58 replies to this topic

[Holden West]

The Globe profiled this last week.

[G-Man]

If I had the funds to be buying here this would certainly be on my list of places to buy. I think it looks great.

[gumgum]

I too love this one. Today:

[aastra]

Monstrous! Historically insensitive! Way out of scale!

It's pretty good, but I think it could have been a bit more detailed here and there. Still, I'd yank those first-generation Songhees buildings and replace them with something like this in an instant.

[aastra]

I was just thinking...this has to be the best looking building built in Fairfield in a very long time, yes? Perhaps since Christ Church Cathedral was finished?

[Nparker]

Definitely one of the classier projects to get built in recent memory.

I am just a little concerned that all the blasting needed to put in the underground parking, has forever cracked the mantle of the earth and we are all living on borrowed time until we are swallowed up in some gigantic sink-hole of our own making. BTW...the last bit was strictly there for the residents of the Fairfield Community Association. May they rest in peace...at least until the Mt. St. Angela project starts.

[Ms. B. Havin]

I was just thinking...this has to be the best looking building built in Fairfield in a very long time, yes? Perhaps since Christ Church Cathedral was finished?

haha (good one)!

This looks like it will add to a positive life-vibe instead -- we can only hope it's the start of a trend.
(I was in an exceedingly snarky mood last night and wrote a put-down aimed at McClure St., which I decided to take out. I still hope that the Chelsea succeeds at lifting the street, including the portion from Vancouver to Cook. Burdett and Vancouver are great, but there's something about McC. -- as if the institution that was there somehow cast a pall on it.)

[yodsaker]

I went by the project about 2pm today and they have managed to screw up (IMO) one of the last prominent exterior details.
The balcony railings are cheesy-looking vertical white pickets that bring down the elegant and substantial facade of the building. On the larger double-size balconies they look like jail bars, and being white they kind of jump out at you.
They got it 98% right then messed up one of the last, unfortunately very visible, design components.

[aastra]

Crazy. Slim black railings should have been a no-brainer.

[aastra]

Upon further review I'm going to say this building is just about a perfect example of what a lowrise residential building in a historic neighbourhood adjacent to downtown should look like. It looks distinguished without being faux or cornball. I give it an "A".

[yodsaker]

Agreed aastra. IMO its the very best of all the recent crop of downtown condos. Its where I'd buy if I could.

[Mike K.]

Is this building completed yet?

[Ms. B. Havin]

Agree -- the Chelsea is a super addition to the neighborhood. (I have heard from some people that they didn't like the lay-outs of the apartments, but I haven't seen them myself.)

I love the look of the building, its presence, and how it pulls the street together. Shame that the Mount St. Angela development had to scale back because of complaints by neighbors in inferior developments.

PS: I don't think it's completely finished -- there doesn't yet seem to be an occupancy permit for the building, but it must be very close.

[gumgum]

I'll take pics this weekend.

It's not a hard-hat area anymore, the construction fencing has be removed, and they're working on the plants. So, I'd call this one completed.

[gumgum]

^Sure you will.

I'll do it this week.

[Holden West]

Here's a refresher from three years ago:

[gumgum]

As promised:

[gumgum]

What the hell is this thing?
I was walking by one time and it kicked off like a diesel's exhaust. Very loud - and it sputtered quite a bit of black smoke. It would be really bad to live in the unit in the background. Honestly, it was as loud as a garbage truck.

[sebberry]

I was in this building earlier this year seeing a client. The suite was in had a good layout, albeit slightly on the small side. The open concept kitchen/living room helps make it feel a bit bigger. Good quality materials and appliances used throughout, and of course being steel and concrete it was very solid and quiet compared to my rickety wooden shack.

I think it is a good looking building with an attractive main entrance foyer. The futuristic elevators were like being transported to another dimension, even if it was only to a different floor.

If I had the cash it's a building I would like to live in.

Not to be confused with the sinking Chelsea Green