Two strip malls, two automotive stores, and a parking lot in the 1300 block of Marine Drive in the District of North Vancouver are going to be turned into a four story building with retail on the ground floor and residences above. This will give housing in an area that there is none now. Marine Drive, the commercial thoroughfare of North Vancouver, stretches from the Lions Gate Bridge in the west to the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge, formerly called the Second Narrow's Bridge, in the east. In this journey it changes its name from Marine Drive, to 3rd Street, to Main Street.
Oh yes, if you look in the bush in the trees above the strip mall you will see homes. These are the single family houses of West Keith Road on the bluff to the north of Marine Drive. To access the street from Marine Drive you have to climb the steep wooden steps a block east at Pemberton Avenue. Or you can drive east to Mackay Avenue and turn North for two blocks to West Keith Road/West 19th Street.
So here is a fond farewell to the businesses sandwiched at the bottom of the bluff between Kypriaki's Taverna on the west and Bridgeman Avenue on the east: Budget Brake and Muffler, APG Car Sales with the Montessori Academy above, VANTECHS Computers, North West Pharmacy, Cartridge Plus, the Medical Clinic, Al's Vacuum, Package, Princess Nails, Depot/FEDEX, and Speedy Glass. And here is a "hello" to all the new residents in the 1300 block of Marine Drive.
Demolished: 2009
Photo: Taken December 1, 2009.
