A West Vancouver 'party home with a view' goes viral on Twitter
Here's the story behind the graffiti-covered $7.2 million home, which is one of the most high-profile empty homes in the Lower Mainland.
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Taking the ferry in and out of Horseshoe Bay, travellers get a glimpse of one of the Lower Mainland’s unique properties: a small West Coast modern home perched on the rocks at Tyee Point.
The house is a short walk to Horseshoe Bay along a private road, but it is almost like it’s on an island, because it faces Howe Sound in one direction and is up against a rocky hill at the back.
The home seems to have been vacant for several years. Photographer Mark Teasdale took a picture of it recently while arriving on the ferry, and it is completely covered in graffiti.
He posted the photo to Twitter on Jan. 17 with the description, “Party house with a view.” The photo went viral, amassing over 71,600 views in 10 days.
Several people wondered what was the story behind the house, which is one of the most high-profile empty homes in the Lower Mainland. So Postmedia did a property search.
The address is 6689 Nelson Ave. in West Vancouver, and includes two parcels of land, plus a foreshore lease. Parcel one is 6.63 acres around the house, and parcel two is a 1.79-acre strip of waterfront that leads to Horseshoe Bay.
Both parcels were purchased by PAK Construction of West Vancouver on Dec. 15, 1992. The combined price was $2,325,951.
PAK Construction owns a second spectacular vacant waterfront property at 7290 Arbutus Place in West Van, beside Whytecliff Park.
The company purchased that 63,313-sq.-ft. lot on Dec. 12, 1991 for $2.135 million, and razed a West Coast modern home designed by architect Geoff Massey, who had lived there.
Realtor Leila Khorvash has the Whytecliff property listed for sale at $18 million. She said the Nelson Avenue property in Horseshoe Bay is not currently listed.
But you can find an old listing for it on the Four Sails Realty website, which boasts it has “2,500 feet of world-class waterfront,” which makes it the “largest oceanfront parcel in West Van.”
PAK Construction owned a third property at 690 Knockmaroon Road in the British Properties that sold for $4.838 million in February 2021.
The directors of the company are Kazem Askari and Etat Askari. A phone message to a Kazem Askari wasn’t returned. PAK Construction’s phone number is out of service.
Donna Powers of the District of West Vancouver said that in 2022, someone reported 6689 Nelson “as an unsightly property,” so West Vancouver inspected it.
“Bylaws, police and fire department all had a look,” she said. “Under the fire department bylaw, there’s a requirement to keep a vacant home secure. There’s a safety standard around securing a vacant property. This property is boarded up according to the bylaw. (But) it looked like someone had trespassed onto the property.
“I think the most recent time staff would have been there was summer of 2022, where they worked with the fire department to make sure that permanent fencing was installed. I think that happened in June with the intent of keeping out trespassers. There hasn’t been any further action.”
PAK Construction has paid its property taxes and utility fees “right on time, every year.” Taxes on 6689 Nelson in 2022 were $19,871.52 for the first parcel and $4,510.28 for the second, which makes for a combined tax of $24,381.80. The foreshore lease was $1,642.49.
Unlike the City of Vancouver, West Vancouver does not have an empty homes tax. Vancouver has its own charter, which allowed it to declare an empty homes tax, while West Van is not allowed to.
“The provincial government would have to do that,” said Powers.
The province has a “speculation and vacancy tax” and collects 0.5 per cent from properties subject to the tax. The Nelson Avenue property has an assessed value of $7.2 million in 2023, while the Arbutus Place property has an assessed value of $12.179 million.
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