Canadian Pacific Railway built these homes at North Bend - Date/Photographer unknown - Fraser Valley Regional District.
29 January 2014
Two Historic CP Rail Houses Up for Grabs in Boston Bar for $1 Apiece
North Bend British Columbia - Fed up with the over-priced Vancouver housing market, where a home will run upwards of $1
million?
Well, how about a home in Boston Bar for just a $1?
The town of Boston Bar is offering up two historic CP Rail houses for $1 apiece, according to Lloyd Forman, the director for Boston Bar with the Fraser Valley
Regional District.
Forman said he's already had more than four offers, following an interview on CBC radio early Wednesday morning about the unique deal.
The houses, each about 1,100 square feet on 5,000 square feet of land, are in need of much repair, he said, but they are in good enough condition to
renovate.
"They are in some state of disrepair. The roofs are leaking some but they are all built with real first-growth fir so they are quite substantial, and that
kind of fir is really tight," he said.
However buyers hoping to move in soon will have to wait.
Forman said it's going to take some time before the district can come up with a legal contract.
Once that's approved the district will put out a request for proposals, and then choose the potential buyer based on the plan that's best suited for the
community.
The Fraser Valley Regional District owns the land, and on Tuesday night the board voted to move ahead with the plan to find suitable owners.
"I don't think this has ever been done before, so the regional staff have a bit of a problem coming up with a contract that will ensure this property
remains in a certain state," he said.
The district requires only the exterior retain its heritage value, but the owners will be free to renovate the inside as they choose.
He said there will be no restrictions on selling the houses, but they are hoping that the buyer will be someone who wants to live in and be part of the
community of Boston Bar.
"We want the best proposal for the community and that could be anything. As for me, I love living here. I tell everyone it's like living in Bella Coola
but with access to Vancouver. We have the best of both worlds," he said.
The heritae houses, located in the Boston Bar community of North Bend across from a swimming pool and community centre, were built at the turn of the 20th
century for CP Railway employees.
There were originally eight, but six have since been torn down.
Tiffany Crawford.
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