BC Business
The rail yards and sugar refinery on Powell Street are among the last industrial sites in Vancouver.
A handful of industrial buildings dot Alexander Street in Vancouver’s East End.
Toby Barazzuol shares space with local residents on Heatley Avenue, outside his manufacturing plant.
Strathcona industry; marine warehouse
Strathcona industry: storage yard
Strathcona industry: chicken processing plant
Strathcona is a blip on the morning commute for downtown office workers coming from points east.
Discarded refuse is a common sight along Strathcona’s abandoned alleyways.
The Heatley overpass serves as a roof for the homeless.
Doorways are decorated with graffiti.
Enamoured with high-rise living and glossy downtown lifestyles, Vancouver politicians and city planners have neglected the city’s industrial needs for years in favour of condo development and live-work space. Developers are aggressively assembling land and flipping property to create sites for future townhouses, while prostitutes, drug addicts and squatters infiltrate abandoned warehouses awaiting redevelopment. Welcome to post-industrial Vancouver.
Click to read the full story: The Lost City by Ross Howard. This story has been nominated for a Jack Webster award (Industry & Economics category). Winners will be announced in Vancouver, BC on October 22, 2007.