RENTAL EXTRAS IN GRIFFINTOWN
Abode has a ‘simply awesome’ view, great facilities
Shelter is a weekly series featuring a conversation with tenants or condo owners. Occupants: Michael Belyea, 28, and Kira McLean, 25 Location: Griffintown Size: 620 square feet Rental: $1,450 (includes heat and the use of the rooftop and gym) Been there: Since November 2016
Michael Belyea and Kira McLean, a couple in their 20s, are both from Fredericton, which is where they met. They attended university in Nova Scotia then headed for Freiburg in Germany, where they lived for a year. They wanted to study German and at the same time, take advantage of being based in Europe so they could do some travelling.
In 2015, they decided to move to Montreal, where Belyea earned a master’s degree in public policy and administration at Concordia University. McLean had a degree in chemistry, but when she came to the city, she switched gears and taught herself computer programming. Nowadays, she works remotely for a U.S. company, while Belyea is a cybersecurity analyst for a number of Canadian think tanks. He is also a reservist in the Canadian Forces.
Initially, the couple lived in the Old Forum/Dawson College area, in order to be close to Concordia University, which was a 10-minute walk away. (“The apartment was quite large, but rather old,” Belyea recalls.) They liked the neighbourhood and their home, but in 2016, they had to move. The owner was renovating the building, so he paid Belyea and McLean to break their lease and they began their search for another place to live.
In November of last year, they found what they were looking for — a new apartment in Griffintown. (They were among the first tenants.) It has an all-in-one kitchen, dining and living area, one bedroom and a recess to the right of the front door, large enough to serve as a home office for McLean.
Q You were explaining it took you quite a while to find your new abode? A It did. We spent months looking at ads, checking out Kijiji and so on and each time we walked by a building and saw a rental sign, we’d make a note of the phone number.
Q Did that work out? A No, it didn’t. In the end, we got in touch with a real-estate agent. He showed us different apartments all over the city and we settled for this one.
Q So you did it the conventional way? A Exactly.
Q What was it about this apartment that particularly appealed to you? A We liked the plain interior, the exposed concrete ceilings and the way the kitchen was designed with plenty of cupboards and a breakfast bar. It also had the best facilities. The one negative is not having a balcony, but we do have access to the communal space on the rooftop. It runs almost the entire length of the building. There’s an outdoor pool, barbecues and so on and the view is simply awesome. You can see part of downtown and the Lachine Canal. During the summer, we were up there all the time. The gym — it’s in the basement — is also excellent and since I’m a reservist, I use it a lot. It’s a clean, well-kept building.
Q So is the building actually a condo complex? A Not entirely. The first five floors are rental units like ours, but above that are privately owned condos. The ground floor is commercial space.
Q Does that mean you don’t have to pay a monthly condo fee? A That’s right. All the facilities are included in the rent.
Q There seems to be so many buildings going up around Griffintown. You said this building was new when you moved in. What was here before? A I’m not sure. I think it was just a parking lot.
Q Given you and Kira had already been sharing an apartment, did you have to buy any furniture? A Some of our stuff we had already, but the dining-room table and chairs are new. They came from Structube. The rest is essentially Ikea.
Q Including the couch? A No. It’s not Ikea. Kira has family in Montreal and they had this in their attic. It pulls out into a double bed, which is great, because we have people staying over all the time.
Q And the appliances? A They came with the apartment. In fact, that was another selling point for us.
Q In what way? A Normally, you have to bring your own. We pay $1,450 a month in rent, which is quite a lot for us, but if we’d found a cheaper place and then had to buy appliances that would have added many hundreds of dollars onto our budget.
Q I see you even have a dishwasher, as well as a snazzy black ceramic-topped stove and a stainless-steel fridge. A (Smiles). This is the first place we’ve ever had a dishwasher. I have to say, it has been lifechanging.
If you would like your home to be considered for Shelter, please contact hloverseed@sympatico.ca