The oldest continuously operating dairy in the province is selling its historic Vancouver home.
Colliers International listed April 25 a 1.26-acre property in Victoria-Fraserview/Killarney that includes the 105-year-old Avalon Dairy.
“You’ve got to look at it as a business, right,” said Avalon CEO Gay Hahn. “And to run two businesses, you’ve got double property taxes, you’ve got absolutely double of everything… You’ve got to remember that the plant up at Avalon is 106 years old, right, and this one down here [in Burnaby] is only two years old, so this one’s much faster and everything else.”
Hahn, a longtime resident of the area who has worked for Avalon for 32 years, concedes the end of the era is “sad.” But with the construction of Avalon’s 40,000-square-foot plant in Burnaby, the transfer of Vancouver’s glass bottling operations was inevitable. “Don’t forget the Crowley family grew up [there] so it is their homeland, but it was a tough situation to do but they had to bite the gun and do it because it just makes economical sense,” she said.
Lee Crowley, son of Everett Crowley and grandson of Avalon’s founder, Jeremiah Crowley, has moved the 1928 Ford that previously sat outside the Crowley family home to his home in the Cariboo.
It’s almost identical to the 1930 Ford owned by Everett, which, at least in 2006, graced Crowley’s basement. “We’re into nostalgia and we like to keep the old stuff,” he said five years ago.
Crowley did not return the Courier’s calls this week.
Hahn said the old horse-drawn delivery wagon that sat outside the Crowley family home will be displayed outside Avalon’s Burnaby plant.
The Avalon Greenway, which connects Wales to East 43rd, has been incorporated and will always exist, she said.
“There’s Crowley Drive, there’s Everett Crowley Park, so there’s a lot of history,” Hahn said. “Their roots are always in that area and they’ll never be forgotten from that area.”
Customers of Avalon’s tiny Vancouver shop on its leafy, historic setting will be able to shop in the future at its 7985 North Fraser Way plant in Burnaby.
Avalon Dairy is classified as a heritage site of primary significance on the city’s heritage register and sits on single-family zoned land. Hahn and Colliers International Vancouver vice-president Sam Nakhleh expect a developer could secure a rezoning or a heritage revitalization agreement with the city that would allow extra density in exchange for retaining heritage features.
The land near East 42nd Avenue on 5805 Wales Street remains unpriced and Nakhleh wouldn’t speculate on how many millions it could fetch.
Avalon had bought a group of nearby homes in 2006. It subsequently sold all but one rental home, included in the sale site, to finance construction of its plant.
“It’s a very hard market out there right now, too, with the bigger people going after you and taking your business,” Hahn said. “It’s hard to survive out there and things we have to do doesn’t always make everybody happy, right. But I think by putting residential homes on this property, it should enhance the neighbourhood and property values.”
crossi@vancourier.com
Twitter: @Cheryl_Rossi