More Development

The last big hopeful development was the one next to Lily Point where a guy named Bryan, as I recall, was going to build 100 million dollar homes for all those affluent folks who wanted to cross the border a lot as part of their daily life.  Needless to say, in the shadow of 2008 and following, that dream has faded and gone, perhaps, into bankruptcy or at least into the arms of some bank that is yet trying to hang onto its solvency.

Nowadays, we are looking forward to similarly up-scale homes being built next to the golf course fairways, but the plan for them, it appears, to be more of a one-at-a-time production, presumably when real money changes hands.  But we also have The Cannery as a prospective development.

The Cannery is a stretch of yellow building(s) down on the southern beach of Point Roberts, close to Light House Park.  For as long as we've been here, The Cannery has been defunct.  It was already developed once (as a tribute to the actual cannery that once provided economic development for Point Roberts in the early 20th Century) prior to the 90's, but then fell into desuetude for reasons no one has ever been able to explain to me.  The one thing that people always tell me about it is that they had dances there with actual bands from the rest of the world.  It's a nice looking place, right on the beach.

Here's a little of what I wrote about it a year ago:

The Cannery was remodeled in the 80’s and it was set to become a fantastic resort kind of place. (There is a remodeled actual APA cannery over the real border to the U.S. in Blaine that is a successful resort, I am told.) The outside of our Point Roberts remodeled buildings were painted bright yellow and it is still the most cheerful looking place on the Point. But it has long been empty, another abandoned house or at least buildings. 

One of my neighbors has been working for years to get permits to restore this desolate version of The Cannery to its hoped-for glory as a kind of eco-tourist destination.  He says he has all the permits in place, is working on financing and hopes to start construction/remodeling in the fall.  I wish him well, as I would any person who has a dream and is committed to really trying to achieve it, even as I fear the unlikelihood of his journey's success in the current economic climate. 

Last week, he invited Ed down to see the place and to take some photos.  They can be viewed here.  They look like a dream, certainly.