IT used to be a B.C. Rail station, but now the brick building near McKeen Avenue and West First Street is abandoned, adorned with graffiti and strewn with garbage.
The defunct station may be removed in 2012 according to Metro Vancouver, a process that can't begin soon enough for one local resident who considers the spot an eyesore and a tourism liability.
"It is disgusting to drive by it; it is disgusting to even take people to get on the train," said North Shore travel agent Kare Brett.
In the course of her job, Brett said she regularly takes tourists to the nearby Rocky Mountaineer station.
"It is just shameful," she said of the dilapidated building. "It's no longer in use, so it sits there in shambles."
The site, which is surrounded by chain link fence and a tarp, gives international tourists an ugly first impression of the North Shore, with many travellers unwilling to park their cars nearby, according to Brett.
"People from all around the world come and get on (the Rocky Mountaineer) and they look at that," she said.
The Mountaineer, however, isn't aware of any concerns, according to spokeswoman Nancy Dery. "We haven't had any complaints or any concerns," she said.
Metro Vancouver purchased the threehectare site in 2008, announcing a plan to build a sewage treatment plant on the land by 2020.
After paying about $15 million for the property, Metro Vancouver quickly leased it back to B.C. Rail. The company cleaned up the contaminated land, as was required by law, and then handed back control to the region in March this year.
By that point, the building and land were already in poor condition, said Ken Stephens, acting manager of Metro Vancouver's property division.
Unless the building can be preserved, it will likely be disassembled, removed, and partially recycled in 2012, he said. Metro Vancouver will soon surround the site with chain-link fence and clean up the garbage to make way for the sewage plant.
The $400 million sewage facility is slated to replace the sewage plant located near the north end of Lions Gate Bridge.
