Conceiving the idea

Did you notice a gap between the Navarino building and the next one-storey commercial building on the previous photo? Hidden inside it is the single-family residential house in the middle of commercial stretch on Quilchena Ave looking odd (and standing on a big size lot). The place was begging for better use. Being adjacent to the Navarino restaurant, the good use seemed to be an open air patio and / or a customer parking. I made an offer on the house and it was promptly accepted. What to do with the house? Convert into a souvenir shop (after all, it is along the famous Walk Of Stars, popular with tourists) or into a coffee shop. I must confess - I am a big coffee lover, so that was a natural thought :)
City wants to see the street in a Western theme - why not put a fake facade ? I talked to the Architect whom I worked with before on my Richmond house (see photo), and I loved his work. He suggested to utilize the space more efficiently by building a two-storey building with commercial space on the street level and residential units above it. The City and Community Futures loved the idea. The concept was presented at the Annual Merritt Investor's Symposium in July 2007 and received very enthusiastic reception from the investors and local business community. The news spread, and it didn't take long for the owner of the small commercial building (housing a computer shop at that time), to come to me with the offer to sell it to me. Consulting with the Architect resulted in a new vision of a now bigger three-storey building. Sunrise Centre was conceived.