At Boardwalk, our residents are our top priority. Every day, we work diligently to create communities that cultivate feelings of love, belonging, and security—places where you can truly feel at home. In our buildings, you're not just a tenant; you're a cherished member of our family. If you're contemplating moving into a Boardwalk property, here are seven ways we ensure your happiness, well-being, and the development of a meaningful sense of community.
Commitment to affordability
At Boardwalk REIT, we're dedicated to affordability, investing over $100 million annually into our communities to enhance our residents' living experiences. We recognize the significant impact affordable housing has on community health and vitality. With some of Canada's most competitive rental rates, we prioritize delivering exceptional quality, service, and resident satisfaction.
In cities like Edmonton and Calgary, our average rents represent approximately 20% of the average renter's household income, demonstrating exceptional affordability and ensuring housing sustainability for our residents. Since 1999, we've implemented self-imposed rent protection measures, limiting rental rate adjustments for renewing residents. Additionally, we're committed to supporting residents facing financial hardship by eliminating or reducing rent increases upon providing appropriate documentation.
Read more in our blog: Affordable Housing in Canada
On-site maintenance, cleaning and landscaping
All of our buildings have access to onsite maintenance that is available to help residents when they need some work done around their suites. This includes our team coming in and repairing and refreshing apartments before new resident members move in, including new paint, suite upgrades, and maintaining the suite's appliances.
Our landscaping team is here for you all year round! You won’t have to worry about mowing the grass in the summer or shovelling the snow in the winter. We want to ensure a safe and comfortable exterior for all our residents to be proud of where they call home and eliminate any accidents that could happen during the slippery winter months. Residents also have the opportunity to enjoy community gardening programs to get back in touch with nature with the entire family.
We also aim to ensure the communal spaces and community rooms stay spic-and-span for residents with our on-site cleaning team. This dedicated team manages the lobby areas, hallways, and on-site amenity rooms such as the party spaces, pools, and fitness facilities. A clean space ensures that our residents are comfortable and feel at home throughout the entire property.
Housing options for everyone
There are different brands within the Boardwalk portfolio, that allow for beautiful places to live for any lifestyle and budget.
Boardwalks Lifestyle buildings are built with more luxurious features for those with a higher budget. The Lifestyle range spans across Canada and includes some of the finest rental properties in these different rental markets, and are located in some of the top neighbourhoods.
Lifestyle buildings offer luxurious amenities such as fully equipped fitness centres, barbeque areas, spacious lounges and even pools. They are often newer built buildings, or fully renovated buildings with a contemporary design with stainless steel appliances, open concept layouts, quartz countertops, and laminate wood flooring–these suites exude a sleek and elegant atmosphere for residents to indulge in a more luxurious lifestyle.
Check out some of our Lifestyle properties:
- Aurora: Victoria, BC
- Brio: Calgary, AB
- Broadway Centre: Calgary, AB
- Insignia Tower: Edmonton, AB
- Pines Edge III: Regina, SK
- 45 Railroad: Brampton, ON
Boardwalks Communities range is built for those looking for a strong sense of community, living in some of the most vibrant and sought-after neighbourhoods across Canada. These locations ensure convenience for families with nearby amenities and great access to transportation. Our community buildings provide different events for residents are strive to create a strong sense of community for families and those looking to build connections with their neighbours.
The suites in our Communities properties are finished with stainless steel appliances, durable laminate flooring, spacious upgraded kitchens, private balconies, and many offer building amenities like fitness centres.
Check out some of our Communities properties:
Le Quatre Cent: Laval, QC
Regal Tower II: Saskatoon, SK
The Bristol: London, ON
The Level: Calgary, AB
Whitehall Square: Edmonton, AB
Boardwalks Living range ensures comfortable suites with affordable rental rates, allowing families to live within their means, in safe and clean properties. These buildings receive the same services as the rest of our buildings with maintenance, landscaping and cleaning teams, along with on-call security teams.
Living properties are finished with laminate or carpet floorings, cozy and well-designed living spaces, and unique kitchen spaces. These homes are the most affordable in our range with less expensive upgrades to ensure the price of the home remains attainable for families, but the suites remain well maintained and a beautiful place to call home.
Check out some of our Living properties:
Canyon Pointe: Red Deer, AB
Elmridge Heights: Kitchener, ON
Hillcrest Heights: Grande Prairie, AB
Northridge Estates: Edmonton, AB
Vista Gardens: Calgary, AB
Bwell Program
At Boardwalk, we love to promote wellness in all areas of our residents and associate's life. BWell is our vision for a healthier future where all communities embrace diversity, champion community, promote sustainability and give back to the communities where we live and work.
Meet BWell
Our purpose is to build better communities and provide opportunities to those who call Boardwalk home. Our BWell vision supports initiatives for our resident members, drives investment within our corporate culture, and supports programming for our greater community.
We understand that we have a unique opportunity to build more inclusive, sustainable, and healthier communities. We take a proactive and intentional approach by developing programs, initiatives, and strategies that align with five core pillars: B Healthy, B Sustainable, B Inclusive, B Community, and B Charitable.
B Healthy
We are committed to health and wellness and recognize the importance of promoting physical and mental well-being. We do this through different initiatives and resident campaigns that promote health of all kinds, whether it's supporting a mental health organization or putting on events to support physical health. Recent examples from our B Healthy campaign include:
- Project Blue: We invited resident members to combat post-holiday blues with a mental wellness exercise to reflect on their accomplishments and embrace their greatness, offering a prize to the first 150 participants.
- Group Walk for World Mental Health Day: An organized inaugural group walk where resident members and associates from across Canada gathered for walks in their local areas, raising $5,500 for the Canadian Mental Health Association.
B Sustainable
We strive to provide innovative, people-first solutions that promote sustainability throughout all of our operations. This is done by creating different ways in our buildings for recycling and composting, using sustainable materials, building community gardens, and showing love and respect to Mother Earth. Recent examples from our B Sustainable campaign include:
- MicroHabitat Urban Garden: We partner with MicroHabitat Urban Gardens to cultivate urban gardens across Canada, including one in Calgary at Ridgeview Gardens Community. All harvested produce is distributed to residents, fostering community sustainability.
- Earth Day: we encouraged associates and resident members to contribute to sustainability by donating gently used items to local thrift stores or non-profits, fostering a greener future.
B Inclusive
The diversity of our community is what helps set Boardwalk apart and we’re dedicated to remaining inclusive and accepting of everyone. We believe in inclusivity in our buildings and focus on making a comfortable environment for every resident member, their children and their furry family members to feel at home. Recent examples from our B Inclusive campaign include:
- Live Colourfully Pride Month Campaign: We promoted residents' participation in Pride Month by sharing colourful snapshots of their celebrations, offering a chance to win a Pride Month Prize Pack filled with goodies from local LGBTQ+-owned businesses.
- RISE Scholarship Program: Boardwalk invites resident members to apply for the RISE Scholarship program, designed to support education for them and their children. Over $40,000 in scholarships have been awarded since 2022.
B Community
Our residents and associates are our family, and we’re committed to creating a supportive environment to help them flourish. We love to promote community in our buildings by hosting building events, or city-wide events for the entire family and enjoy different activities. We also want to support their goals, and ensure they are set up for health and happiness all year long.
- Boardwalk Big Dreams Fund: In 2023, our inaugural Big Dreams Challenge sought out visionary individuals committed to enhancing their communities. This year, a dedicated Boardwalk resident clinched the title by proposing career and employment workshops for fellow residents in our community spaces.
- Internal Food Pantries: Our internal food pantry program was initiated in January 2022 to tackle nationwide food disparities. Since then, we've distributed over 1,500 food hampers through 5 strategically located pantries, aiming to extend our support network further.
B Charitable
We recognize our responsibility to give back to the communities we live and work within, supporting initiatives that contribute to their vibrancy. With the launch of BWell, Boardwalk made it a priority to support charitable organizations that align closely with three main focus areas: Affordable Housing & Homelessness, BIPOC & Marginalized Groups, and Mental & Physical Health. In 2023, we proudly contributed to several impactful organizations:
- Egale Canada
- Habitat for Humanity Indigenous Housing Fund
- Dress for Success
- Centre for Newcomers Ukraine Refugees Emergency Appeal -
- Canadian Mental Health Association
- Big Brother, Big Sisters
- Homes for Heroes
Kids Club Program
The Boardwalk Kids Club was designed for our youngest residents to enjoy different experiences, activities and to create a community with other children in our buildings. Since its launch in 2020, the club has been an exciting and interactive way for children and families to connect and create unforgettable memories within the Boardwalk Community.
The Kids Club is built for children 5-11 and offers them monthly activities, crafts, Boardwalk swag, and the chance to be entered into different contests and giveaways.
Kids Club is currently only offered in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Regina, with plans to hopefully expand the offering across all of our communities. If you have young children and are interested in joining the club, talk to your building management or leasing office for more details.
Resident events
All across Canada, we enjoy putting on different events for our resident members to help foster the community feeling in our different properties. These resident events aim to get neighbours to interact, children to play, and Boardwalk associates to be able to give back to our residents as thanks for calling Boardwalk home.
These events range from summer BBQs, holiday parties, children's craft events, resident appreciation parties and Bwell campaign initiatives. There are also different off-site events every year, held at children's play zones, Zoo outings, or gatherings at local green spaces–our buildings also love to hold different individual educational events for their residents.
24-hour Customer service
No matter when you need assistance, our dedicated team of Boardwalk customer support team members are here to help! If you are moving and would be interested in resident relocation, need help with something in your unit, or have questions about the Resident Portal, get in touch! Our support team can also assist in helping you book available private social rooms, or learn more about our building amenities. We aim for fast response times to ensure any questions or concerns are addressed in a timely manner.
Live with Boardwalk
We have suites available for rent across Canada and for all different price ranges. Explore our bwalk.com to get a feel for our different buildings and current vacancies. If you’d like help finding the perfect place for you, we are happy to help you find the right suite at the right price. Get in touch with us today!