Kent Karemaker traded in his tiny rental on the West Coast for a 36-room vacant lodge, with a leaky roof, in rural Saskatchewan — a transfer he believes might have saved his life.
The 44-year-old former authorities employee purchased the dilapidated Grand Resort in Shaunavon, which is about 280 kilometres southwest of Regina and has about 1,700 residents. He has formidable plans to revive it.
“I knew this undertaking was so large and monumental that it might take me a very long time to do it, and that is factor,” Karemaker mentioned, whereas giving CBC Information a tour.
‘What’s my objective?’
Earlier than the pandemic, Karemaker was dwelling in a 400-square-foot rental in Victoria, writing press releases for the federal government and making an attempt to handle his melancholy and anxiousness.
Then, as COVID-19 turned the world the wrong way up, his psychological well being deteriorated. He says as a single, homosexual man with no kids and a job he did not love, he knew he wanted an inspirational change in his life.
“Each day I discovered myself asking the query, ‘Why am I right here? What’s my objective?'”
Kent Karemaker, 44, give up his job and offered his rental in Victoria, B.C., to revive the Grand Resort in Shaunavon, Sask.. Karemaker says the undertaking helps him handle his melancholy and anxiousness.
He’d at all times been taken with refinishing furnishings and thought a home renovation may give him a wholesome problem. He checked actual property listings and settled on a $10,000 character home within the village of Frontier.
“The reason is, it was the most cost effective home that I may discover in Canada that I may pay for in money that I felt regarded prefer it was a worthy undertaking,” he mentioned.
Karemaker took a four-month depart from his job, moved to Saskatchewan, rolled up his sleeves and set to work. He liked it a lot, he purchased one other outdated home. Then, whereas speaking with native of us, he discovered the story of the Grand Resort in close by Shaunavon.
The boom-time lodge was in-built 1929, simply earlier than the inventory market crash, and was the scene of a hearth, a dynamite blast and three murders, in accordance with a heritage strolling tour of the city. It grew to become residences for some time, then sat vacant for greater than 4 many years.
Karemaker had at all times considerd himself “a dreamer,” he mentioned, however he did not severely think about shopping for the lodge.
Not at first, anyway.
“If you happen to’re not wealthy in Victoria or Vancouver, you are very poor. And so the entire concept of restoring a lodge by no means would have entered my thoughts,” he mentioned.
Then, his childhood greatest pal died of most cancers.
That loss impressed Karemaker to give up his job, promote his rental, and transfer to Saskatchewan in 2022 to revive the Grand Resort.
“I believe, actually, what the lodge has achieved for me is give me objective,” he mentioned. “I knew it might take me a very long time to do it. And, and that is factor as a result of it is a long-term purpose and it is a purpose to maintain going whenever you’re struggling along with your psychological well being and discovering causes to maintain right here on the earth, you realize?”
Karemaker was stunned the outdated lodge hadn’t burned down or been stripped for copper. “It is type of a miracle that it is nonetheless standing right this moment for a constructing to not solely be unheated, however I changed 32 panes of glass that have been damaged out, so it was mainly simply an open constructing for many years,” he mentioned.
Jamie Mercer rented an house within the constructing when she was 17 years outdated and was the final individual to reside there earlier than the constructing was closed in 1981.
“I used to be so younger I did not understand it was creepy to reside alone in that large ol’ constructing,” she mentioned.
Mercer mentioned it was “unhappy” to see it sit vacant for therefore lengthy, however figured it might “break the bank” for somebody to repair the boiler system and different points. Like others within the city, she’s curious to see whether or not Karemaker can pull off the restoration and desires him properly.
YouTube movies and elbow grease
Karemaker, who works as a care aide in Shaunavon and generates some rental income from his different fixer-upper homes, saves cash by doing a lot of the work himself, with steerage from YouTube movies.
He tapped right into a grant from the Saskatchewan Heritage Basis to exchange the roof. However, he is nonetheless up towards main bills, equivalent to fixing electrical, shopping for a brand new boiler and buying mattresses.
The undertaking, which he paperwork on Fb, has grow to be his ardour.
“But when I am having a nasty day and the load of the world simply looks as if an excessive amount of, this undertaking can really feel like an excessive amount of, too,” he mentioned. “I go searching at every part that must be achieved and I am overwhelmed.
“And typically I can energy by way of these days and I can get by way of it and I really feel relieved by the top of the day having made progress.”
He expects the restoration undertaking to take a number of years.
