33 replies to this topic

[dirtydeeds]

We drive by these places all the time and never realize how bad areas of town are getting until you actually stop and look around. I had one of these moments today at the intersection of Fort and Richmond right by the Royal Jubilee hospital. I was walking through and noticed how many homes and buisnesses were empty, boarded up and falling apart? I remember this area being very well kept and busy 10 to 15 years ago, what has happened to this neighbourhood. It will be a only a matter of time before more Graffti and vandalism take over and the area becomes even more undesirable to live near? This isn't downtown it is basically on the Oak Bay border in a busy area near a hospital, if it can happen here where else?

Are there other areas of our communities that we are not noticing the slow decline of? What can be done?

[aastra]

I love that old commercial block on the southeast corner of Fort and Richmond. I wish somebody would add a story on top and fill in the parking lot around back.

That entire intersection could be terrific if some of the lousier commercial buildings ever get replaced and their parking lots ever get built upon.

[Baro]

I've noticed quite a few abandoned or nearly abandoned homes in fairly nice residential neighbourhoods. They're either totally abandoned (and often have been for decades) or are in such a bad state of repair that anyone buying them would probably end up having to start over.

I dont understand why or how they get like this. Housing is so expensive here, if you move out or die, why the heck would you or who ever inherited your house let it sit abandoned for decades? If your health or finances have gotten so bad you can't afford the time or money for the most basic of upkeep and your house is now falling down, why not sell it?? The only reasons I can think are mental illness.

So many of these houses I pass and think "I'd love the privileged of owning that, fixing it up, and actually living in it or selling it to someone who does"

Here's one I pass quite often, and has been abandoned as long as I can remember. The odd thing is, it always has a perfectly mowed lawn.
http://maps.google.c...,112.46,,0,5.89

[jklymak]

^ I wonder if the owner wants to subdivide (like his/her neighbours) and OB isn't letting them, so they have let it fall into decay?

[D.L.]

There's a very run down house on Quadra just south of Saanich Centre, beside the Lochside trail. There's even a tarp covering the roof now.

http://maps.google.c...2,41.45,,1,-2.7

[G-Man]

^ It is funny I was looking at that building yesterday wondering it could still be there and have not been developed.

[Holden West]

I thought Borden Mercantile had a plan for redeveloping that whole property, which I assume would include that comically out-of-place house. I can't imagine it's inhabitable, it is rotting so bad, yet as noted above, someone took the trouble to put a tarp over it.

[dirtydeeds]

The Richmond section here is such a neat area I just wonder if the hospital is driving away buyers or tenants?


http://maps.google.c...,318.58,,1,3.54


http://maps.google.c...,115.12,,0,7.98

http://maps.google.c...p=12,17.92,,0,0

[concorde]

I had friends visit from out of town awhile ago and they commented that the vast majority of houses in Victoria are run down. Paint peeling from the windows, cheap or unkept landscaping, houses that haven't been updated in 50 years. Their theory was that with real estate prices so expensive and salaries so low here, that no one had extra money just to upkeep their homes. The more I thought about it, the more they are right. A $600,000 house on a 30 year mortgage at 6% is over $4200 a month plus property taxes, hydro, gas, etc, etc. Who has money left to paint the house or fix the broken front steps?

[phx]

There is also this gem in Saanich: clicky

BC Assessment describes it as "shed - better quality". And for an assessed value of $861,000, it ought to be better quality!

Note the LEED-certified solar heating equipment on the roof.

[kenjh]

Fort and Richmond has a closed store" Ian's"..and a corner store I understand Ian passed away and the family is fighting over selling or maintaining it ..and the lawyers have it trapped in limbo...It was a great place to eat and had apartments above..the last of the "Mayberry daze" when life was good and the streets were safe...

[arfenarf]

The Richmond section here is such a neat area I just wonder if the hospital is driving away buyers or tenants?


http://maps.google.c...,318.58,,1,3.54


http://maps.google.c...,115.12,,0,7.98

http://maps.google.c...p=12,17.92,,0,0

I have always thought that if I were nuts enough to run a restaurant, I'd love to rehab Ian's back into a retro-fun edition of its old self. I've worked out of the RJH facility before, and there aren't enough good places to get off campus for coffee and a snack. There's Safeway/Starbucks and the White Spot - and (now, but not back then) the Black Stilt, but I bet there's more room in the market for the many who just need to Get Away from the hospital.

And the papered over store in the last photo is now Jivko (sp?) tile, a really creative (really expensive) place.

[Mike K.]

I had friends visit from out of town awhile ago and they commented that the vast majority of houses in Victoria are run down. Paint peeling from the windows, cheap or unkept landscaping, houses that haven't been updated in 50 years. Their theory was that with real estate prices so expensive and salaries so low here, that no one had extra money just to upkeep their homes. The more I thought about it, the more they are right. A $600,000 house on a 30 year mortgage at 6% is over $4200 a month plus property taxes, hydro, gas, etc, etc. Who has money left to paint the house or fix the broken front steps?

Where are your friends from, concorde?

Not to be rude or anything, but your friends have some high expectations of home owners if they are put off by the lack of professional landscaping or updates to mid-century houses. Not everybody wants or cares for the sorts of luxuries or needs to put on a display of opulence that some individuals in certain communities can't do without.

This isn't Beverly Hills or a gated community in some distant suburb of Phoenix. It's a city with a mix of housing, and for anyone who's traveled even across North America, Victoria as a region represents one of the nicest collections of housing stock on the continent.

But to each his own, I suppose.

[Holden West]

This legendary house on Cloverdale (which has been discussed here before) may take the cake. Since the Streetview was captured, the surrounding old houses have been demolished.

http://maps.google.c...102.71,,1,-1.05

[aastra]

...houses that haven't been updated in 50 years. Their theory was that with real estate prices so expensive and salaries so low here, that no one had extra money just to upkeep their homes.

Real estate prices have been expensive for 50 years? How did they react when you explained to them that their theory made no sense?

[jklymak]

It's a city with a mix of housing, and for anyone who's traveled even across North America, Victoria as a region represents one of the nicest collections of housing stock on the continent.

This is definitely my opinion as well, and I've lived in some pretty nice places on the west coast of NA, so I'm not even comparing to the fly-over parts of the continent.

[weirdie]

I thought Borden Mercantile had a plan for redeveloping that whole property, which I assume would include that comically out-of-place house. I can't imagine it's inhabitable, it is rotting so bad, yet as noted above, someone took the trouble to put a tarp over it.

Yes, there is someone living in that house and it's been occupied continuously for over 30 years. The plot of land that it sits on is too small to develop anything substantial as it's not part of the larger, commercial lot.

[D.L.]

I've always thought this is an odd spot for a house to still exist, not that it's a particularly dilapidated house though - http://maps.google.c...,138.69,,0,-0.3

[Holden West]

^I love that little house. It's so crazy to see it right in such an urban area. See, make sure your underwear drawer is closed when the Google car drives by.

[Holden West]

I've always thought this is an odd spot for a house to still exist, not that it's a particularly dilapidated house though - http://maps.google.c...,138.69,,0,-0.3

Thursday August 19, 1909:

TO RENT - ONE DOUBLE AND one single room with board, nice locality, close to car. Apply 665 Gorge Road, corner Government.