Preston Springs Hotel Redevelopment

[tomh009]

When will it be demolished?

"Demolition work is expected to start within the next week."

[Bob_McBob]

"Demolition work is expected to start within the next week."

[KevinL]

I wonder if the King/Fountain intersection will go through any changes once the building is out of the way, now that there's more room to maneuver.

[urbd]

Demolition by intentional neglect, just as expected. This is prime condo development land right next to the future ION station. A sad story that keeps getting repeated in this Region.

[tomh009]

Keeps getting repeated? Are you referring to the Mayfair (which was planned to be renovated)? Or some other examples?

[GarthDanlor]

Keeps getting repeated? Are you referring to the Mayfair (which was planned to be renovated)? Or some other examples?

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?

[ac3r]

Keeps getting repeated? Are you referring to the Mayfair (which was planned to be renovated)? Or some other examples?

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.

[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.

[tomh009]

"to be allowed to decay" and "intentional neglect" aren't really the same thing, though.

The Electrohome site was so badly contaminated by its last tenant that it sat empty for 10 years -- and was then sold for a dollar. The new owner behaved very much unethically (in my opinion) in neither caring for the property or paying property taxes, but by the time they purchased the property it was already beyond saving due to the soil remediation and building repair costs.

I don't know the Forsyth building situation as well as ac3r, so I can't really comment on it.

[Acitta]

Heritage advocates ready to fight Cambridge on demolition of former Preston Springs hotel

[KevinL]

Where will they find the huge amounts of money necessary to make it structurally sound? Nobody in their group can understand an engineer's report, it seems.

[tomh009]

Does the city have the right to take over a building's structural restoration? And charge it back to the owner?

[bgb_ca]

Where will they find the huge amounts of money necessary to make it structurally sound? Nobody in their group can understand an engineer's report, it seems.

And that is what annoys me about this crowd. They want to save everything at any cost, but when it comes time to foot the massive bill to save this stuff, all you hear is crickets.

If they really wanted to save buildings like these, they should have started a fundraising drive to buy the property and restore it years ago before it decayed into the state it is in now (It's been closed since the 90's from what I understand). They need to put their money where their mouth is. Instead they just yell and scream even after the place is literally falling down and cannot be saved that they want it saved, even if it means that people will be killed.

[danbrotherston]

Does the city have the right to take over a building's structural restoration? And charge it back to the owner?

I wouldn't think so....that would be a bizarre power to have...

Honestly, these are heritage properties...if we believe they bring value to the community, they shouldn't be in private hands, and reliant on private agents to maintain them.

Or at least, it should be the public paying the cost to maintain them.

Maybe then, we'd be more intentional about what we call heritage.

FWIW I think the Preston Springs was probably deserving of preservation...but other buildings in DTK...which are at this point being preserved in lieu of building more affordable housing are not...to me, the system is pessimal, it isn't protecting heritage buildings and is instead being used as a hammer to support NIMBYism.

[urbd]

Another day, another intentional neglect in the Region. Very convenient "sad loss" to make space for redevelopment land (in this case right next to a future ION station) - the Region has always been very clear that ION's first priority is to attract redevelopment along the line and being an attractive transportation option for the community second. At least I wish the owners/developers were direct about the intentions in the first place... this trick is getting old and rotten.