Nicola Street house to be moved to McLure as part of salvaging effort for downtown character homes

KAMLOOPS — By the end of the weekend, the house at 430 Nicola Street will no longer sit in downtown Kamloops. As preparations begin for the upcoming City Gardens development, the 96-year-old house is being picked up and trucked out to a family in McLure.

Tim Nickel is the General Manager of Industrial for Nickel Bros. – a structural moving company – and says the house is currently being prepared for the move – set to take place between 11 p.m Sunday (Dec. 5) and the early morning hours of Monday (Dec. 6).

“The crew will jack up the house, make sure it comes free of the foundation and footings. And then in that stage they’ll begin to skate the house out, and set up the transporter.”

The move is part of a project undertaken by the Kelson Group and Nickel Bros. to salvage some of the homes before construction begins on the new multi-tower development. But unlike manufactured mobile homes, it’s no simple task to pick up an older house and move it somewhere else.

Kelson Group VP Kelly Fawcett says there’s a lot of planning involved for both the contractor moving the house, and for the people who want to invest in moving and repairing an older home.

“Those (mobile units) are designed to be moved. These (older homes) were never intended to be moved but sometimes you can make that happen, and these guys (Nickel Bros.)are the experts. That’s why it’s been nice for people who are interested – they can actually talk to these guys that do it for a living.”

The homes along Nicola Street certainly have character, but don’t have official heritage house designation, and many weren’t kept in great condition during their time as rental units. Of the 20 houses to be removed, 12 were identified for potential relocation, and so far only one of those has been claimed by an interested party.

The house at 430 Nicola Street was built in 1925, and includes three bedrooms and one bathroom – reaching a total of 1,200 square feet. Fawcett says it’s one of the few homes in the block that was viable for re-location, and will be moving to a family in McLure.

“So over the years they (the houses) have shown their wear and tear and unfortunately they are going to be coming down fairly soon as part of our big development that we’re planning with City Gardens,” explains Kelson Group President Jason Fawcett, “Seeing six new buildings with about 500 apartments that will rise in their place.”

Tempting as it may be to stop by and watch the process, the public is asked to keep a safe distance from the active construction zone. Nickel says the transport itself will happen dark and early Monday morning to keep traffic interruptions to a minimum.

“Obviously it’s going to take a little longer to get a house through an intersection than it would a vehicle. So being patient at those intersections – you may in the middle of the night miss one set of lights as a result of the house passing through.”

As 430 Nicola Street gets ready for its trip to McLure, site preparations will keep moving forward, with potential redevelopment starting in 2022.

“If all goes well we’re going to be receiving our development permit here in the next few weeks,” says Fawcett “And if we can get approvals in place we hope to start digging in the spring.”