Rescued bungalows to be moved to Shishalh Nation
Coronation Park was a modest neighbourhood in Port Moody dotted with small bungalows built in the 1950s and early '60s. But the arrival of the Inlet Centre SkyTrain Station at Ioco Road and Barnet Highway in 2016 brought redevelopment pressure.
Over the past decade, developer Wesgroup purchased and assembled a parcel of land equivalent to about six full blocks in the neighbourhood, which is slated to become a highrise community for 5,500 people.
Typically this would mean the 59 old houses on the Wesgroup land assembly would be torn down and sent to the dump. But in a twist, Glyn Lewis of Renewal Home Development put together a deal to move 10 of the houses to the Shishalh (Sechelt) Nation on the Sunshine Coast.
On April 2, Nickel Bros. house movers will load three of the houses onto trailers, which will then roll down the street to Fraser River, where they will be loaded onto barges for transport to a new subdivision developed by the Shishalh Nation near Selma Park, south of Sechelt.
It's great timing for the nation, which has a major housing shortage.
“We have 200 people on our wait list that live inside our community, and we have 700 nation members who live outside the community who are waiting for homes,” explained Shishalh Chief Lenora Joe, whose Shishalh name is yalxwemult.
“So the 200 people who are currently living in our community are living with other families. There's two or three families living in a house.”
The nation will be building basement suites for nine of the 10 houses, which will double the number of units.
Lewis said moving a house makes economic sense, provided you're close to the water, which allows you to cheaply float buildings to a new location.
“At a high level, it's roughly $125 a square foot to move a home, all in,” he said. “The developer, Wesgroup, is kicking in $35,000 per home. They're going to be helping to lower the cost for the nation.”
“It is something that we're supportive of,” said Dean Johnson of Wesgroup. “Anything we can do to remove the homes, and support the removal of the homes, we're very engaged in.
“From our perspective, the removal of the homes was something we needed to facilitate regardless. ... We came to an arrangement where we would contribute a certain amount per home to enable this to take place.”
Moving a house is also a lot faster than building from scratch, which appealed to the chief.
“Being able to do it this way, we're able to address two things,” she said. “We're able to bring some homes back to life that have very good strong bones in them, and the construction time is very quick for us. A lot of band members need housing right now, it's a perfect opportunity.”
Lewis is so into saving houses that he interviewed some of the former residents about their old homes, including Roxanne Tash Reis.
“I love the fact that these houses are going to be saved, repurposed and are going to new homes and families,” said Tash Reis, who lived in the neighbourhood for 13 years. “Not only do I think it's an amazing endeavour, I am so stoked that it's helping with our carbon footprint and that they are not going in the landfill.”
Last year Lewis helped save a 1912 schoolhouse in Kitsilano, which was moved to the Squamish Nation on the North Shore. He hopes to work with other First Nations on potential house moves.
“We're looking to work with the Heiltsuk Nation (in Bella Bella) and the Gitgaat Nation (in Hartley Bay),” he said.
He said moving houses like this could be 50 to 75 per cent cheaper than building new, due to complications involved with building in remote villages.
“For communities like Powell River or the Sunshine Coast, it's about 30 to 50 per cent more affordable to build housing this way.”
Lewis approached Wesgroup about moving some of the homes a year ago. Once they agreed, he inspected all 59 houses in the project site, and settled on 10 that are in good condition. He's been living in one of the houses for the last couple of months, as part of security against break-ins. The house he's been in looks like a showhome inside, with a large living room and open kitchen.
“You'd be surprised by the quality of some of these homes slated for demolition,” he said. “About 10 years ago someone did a full reno on it. The kitchen is massive. First growth lumber, good bones.”
The houses will be transported in four groups, probably at one group per week.
The Coronation Park subdivision opened in December 1953 with lots priced from $800 to $1,300. Two years later the first Coronation Park homes started selling for $13,150 to $15,900. According to B.C. Assessment, the value of most of the lots is around $2.55 million today.
The plan for the new Wesgroup development includes six residential towers up to 31 storeys high, along with three six-storey residential buildings and one four-storey office building. Construction could start in 2025 and will continue in phases over 25 years.
Coquitlam is literally across the street from the Wesgroup project, and Polygon will be building its own multi-tower Coronation Heights development there for about 5,000 people.
More than 10,000 new residents may be located in the neighbourhood over time.