Bradian, B.C., former mining town, up for sale
Abandoned mining town north of Pemberton is up for sale, but needs more than a coat of paint
If property prices are getting you down, you could become the proud owner of an entire town for about the same price as a home in a big city like Vancouver or Toronto.
Bradian, B.C. — 22 houses sitting on 20 hectares — is on the market for just under $1 million.
And while most ghost towns are fairly remote, Bradian is only about 109 kilometres north of Whistler, B.C.
Realtor John Lovelace says there has been lots of interest since he put up the listing.
“We’ve just been inundated," he told CBC Radio's On the Coast during a recent interview. "I think there's been somewhere between 30 and 35 calls, emails and texts."
A major fixer-upper
The seller is a family that used Bradian as a place to take holidays and work on the buildings.
Lovelace says it was a great family bonding experience, but the children are grown and the family now wants to pass the property to somebody else.
But, he warns, while the location is one of the most beautiful, scenic areas in British Columbia you'll ever find, the town is a fixer-upper on a big scale.
"There’s a great deal of work that has to be done."
Lovelace says the homes are in pretty rough shape.
"They were abandoned back around 1970, and the issue is they had some decay and water ingress, and the main infrastructure insofar as the sewers and all that were built to 1931 standards," he said.
"Don’t bring a paint can and a paint brush and expect to double your money, because this is a long-term initiative and the purchase price would probably be the least of your expenses."
Bradian was built by the owners of a gold mine in neighbouring Bralorne that shut down 30 years ago. However, Lovelace says the gold mine recently started up again.
"I think they have 60 people back working there. So there’s still gold in them there hills."
With files from CBC's On the Coast