Only a couple miles from Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) lies beautiful St. Albert, a town of approximately 65,000. St. Albert is one of the regions most affluent communities, and its statistics would make you want to live there. Adjacent to the populated part of the City lies 400 acres of rural land, screaming to be developed as an extension to the already popular City. The screams were heard by Rampart Avenir Communities, founded by Gerry de Klerk (an entrepreneur immigrant from beautiful Netherlands) and his family. Last summer, De Klerk family received the final blessing from St. Albert Mayor Nolan and City Council and the planning for the build out of “Avenir” is now in full swing.
Avenir is going to be home to 10,000 new residents; containing a nice mix of single family and multifamily housing that will be immersed in green land and the existing pictoresque creek that flanks the Westside of the 400 acres land. The centre of this timeless development will include commercial and retail space and become a hub in a new regional transportation network, making it easy to get in and out of Avenir.
But that’s not all: Rampart Avenir Communities has set their mind to also become the most smart and connected community in the region, and a blueprint for 21st community development in Canada and the World. In addition to great design and engineering and an optimized blend of ‘work, live, play, and learn’, Rampart’s Avenir will also have one of the fastest — and open access — networks into every home, business, and corner of the community. Avenir will be a connected hub in the region, and leverage the network infrastructure to deliver new experiences to the residents, generate new business opportunities for the private and public sector, enhance health, education, and community services, and be fully enabled for future opportunities and technologies.
Rampart Avenir Communities has realized that you can’t build and operate 21st Century communities with 20th Century processes and eco system partners. Gerry did what not many other community developers have done before: one of the first contracts he signed was with Cisco Canada. The entrepreneurship and vision of Gerry and Rampart Avenir Communities; his willingness to break glass where necessary and appropriate; combined with Cisco’s technology leadership and global experience in building smart and connected communities; and with numerous other innovative partners that don’t take no for an answer, has put the endeavor on track to become a Canadian showcase and worldwide example.
