“If these walls could talk.”
That was what Graham Fast of Mierau Contractors Ltd. Said in February 2014 during a tour of what used to be Vancouver’s biggest jail and home to some of the region’s most notorious criminals, including the Air India bombing suspects.
Fast is the site superintendent of an innovative $19-million project that turned the former pre-trial centre at Powell and Gore streets into 96 units of affordable housing. And on Wednesday, Housing Minister Rich Coleman and members of the Bloom Group, which will manage the building, were on site to show off the transformation.
Last year, the floors of the building were littered with old pipes, pink insulation, toilets, stacks of steel cell doors and steel cell beds, rubble from demolished walls, bags of asbestos material, an industrial-sized washer and dryer and piles of metal and miscellaneous debris.
That is all gone and replaced by apartments, a community garden, bike storage, a multi-purpose room and self-contained apartments that will be home to low-income adults and at-risk aboriginal youth, who belong to the BladeRunners program.
Rents will range from $375 to $850 and the apartments are between 320 and 560 sq. feet.
Tenants begin moving in this month.
The pre-trial centre opened in the early 1980s and was closed in 2002 by the government because of a declining inmate population, although the number of inmates has since increased and a new centre opened last year in Surrey.
–Mike Howell, Vancouver Courier
Detached homes up 16.2% in Metro Vancouver
A seller’s market persists as home sales and prices continue to rise in Metro Vancouver, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
The benchmark home price reached $700,500 for all home types in July, representing a year-over-year increase of 11.2%. Detached home prices saw the biggest jump, increasing 16.2% to $1,141,800. The benchmark price for attached units jumped 7.8%, reaching $511,500, and the cost of apartment properties grew 5.9% to $400,900.
“Today’s activity continues to benefit sellers as home buyers compete for the homes available for sale,” said REBGV president Darcy McLeod.
July saw 3,978 units sold across the region. This is 33.5% higher than the 10-year average for the month and an increase of 30% compared with July 2014. Apartment sales were the biggest factor, with 1,729 units changing hands – up 42.7% compared with last year. Total detached home sales reached 1,559, which is a jump of 17.9% year-over-year. A total of 690 attached homes were sold – up 30.9% compared with July 2014.
"Much of today’s activity can be traced to strong consumer confidence, low interest rates, and a reduced supply of homes for sale.” McLeod said. “We have about 5,000 to 6,000 fewer homes for sale today than we've seen at this time of year over the last five to six years.”
–Emma Crawford Hampel, Business in Vancouver
