Preston Springs Hotel Redevelopment

[GarthDanlor]

How about the John Forsyth factory on Young st, the Barra Castle on Queen, Electrohome on Shanley (is that being demolished soon?). All allowed to deteriorate beyond saving.   Must be more?

The Forsyth building was an absolute disaster and would have been torn down either way, unless someone was willing to sink tens of millions of dollars into preserving it (and obviously, nobody would). Barra Castle was also in very, very poor condition and was an ugly building anyway - I never really understood the love for that thing, it was so kitsch. The Electrohome building was already torn down and was pretty unremarkable anyway...just because it's an old factory doesn't mean it's worth saving, they need to have some sort of architectural and historical value.

The point is that the Preston Springs and these other buildings were allowed to get this state.  "Demolition by intentional neglect" as stated above.  I had no particular love for Barra Castle that's for certain but  Forsyth, Preston Springs & Electrohome all could have been  successfully renovated and/or incorporated into new developments if they hadn't been allowed to decay.  On the other hand, I was sad too see the loss of the old Mayfair (at least the first few stories anyway) but have been won over by it's replacement.  Time will tell if the replacements for Preston Springs and Electrohome are as successful.