When Arthur and Ethel Alexander built their modest cedar home on a $600 south-facing lot at 2209 St. Johns St. in Port Moody, the soon-to-be mayor and his wife couldn't have imagined that one day, 88 years later, the house would roll down St. Johns Street, hang a right on Grant and settle to face east.
But that's exactly what's in store for the Alexander Residence and those wheels could literally start moving on the house by the end of April.
Fred Soofi, owner of the home and property, is finalizing arrangements to have the Craftsman home lifted from its foundation, hoisted onto a large truck and slowly carried the six blocks to the corner of Grant and St. George streets, where it will settle as a second house on another of Soofi's properties at 2628 St. George St.
The move, Soofi told The Tri-City News Monday, will cost about $100,000 and he's currently in talks with two moving companies to sort out exact costs and logistics.
Soofi said the move was prompted by his love for Port Moody's old character buildings and the opportunity he saw to kill two birds with one stone.
Valued at approximately $600,000, the Alexander Residence is worth about 1,000 times what it was in 1923 but it isn't worth much more with the old house intact, Soofi said. That's because the land's value has been driven up by development associated with the proposed Evergreen Line. And when the value of the land under a home so eclipses the value of the home, there's often little hope for the building's future on the property.
"The value of land is going so high that it doesn't justify [keeping] it," Soofi said. "So the developer comes and offers $600,000 or $700,000 for some older house and people say, 'Why shouldn't I sell it?'"
It appears that Soofi plans to do just that but instead of leaving the old house to ruin, he's taking it with him.
He will move the house to 2628 St. George St. and then have it designated a heritage house along with the existing 2628 St. George St. home, thereby preserving both buildings and making their structural alteration or demolition illegal.
But the heritage designation doesn't provide any financial incentives, such as property tax breaks from the city.
Port Moody identifies buildings it deems fit for heritage preservation and, if the owner agrees to sign the heritage designation, the building is preserved at the owner's expense.
Those preservations will come at no small cost to Soofi, who estimates heritage restorations of the Alexander house and of 2628 St. George at between $300,000 to $400,000 each.
Soofi said the result is worth the money.
"These houses give such nice beauty and character to the area and are important educationally," he said. "If they are gone, then there's nothing left."
The move and heritage designation were given the go-ahead at the March 8 city council meeting, although it drew some opposition from Coun. Mike Clay and from nearby residents concerned with densifying an area of mainly single-family homes.
The Alexander Residence will sit behind the smaller 2628 St. George St. home like a large carriage or laneway house, facing Grant and with garage access off of the alley.
