Citadel and Mary Hill are adjacent established residential neighbourhoods in the southern half of Port Coquitlam, climbing up the gentle hillside that gives much of the area Fraser River views. Mary Hill is the older of the two, developed mostly in the 1960s–1980s; Citadel is later, built predominantly in the 1980s–1990s. Both are almost entirely single-family detached housing — wide streets, double-garage houses, large yards, and well-established mature trees. They're family neighbourhoods in a genuine sense: the schools, churches, and the Terry Fox Secondary / Hazel Trembath Elementary draw is why most homeowners here moved in.

The housing stock is older but solid. Three-bedroom detached houses list in the $1.1M–1.6M range — cheaper than equivalent Coquitlam or Burnaby houses by $200k–400k. Rental townhouses and secondary suites run $1,500–2,000 for a one-bedroom unit. The neighbourhoods are almost entirely owner-occupied; purpose-built rentals are essentially nonexistent, so renters are mostly finding basement suites or renting rooms in houses.

Terry Fox Secondary School — named after the city's most famous resident, who attended there — is the area's high school and consistently ranks in the upper half of BC public schools. The Terry Fox Library on Shaughnessy Street is the public library branch. For newcomer families specifically looking for a detached house with schools, Citadel and Mary Hill are Port Coquitlam's default answer. The trade-off is transit: a car is essentially required, and commutes to Vancouver involve either the SkyTrain transfer at Coquitlam Central (about 20 minutes by bus) or the West Coast Express (rush-hour only).