[Halifax] The Velo I & II (2300 Gottingen) | ? m | 2X5 fl | Completed - Page 6

stevencourchene · #**101** Posted **Feb 16, 2018, 7:48 PM**

yes i was the very first tenant to move in on January 27th and it is very much a construction site still but my unit is fully complete and we are already loving it.
cant wait for the end finished result. if you have any questions re. this project id be happy to fill you in.

JET · #**102** Posted **Feb 16, 2018, 8:22 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevencourchene

yes i was the very first tenant to move in on January 27th and it is very much a construction site still but my unit is fully complete and we are already loving it.
cant wait for the end finished result. if you have any questions re. this project id be happy to fill you in.

Where do you enter the building?

stevencourchene · #**103** Posted **Feb 17, 2018, 11:51 AM**

The lobby and main garage door is on gottingen street the address is 2300 gottingen street and the is a current garage door on Cunard street but that’s only there untill they build phase two of this development then there is a kind of a pause three to happen in the lot across the street next to the ymca where the only diamonds was he owns that lot to

someone123 · #**104** Posted **Feb 18, 2018, 5:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by stevencourchene

The lobby and main garage door is on gottingen street the address is 2300 gottingen street and the is a current garage door on Cunard street but that’s only there untill they build phase two of this development then there is a kind of a pause three to happen in the lot across the street next to the ymca where the only diamonds was he owns that lot to

I think the same owner owns both the former Diamonds site and the former enviro-depot site. At one point they were going to be Housing Trust of NS developments with at least some subsidized housing. Is this all one developer? Are the these all happening in phases and expected to follow one after the other? There isn't much public information about these projects, I guess because they are rentals and the first one happened as of right.

Either way this one looks quite nice. It's interesting to see the evolution of projects around the Gottingen area. They have come a long way since the early 2000's when there was barely any construction to speak of. If Gottingen gets 3 or 4 new projects like this I think it'll be pretty vibrant.

Like I said before, I think a natural evolution in the city is for Barrington and Spring Garden Road to get a bit more expensive and for many mom and pop or lower end stores in those areas to get displaced by larger businesses. Gottingen is a natural place for them to move to, and that's how things worked in the 1960's and earlier (minus most of today's SGR, which wasn't very big back then).

stevencourchene · #**105** Posted **Feb 18, 2018, 6:50 PM**

From my understand the velo is being done in two phases and will take on the entire block and I would consider the velo as intermediate pricing for the style and quilty of building/livening and it’s in a great location.

Then kind of third phase will be the old
Diamonds lot that is a partnership with ross Cantwell and the Nova Scotia housing trust to build a building of affordable housing which I think will be great and I’ve herd this devolpment will offer Work space for people to work and build things for the tenants that may be artist or what have you.

I think this is great because I consider this part of northend Halifax to be home and if things keep going the way they seem to be I won’t be able to afford to live home any more where I want to and my family and many family’s have already felt the effect of the Gentrification.

I moved in to velo and so far like it although it’s still very much a construction site it’s been ok very only a few hiccups along the way but it will get only better and I never would of Moved here if it was homes pior but the lot had sat vacant for so long.

Acadie_1755 · #**106** Posted **May 4, 2018, 4:04 PM**

https://youtu.be/DhvURIvEtTA

Found a video of what's envisioned for this site.

someone123 · #**107** Posted **Jul 11, 2018, 5:23 AM**

Source

stevencourchene · #**108** Posted **Jul 11, 2018, 1:08 PM**

the velo is coming along nicely and i post regular updates on the progress on social media i know how to upload to where as here i dont.
the video looks great but now many tenants are living in a dirt pile around their patios and we were told the budget isn't as big as expected to finish off the common areas such as the court yards and gym.

JET · #**109** Posted **Jul 11, 2018, 2:51 PM**

Some of the south end ground floor commercial tenants are open for business

stevencourchene · #**110** Posted **Jul 11, 2018, 2:57 PM**

yes so far there is blue collar barber shop and Geebo device repair

Jonovision · #**111** Posted **Sep 9, 2018, 4:24 PM**

Love the bit of art they put over the entrance.

20180908_143941 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180908_144006 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180908_144119 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

20180908_143659 by Jonovision23, on Flickr

Nouvellecosse · #**112** Posted **Sep 9, 2018, 5:07 PM**

I hope they're not expecting people to actually bike ride up the side though, because some people may not be that advanced yet as cyclists. In fact a few years ago, even I might not have been able to do it.

Keith P. · #**113** Posted **Sep 9, 2018, 5:47 PM**

That is more cyclists than have ever been seen in any HRM bicycle lane.

pblaauw · #**114** Posted **Sep 23, 2018, 4:21 AM**

This Twitter post from Mashable seems relevant.

haloonigan · #**115** Posted **Nov 9, 2018, 8:10 PM**

This message was sent to tenants at Velo today about the second stage of the building:

Later this week we will start construction of the second phase of the VÉLO. This will involve the demolition of the old BMO building at the corner of Cunard and Gottingen, and the excavation of the vacant lots just south of the current building.

The addition to the building will add 68 residential units, with most units a bit bigger than the current ones. A signature unit (36 of them) will be a 738 SF one bedroom + den with
an ensuite bedroom (closet and bathroom) and small den off the entrance. The ground floor will include 3,600 SF of retail space with a small courtyard at Cunard and Gottingen. A second entrance will be created just off Cunard Street, but all units in the building will be connected via the existing hallway system.

New amenities include a community room, a second bicycle room, and storage lockers for rent. All parking will continue to be accessed from Gottingen Street, but VÉLO2 will have two levels of parking, including one underground level, that will provide about 60 parking spaces.

We expect construction of VÉLO2 to last about 14 to 16 months and the expanded building should be open in the Spring of 2020.

In order to minimize the disruption to our existing tenants, we are going to be blasting the rock for the parking garage (much faster than rock breaking) and using panelized construction to erect the structure (i.e., wall and floor assemblies will arrive via truck and will be erected by a crane). This process speeds up the construction process and minimizes the amount of waste produced on site.

Many of the interior finishes will be the same as VELO1. The following page provides an image of the finished building. We are still finalizing exterior finishes, but thought you would like a sneak peak of what we are up to.

stevencourchene · #**116** Posted **Nov 10, 2018, 4:20 PM**

you must live in the building to have access to what was sent to the tenants of HRM apartments.

Quote:

Originally Posted by haloonigan

This message was sent to tenants at Velo today about the second stage of the building:

Later this week we will start construction of the second phase of the VÉLO. This will involve the demolition of the old BMO building at the corner of Cunard and Gottingen, and the excavation of the vacant lots just south of the current building.

The addition to the building will add 68 residential units, with most units a bit bigger than the current ones. A signature unit (36 of them) will be a 738 SF one bedroom + den with
an ensuite bedroom (closet and bathroom) and small den off the entrance. The ground floor will include 3,600 SF of retail space with a small courtyard at Cunard and Gottingen. A second entrance will be created just off Cunard Street, but all units in the building will be connected via the existing hallway system.

New amenities include a community room, a second bicycle room, and storage lockers for rent. All parking will continue to be accessed from Gottingen Street, but VÉLO2 will have two levels of parking, including one underground level, that will provide about 60 parking spaces.

We expect construction of VÉLO2 to last about 14 to 16 months and the expanded building should be open in the Spring of 2020.

In order to minimize the disruption to our existing tenants, we are going to be blasting the rock for the parking garage (much faster than rock breaking) and using panelized construction to erect the structure (i.e., wall and floor assemblies will arrive via truck and will be erected by a crane). This process speeds up the construction process and minimizes the amount of waste produced on site.

Many of the interior finishes will be the same as VELO1. The following page provides an image of the finished building. We are still finalizing exterior finishes, but thought you would like a sneak peak of what we are up to.

someone123 · #**117** Posted **Nov 10, 2018, 6:32 PM**

I like how the phases of this project were built in such a way that it looks like there are 3 relatively small buildings. If it looked like one building it would be monotonous at street level because the frontage is so long.

I wish the storefronts were a little taller but they probably only had so much height as of right and would have had to do 3 upper residential floors instead of 4 with tall storefronts. This is something that should be fixed in HRM planning rules. Not sure if it is addressed in the Centre Plan.

Anyone know if the one across the street is going to start up soon as well?

JET · #**118** Posted **Nov 14, 2018, 2:34 PM**

Glad to see that they are beginning the next phase, and not leaving the corner as is.

someone123 · #**119** Posted **Jul 28, 2019, 10:43 PM**

Source

someone123 · #**120** Posted **Mar 11, 2020, 12:07 AM**

It's interesting how full the storefronts are in the first phase of this development. Gottingen Street has a comparatively high vacancy rate. Meanwhile, the Doyle and the Roy still seem to have a bunch of empty commercial spaces.

I wonder if the owners of this building priced the commercial spaces more competitively in order to attract tenants? Did they purposefully pick this set of tenants? Are some of the other owners overshooting? Or is this just an unusually attractive location to run a small storefront business? Conventional wisdom says no to that last one.