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Don’t Rent or Buy at the Palladio, 1228 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, Without Reading This

posted at 4:40 pm
on Jul. 7, 2005

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If you’re interested in renting a place at The Palladio, 1228 W Hastings Street, here are a few facts to consider:

  • The construction noise is painfully loud.  There is construction on three sides, and potentially all four sides, of the building. It starts at 7:30 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m., six days a week.  It will likely keep up for at least two years, by my estimate.
  • There’s only one visitor parking spot.  For the whole building.

  • There is no loading dock and no loading zone, which makes moving in or out, and service calls, and dropping off large objects, very difficult.
  • The units have amazing floor to ceiling glass windows, which means they are very light, and thus, on sunny days, very hot.  In our apartment, it got up to 43 degrees C in the sunlight, 35 in the shady part.  The windows don’t open very wide, and thus circulation is a problem even on cooler days.

  • There are only two elevators.  This is fine now, because the building is only about half full (many of the units are held for investment, or used as second homes).  But if the building fills up, two elevators won’t be enough.
  • There’s no bike room, it was converted to storage.

  • The security system is very tight, but a little odd: to use the hot tub, you need a real key, not a digital key. And you need a key to get out of the parking garage via the elevator—why? No reason. This also means you need to open a security door when you’re taking out the trash, which is a real drag.
  • The hardwood floors, at least in our place, are quite soft, and are easily damaged.

  • The “Amenities” level is awkward to get to and under-developed.  The sauna there is permanently broken, and the storage area is extremely awkward to get to; it requires opening three doors and carrying objects down or up a flight of stairs.
  • In our place, there was no way to block out the light, despite decent blinds. It never got even remotely dark in our place.  I could read at 2 a.m. with all the lights in the apartment out, if the curtains were open.

  • The big outside garden on the upper entrance level is basically unuseable. It’s hard to get to, and even harder to get out of.  In the past year, I’ve never once seen anyone in it.

    • What’s good about it?

  • Nice exercise room
  • The units are very soundproof
  • The units are very well laid out, not a lot of wasted space
  • Everything is kept very clean
  • The view is great, spectacular really
  • You’re super close to the sea wall and the community center.

    • Anyway, I hope this helps you make your renting or buying decision about The Palladio, at 1228 W. Hastings St.



     
     

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