily the cost.
"We walked around the area and kind of pictured what would it be like to be in this neighbourhood with kids," Cote said. "I'd say 10 years ago, probably in this neighbourhood we would have never made that decision, but this neighbourhood has changed a lot during that time, and we could actually see ourselves living in this neighbourhood."
One of the selling features of the condo was a communal outside green space, complete with a small playground for kids. Cote brings his daughters down to play, while he reads.
As part of his studies, Cote is reading Jane Jacobs, a well-known urbanist who fought expanding freeways into New York City, Cote explained from the dining room table of his 18th floor apartment.
"She writes a lot about kids living in cities - she raised her family in Manhattan - and how kids had to learn to interact with storekeepers and people in the streets and how that's actually a vital part of growing up," Cote said. "Reading her books has made me think even more differently about some of the experiences our kids are having."
The girls are getting used to walking everywhere. Often on the weekends the family strolls to the River Market to grocery shop and then makes their way to the Pier Park. The walk to his daughter's elementary school is another upside.
"I love our commute to school," Cote said. "We get to walk up the steps through the law courts, then walk through Douglas College, and there's always something, the students are always organizing something or there's some kind of craft fair going on. I'd say we have one of the more interesting walks to school."
Another bonus is that they don't have to worry about yard work and other maintenance. The condo is in pristine condition. The kitchen has all stainless steel appliances and granite counters. But the real deal-sealer for Alix when they decided to buy the condo was the abundance of closet space - a feature their previous home lacked. And the spotless, well-organized home shows how much use they've made of the extra storage space. Looking around, the condo is sparsely peppered with evidence of children - a small pink craft table, a baby mat and high chair - otherwise toys are neatly packed away.
But there are downsides to condo living, they said.
"When you're in a single-family home, you're working in the front yard, you're always running into people, and you're chatting," Cote said. "If I missed one thing, that would be it."
The Cotes' move seems to be an unusual one in New West. Sandra Pace, the school district's director of instruction, who has been tracking the data on the number of school-aged children living in condos downtown, said they aren't noting a significant increase in the number of students coming from downtown condos to John Robson Elementary school. There may be an increase in the number of young children living in the new highrises, but by the time they reach grade school, many families move out of them.
"Even John Robson, it's got five kindergarten classes, but they are expecting it to go down to one or two Grade 1 classes," Cote said, noting that their condo is unusual because it has three bedrooms.
Most of the new downtown buildings are two bedrooms and have smaller square footage, he said.
Cote said the city needs to look at building larger units downtown, including more townhouses, which he noted were lacking during his real estate hunt.
"If you want to build a community, a neighbourhood, it's best to have all of the different age groups," he said. "I think having families actually helps and makes these types of neighbourhoods better."
As for his own situation, the Cotes said they will probably eventually need more space down the road.
"So, looking forward, we will probably start looking at different options, and one day we might end up back in a single-family home, but we really do like it here," Cote said.
