Update:
Two houses have been successfully moved to adjacent lots on Dallas Road.
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A barge carrying two old houses is slated to arrive at Ogden Point this morning to unload its cargo.
Jawl Properties and Concert Properties are behind the plan to relocate two heritage houses from their Capital Park development site in James Bay to adjacent lots in the 200 block of Dallas Road, near the breakwater.
“The move went incredibly well,” Karen Jawl said.
Early Tuesday, the historic houses were taken by truck to a barge loading site off Store Street. The barge, which was towed under the Johnson Street Bridge, departed at 3:45 a.m.
From there, it went to Esquimalt Harbour, where the barge was to spend about 24 hours in a “safe, protected area,” Jawl said.
Sea conditions permitting, the barge will slowly make its way today to Ogden Point, where a ramp will be installed to bring the houses to shore. The aim is to move the houses at high tide about 8 a.m., Jawl said.
The move has been a “really complex operation,” she said. Transporting the houses solely by truck would have meant moving utility lines, extensive tree pruning and inconvenience to James Bay residents.
It was logistically simpler to move the houses by barge, Jawl said.
The houses will go on water-facing lots, where a single house once sat. An attempt was made to find someone to take that house through Nickel Brothers house movers, the company that moved the James Bay houses, but no one came forward, Jawl said. The house has been recycled.
Once in place, the houses will be restored to be put on the market in the spring.
