I just finished commenting on an article from our local paper about affordable housing in St. John's, NL when I came across an article from the Financial Times of London, and not London, Ontario (nothing against you folks) but London, England - where the Queen lives most of the time (when she's not in Scotland or traveling, or riding horses), about guess where - St. John's, NL - again.
This time it was about one of our neighbourhoods just up the road from the downtown better known as Georgestown. Actually, this three block square community is home to one of the nicest bakeries in the city (the cranberry chocolate bread is heavenly), some very trendy lofts, a pub, a small convenience store and a stone's throw to The Rooms.
The area became known as Georgestown, as George Winter owned most of the land in the area and after one of St. John's many devastating fires people began building homes in the area as early as 1840. Georgestown has a strong neighbourhood association and has an eclectic mix of old and new homes.
This little community borders Monkstown Road, Military Road, Bonaventure Avenue and Empire Avenue with real estate values for fixer uppers starting as low as $55,000 cdn to lovely homes valued at $350,000 cdn or more. The average sale price for a turn of the century home, with lots of character, ranges from $140,000 to $180,000 cdn and still within walking distance to downtown. No car needed.
"A diamond in the rough" by Daina Lawrence is a nice article about one of the city's up and coming communities. That translates to the prices of homes will increase in the area because of this article - let's hope not by too much. We locals need affordable housing too.
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