Royal City Nursery

A (comparatively) recently-abandoned nursery/greenhouse on the north end of Guelph. Originally opened in 1962, the current building was built in 1977, and was in use until 2015 (when the land was expropriated by MTO for the Hanlon extension project). Both the nursery and the house next to it currently sit empty, slated to be bulldozed to make way for the relentless march of progress. The house in particular is "looking down the barrel", as it were - looking down the driveway nets you a really nice view of traffic on the Expressway, framed by beautiful trees on either side.

The site itself consists of the main store, which is boarded up and locked down, a small plastic-wrap Quonset hut kind of thing next to it (now mostly shredded), the house next door, and another smaller plastic-wrap Quonset out back (again, mostly shredded). The house is easily accessible, but is mostly in good condition and worth a visit - some of the interior elements can't be removed, and they're actually quite nice-looking if you peek in the right corners. The "store" building (the red one) has been tagged, but the tags are of decent quality and worth a look (given what passes for graffiti in Guelph). There's also some graffiti in the house, done in kids' sidewalk chalk - it's extremely difficult to photograph because it blends really well with the wall, and using a flash doesn't help.

Keep your eyes open for the homeless guy that I saw towards the rear of the property - I think he makes his encampment near the rear (smaller) of the two plastic-wrap Quonsets, and given that I had no contact with him apart from a brief sighting, he should be considered dangerous until demonstrated otherwise. And, naturally, since this location is on the outskirts of town and has uninterrupted forest cover between it and the countryside, watch out for the usual raccoons/deer/coyotes that tend to wander around the periphery of Guelph.

[b]EDIT:[/b] Wow! Location 14000!
[b]FURTHER EDIT:[/b] Looks like the homeless guy managed to burn down his shack at the rear of the site in December. Firefighters were called when neighbours spotted a column of smoke on a chilly morning.
[b]EVEN FURTHER EDIT:[/b] This place has been demolished. They left all the landscaping behind, though I doubt it'll survive the construction of the Hwy. 7 extension.