Gilbane Development Co. has completed 8 ½ Canal Street just in time for the 2011 school year at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). The 285,000-square-foot, eight-story project on Canal Street opened its doors to students two weeks ago, adding 540 beds to the university’s growing campus housing community. The project was 100% pre-leased.
With more than 32,000 students and enrollment on the rise, VCU’s on-campus housing is unable to meet growing demand. This has driven the need for off-campus housing, with the private sector responding to the market. “The market factors that made this project an easy decision for us included the demand for quality, off-campus housing, the university’s robust enrollment trends, the state’s higher education policies and the student demographic profile,” Bob Gilbane, chairman and CEO of Gilbane Development said in a statement.
8 ½ Canal Street is located across the street from VCU’s recent $228 million Monroe Park Campus expansion and is less than a half mile from the center of VCU’s campus. Two of the building’s eight stories contain parking levels with nearly 200 parking spaces; the remaining six floors are for apartments. 81/2 Canal offers five different floor plans ranging from one-bedroom, one-bath apartments to four-bedroom, four-bath units. Rental rates — based on individual, per-person leases — range from $1,100 for a one-bathroom, one-bath unit, to $ $695 per person for the larger four-bedroom units. .
Street-level amenities include a 24-hour fitness center, cyber café, clubhouse and two courtyard gardens with barbeques. Standard to each apartment are 42” flat panel televisions, furniture and wood-style flooring. Gilbane Development is the project development, financing, and ownership arm of Gilbane, Inc., based out of Providence, Rhode Island.
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