Article content continued

Houses like this weigh between 36 and 45 metric tonnes (80,000 to 100,000 pounds). So moving them is an art.

“We install a steel structure below the house, then we jack up the house so it’s resting on that steel,” said Knipfel. “Then we’ll put our hydraulic transporters, our hydraulic dollies, underneath, lower the house onto the wheels and pull it off its foundation. It will take a couple of days to get it loaded, then it’ll take a day to get it into the alley.”

Photo by RICHARD LAM / PNG

The cost has yet to be determined, but it isn’t cheap.

“It’s probably going to cost me anywhere from $150,000 to $200,000 just to move it,” said Sandhu.

A small carriage house at the rear of the property will be demolished so the bigger house can be moved to the lane. According to the city, this leaves 119 character houses left in the West End.

Work on the new highrise will start when the house is moved, and construction is expected to take two years. The site for the new highrise had contained two houses and an apartment block, which provided 26 low-cost rental units. Six West End residents took the city to court to try to stop the rezoning of the site, but lost.

As part of the rezoning, Westbank has agreed to rent 26 units at below market rate to compensate for the units that were lost in the redevelopment.

Sandhu said it wasn’t an easy process to move the house, but the city and Westbank helped to make it happen.

“The city of Vancouver got this one right,” he said.

“They legitimately bent over backwards to help us to save this house. And Westbank really stepped up. Here I am, a small developer, and they let me come onto their site as a guest. They could have said ‘get lost, we don’t want this, this is going to be a headache.’ They stepped up and worked with us to to save this house.”

jmackie@postmedia.com

Photo by RICHARD LAM / PNG

Photo by Mark van Manen / PNG