If you get an early start in the morning, an advisory for you: you may want to stay off the roads in Downtown Chelan before 7 am, unless you want to get tied up in traffic behind a slow moving house.
Yes, we said slow moving house.
The Chelan Valley Housing Trust is having a historic house moved from 141 East Nixon Avenue to allow for the building of six affordable housing units.
The story began with Charlie and Debbie Guildner, who purchased the property on the corner of Nixon and Emerson for the purpose of enabling the Housing Trust to build six townhomes. Originally, the existing house was to be donated to the fire department for a controlled burn. Thanks to Coy Habich, a local builder and businessman, who acted quickly to save the old Anderson house. He will be moving it to E Wapato Ave, behind the Apple Cup. Habich plans on renovating the home into a duplex. One of the units will be dedicated as a low-cost rental.
The new development at Emerson and Nixon, called Emerson Harbour, includes a mix of 2- and 3-bedroom attached townhouses, all of which will be priced affordably for homeownership to local wage-earners.
The house movers, may be starting the move as early as 5 am, and hope to be moving through downtown before 7 am. You're invited to watch, but it might be a good idea to delay your drive through downtown.