I was walking my dogs in Cloverdale this morning and saw 2 fellows up a scaffolding in front of the White Hotel on 176th Street and a 3rd man standing on the sidewalk. They were whitewashing the front of the building. One of the guys on the scaffolding dropped something and it crashed to the sidewalk. Then I heard him say he was going to throw down a hammer so I decided to play it safe and stop.
No, nothing else crashed down because he spotted me about then!
I did chat to the man on the ground and he said the building is owned by a friend of his who bought it from an older man not too long ago and they are renovating it. He said his friend is planning on selling it.
I managed to find out that there are 5 apartments in this building. Amazing because its not all that big. On the ground floor are the Sea Shanty restaurant and Danica's hair salon. I've been in the Sea Shanty a few times and I can walk in from the back parking lot and the restaurant extends all the way to the front of the street. I have never been in Danica's so I never really thought about it one way or another, just assumed it had a similar floor plan to the Sea Shanty. I guess not because the man said there is one apartment on the ground floor and 4 on the second floor. Those have to be tiny apartments. I'm pretty sure in the past when I noticed a for rent sign on the door that it said bachelor and one bedroom apartments.
So there's the scoop. Renovating it to put it up for sale. Interesting because it was supposedly renovated 2 years ago to attract a better quality of residents according to the sign that used to be on the door.
The man on the sidewalk must have been somewhat aware of the shady past because he called it a former crack house pit.
Oh well. Will be interesting to see what happens to it and if he has any success selling it.
Thanks for the update!
ReplyDeleteI work right beside the White Hotel and I was wondering what the plan was with all the renos.
I'm happy to see the renos happening as it was very annoying having the police stopping by the hotel every week or two.
The past owner was not in the good books of all us Cloverdale workers/business owners and I'm glad to see him go too! He was always asking way too much for his building so I am surprised to hear it sold.
-Ryan
I walked around the back of the building a few days ago and was able to peak into the ground floor apartment that has glass doors. It doesn't look too bad inside. I saw a living room/kitchen and I saw part of another room where there appears to be a fireplace. It looks about the size of a basement suite in those new houses up in the Clayton area. I don't know about upstairs. Maybe I should ask for a tour if I see them working there this weekend!
ReplyDeleteI hope whoever buys it keeps decent tenants living there.