The Velo Lounge at Pacific Cannery Lofts
If it sounds like a bit of a sales pitch, that’s probably because it is. I want every new housing and condo development to provide the bike infrastructure that the Pacific Cannery Lofts (PCL) has.
The Velo Lounge is just about a full service maintenance shop for your bicycle. The illustration above is pretty close to what the latest version looks like.
It’s called the Velo Lounge and there been nothing like this built for biking commuters,enthusiasts and athletes.
PCL is not only adding bicycle storage for every unit in the project,we are also adding bike repair work benches, repair stands, air fill-up station and private lockers to store your gear and tools.
Wow.
Among the folks who helped put PCL together are Holliday Development and David Baker + Partners Architects. Those of you who have been reading us for a while know that David Baker and his crew earned their ‘Bike Nut’ certifications long ago - check out their blog for details.
A post on the PCL blog from about three weeks ago says this:
And now thanks to our fellow bike enthusiasts at Backroads, Pacific Cannery Lofts has snagged some Cannondale bikes to be housed in the Velo Lounge, and welcomed its first batch this week! Whether going to BART, Whole Foods, Brown Sugar Kitchen or Raimondi Park, these bikes will be available for cruising the scenic roads of Oakland. Already have a bike? Not a problem, the Velo Lounge will also serve as bike storage/maintenance where you can meet other fellow bikers at Pacific Cannery Lofts.
Backroads is based in Berkeley, and is the world’s largest ‘active travel company’ - they know biking. Unless you’re still gainfully employed, I highly suggest you do not check out their website, because you’ll want to go spending money you don’t have.
Here are a few more pictures I took of the actual velo lounge, as it starts to near completion. I somehow managed to not get a full shot of the lockers, but you can still see some of them in the other pictures:
I actually had a bit of difficulty finding the place on Google Maps. I mean, there are maps on the site, but I just wanted an address so I could Google-Map-it, so I have one for you: 12th St & Pine St, Oakland, CA 94607.
For the next project, I’d like to see some kind of shared, specialty-use bikes, like bakfiets or trikes that can easily carry lots of groceries. Yeah - now we’re talking. 
p.s. Does anyone in the Bay Area sell cargo bikes?
Leave comment (4)[p.s. The Forums are open for participation.]
October 16th, 2008 at 6:40 am
I just bought a bakfiet so I can continue my love of riding with my daughter and I absolutely love it. I bought the bike from Clever Cycles in Portland and they said they were going to start a selling partnership with a bike shop on Ocean Beach (can’t remember the name). I’ve also just started a SF Bakfiet blog to share my family cargo bike love with others and try to find the other bakfiet owners in the city. It’s a very rough blog right now, but here it is: http://www.huckleberry-friends.net/sfbakfiet/.
Cheers!
October 16th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
Thanks Jessica - I’m subscribed to your blog, so I hope you can do some inspirational things!
I’ve also sent around a few pings to see what I could find out about potential bakfiets dealers here in the Bay Area. I’ll post if I get any info.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
Hi Peter,
Thanks for writing back! Now that I know I have an audience, I’m inspired to continue my posts.
Cheers!
January 17th, 2009 at 4:38 am
hi, i am selling my cargo bike bakfiet-great bike and i can bring it to sf on my next trip up. see the add on los angeles craigs list