Rev. Canon Chris Harwood-Jones says there was interest in the 122-year-old church rectory, but no one to move it.
(CHARLOTTE HELSTON / iNFOnews.ca)
July 11, 2014 - 2:11 PM
VERNON - Buyers were interested in the century-old Anglican church rectory, listed on the market for one dollar, but they couldn’t find a moving company to get it off the property.
“That’s been the story for the 2-3 seriously interested parties,” Rev. Chris Harwood-Jones says. “They all fell through for lack of a mover.”
Over the last 122 years, the now vacant house on 27 Street has served as a rectory, a boys school, and a women’s recovery centre. In order to rent it out again, the church needs to invest thousands in renovations to bring it up to code, and they don’t want to do that.
Instead, the church hoped someone would buy it for a dollar, move it, and find a good use for the massive two-storey house.
In the end, it wasn’t the estimated $100,000 required to lift it off the lot putting off potential buyers, but rather finding a moving company.
The first interested buyer contacted a moving company—supposedly the only one like it in the valley—only to find the storefront boarded up, Harwood-Jones says. The company had moved to Alberta.
“All the parties saw the difficulty in finding a mover, and they walked away from it,” Harwood-Jones says.
It’s likely the building will now be demolished.
Despite the building’s heritage designation, the church has obtained a permit from the city to tear it down.
The church wants it gone by September, and Harwood-Jones says anyone interested in the house has until the end of July to figure out a way to move it.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infonews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2014