From eyesore to art: Community rallies around downtown Nanaimo project
NANAIMO — A demolished downtown Nanaimo building with the potential to turn into an eyesore is instead destined to become a work of art.
Two Nanaimo residents with strong connections to downtown are spearheading a project to cover the fence that will surround the vacant lot where the majority of the Jean Burns building once stood with local artwork.
“It kind of serves as closure. A lot of things happened after that block burned down,” Mambo Gourmet Pizza owner Marc Fillion said. “It was a catalyst to a lot of change downtown.”
Fillion said there was a “gloomy” vibe following the March 2016 fire. He watched as friends struggled with the loss of their businesses and the burned out building continued to deteriorate. “The dynamics changed from going okay to all of a sudden we had fractures, there was problems everywhere. It all came to the surface.”