In April the Vancouver Sun’s John Mackie sat down with John Michas – the owner of the Connaught Apartments, a century-old apartment block at Broadway and Vine.
The exterior of the Connaught Apartments has been restored to its full 1911 glory and now houses eight apartment units and three converted stores that are now loft suites. The three retail locations house the Higher Grounds coffee shop, Frocks bridal shop, and Buy The Bunch flower shop.
Most people in Vancouver will recognize Michas’s building – it’s that beautiful old two-storey red apartment block with retail on the bottom on Broadway, just west of Arbutus. The one that’s painted red, like an old Canadian Pacific Railway boxcar, and has all sorts of lovely bay windows up top.
Grocery stores with apartments above were a standard building type in the early 1900s. But most have been torn down, because they’re relatively modest, and are often in prime locations.
Now that they’re almost all gone, the public has started to take notice. There was a lot of controversy when a developer tore down the old Black Swan records site on West 4th a couple of years ago.
Any other suggestions on what are Kitsilano’s coolest rental apartments?
Last modified: June 24, 2019
The Black Swan building was a decrepit old wreck, the landlord wasn’t involved the way the guy on Broadway is, there’s no comparison.
I love the Connaught apartments and have seen over
the years the retail stores change from hairdressers and antique store to the current flowers and frock shops.
The apartments on 5th and Yew across from Helen’s Grocer are pretty cool as well.
Correction
Sorry I meant 6th & yew for above post
Sorry, but as a former tenant of John Michas and Connaught Apartments I would not recommend him as a landlord. He has lost his temper and his west-coast, cowboy “cool” with more than one tenant over the years. The apartments also get a lot of noise from the road and summer weekend partiers outside. There are nicer landlords and better rental options elsewhere in Kits.