An old building that’s part of Port Haney’s heritage will live on, while a new 66-unit condo building will be built close by, in a partnership that creates the future and saves the past.
Council last week OK’d a permit allowing construction of a new building on the corner of St. Anne Avenue and 223rd Street. But that approval depended on the preservation of the old Turnock home a blue house that also sits at 22309 St. Anne Ave.
The project includes a heritage revitalization agreement in which the old house will be preserved. Instead of being gutted and razed, the house will be removed from its current foundation, reinstalled on to a new foundation, then renovated to allow two new duplexes that are part of the development. Behind it will be built the four-storey, 66-unit condo or apartment.
“I think this is a very creative way of saving a really important building in the community forever,” Coun. Craig Speirs said at Tuesday’s council meeting.
That new building will sit on an east-west alignment straddling the three lots along St. Anne Avenue. In return for its preservation, the developer will get a five-year property tax exemption.
The old house was built in 1938 by Joseph and Hilda Turnock and is a good example of the colonial revival style of homes that were popular in the 1930s.
Once the home is removed from its foundations, the basement for the underground car park for the condo building will be dug. The old home then will be reinstalled above the parkade.
The project will see the original form of the house preserved while its features will be echoed in the new building that will be built beside it.
The house will be returned to its original character and colour scheme, while the new building will use materials, such as cement-based Hardy board, that evoke the cedar and brick heritage of the area. The Haney Brick and Tile company operated a factory just down the street from the residential area.
Landscaping for the project will include almost half a metre of top soil as a base to absorb rainwater and minimize runoff into streams and sewers.
Council first saw the proposal in 2012. The rental home was raided by RCMP four times between 2012 and 2014.