The Eldorado Corner Sets a Precedent for Change.
by Carrie Swiggum ~ September 12th, 2010. Filed under: Collingwood.Friday morning in September, traffic chugged on methodically at the intersection of Kingsway and Nanaimo, on the edge of Collingwood neighbourhood in East Vancouver.
On the southeast corner of the street, bright, fluorescent lettering stands out on billboards against the grey concrete and littered sidewalk advertising the sale of new condos that would be built on the same land: “ALL ONE BEDROOMS UNDER $299,000…PHASE 1 95% SOLD. THIS VIEW THAT PRICE.” The signs illustrate a bright twinkling downtown cityscape at night set in front of Vancouver’s iconic north shore mountains, turning an otherwise two-dimensional ad into a working man’s fantasy. There are no other high-rises in this part of the city–yet; but The Wall Group is looking to change that. Eventually a 22-storey building and a mid-rise will be built on the site the developer is dubbing Eldorado to reflect the history of the neighbourhood. According to the developer’s website, a 396 square foot studio would cost someone about $850 per month.
The Eldorado Motor Hotel, just south on Nanaimo, is visibly vacant from the street, patiently waiting to be demolished. Bare windows reveal hallowed out rooms. And up above another high-flying billboard mingling with the low-lying clouds reads, “If You Lived Here You Would Be Home By Now! (LOL).” Change is in the air.
Sitting on a portion of cracked cement by the new realty office, Quoc Pham, doesn’t think he’ll notice a difference when the three buildings are gone and a new project begins. Wearing an Adidas sweatshirt and jeans, Pham cradles a tallboy Budweiser can in his tattoo covered hands that he bought at the Eldorado liquor store. “I’ll still be able to do this,” he grins while taking a drink.
Pham says he grew up in the Collingwood neighbourhood but finds himself at the corner mostly everyday. He says he currently lives near the 29th Avenue SkyTrain but likes to sit and drink or wander around.
As the rest of Collingwood gets ready for a facelift proposed by the city set to begin in the next few years, calling the project Norquay Village, turning single family homes into a dense living space, this corner leads the transformation, and with it a landscape of abrupt change in this traditionally over-looked, multi-ethnic community.
