Coming Down
Excavator takes the first bite out of the building – photo 250News
Prince George, B.C. – The derelict building known as the ‘laundromat’ on George Street is being demolished.The crew demolishing the building is starting with the rear portion of the structure as there are vehicles parked on George Street in front of the building. Those parking spots will be blocked off tomorrow to allow for the rest of the building to be torn down.
Snaring River Holdings Ltd / Western Thermal Demolition is doing the demolition work which started last week with the removal of hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead painted surfaces.
It has been five months since City Council ordered the building’s owners, Commonwealth Campuses Inc to:
• demolish the damaged structure, including the foundation;
• remove all debris from the demolition to an appropriate disposal site; and
• fill in the opening in the ground and level the site;
Commonwealth had requested an extension, but Council denied that request.
The demolition cost is $72 thousand dollars, money which will be recovered through taxes on the property at 231/233 George Street
Comments
Thank god. Get rid of these eyesores and the DT instantly improves. Didn’t help that this was directly across the street from a beautiful building.
Reality is that now the City is going to end up owning yet another piece of property downtown. Once you add the demolition cost to the outstanding taxes for this year, and more than likely the next 2 years, this property stands no chance of selling to anyone at the city tax sale. Could be a bargain for someone a few years down the road, but in the meantime the city has allowed the burden of demolition, clean up, and all the carrying costs to be shifted from the owners to the tax payer! Perhaps a little more forethought and a little less bluster would have been useful when Commonwealth came to council requesting a short extension!
NyteHawwk – Maybe city could start selling more air space? Are you aware of Commonwealth’s history with the City of PG? lol
Seems to me that whoever is foreclosing on Commonwealth’s mortgage debt will end up with the property…NDIT I guess.
Editor’s note:
There is no mortgage on this particular property, the money borrowed for this property was paid in full
Why would the tax payers absorb the cost of this?
“Maybe city could start selling more air space”
I believe the last air space in the city was bought by the City for $900,000 so that BC Housing could build a building which I believe has been deeded over to the city.
“money which will be recovered through taxes on the property”
Not unless someone buys the property for enough money to recover those costs. If not, then the City is stuck with it the same as they were/are with the Europe property on Third.
They are different companies. Who owns them does not matter unless there is a direct link of one company owning the other.
Commonwealth had a dream which, at this time, given the oil and gas volatility and the influence of the MOPB bout to get serious, looks like it was 50 years too early.
MOPB = MPB
One less place for those that like to hide in shadows to hang out. One less eyesore to make investors stay away from downtown. Probably less policing costs with it gone.
Also creates a little employment. Tearing it down before it burns down makes sense as well.
The only reason this property was even purchased was so that it could be renovated to house people that were going to be evicted from the PG Hotel so that the optics of a mass eviction and loss of housing could be managed. In that light I wouldn’t be so quick to condemn. Since the City ended up owning the Hotel, I’m sure they and NDIT both pushed for their A$$es to be covered somehow!
Good call oldcoot. This boarded up fire hazard sits right next to the city’s back up heating plant. Tear it down and send Dan the bill.
if the only reason “the property was even purchased was so that it could be renovated to house people that were going to be evicted from the PG Hotel….”
Then why was it not renovated years ago? Why were renovation not started before the hotel was destroyed? Could it be some were duped or not?
One would think of common sense (lol), of the asbestos etc in a very old building such as this. Are you aware the older gyproc or gypsum board has asbestos in it? Unlike the new boards?
Renovated to house displaced tenants of the old PG Hotel? I think not. Given its condition, BC Housing wouldn’t have touched it even if Dan gave it to them.
If only I had the money to buy the lot . Is it even for sale ? How big is it ? DTPG what’s that worth ?
Really some one doesn’t like my questions ? I guess realtors don’t read this paper or share info . I’ve always wanted a piece of pg . Ever since I saw it as a boy . It reminds me of a mini Kamloops . Where rivers meet . Except PG has room to expand vastly beyond what Kamloops could .
@Guesswhat “Are you aware the older gyproc or gypsum board has asbestos in it?”
Actually the drywall does not, it is the filler they used that had the asbestos content.
slinky – There was a news article last night, I believe it was Global about it. some contractors ran into a problem of where to dump it. Something new.
In the media release from Global Vancouver – WCB talked about the dangers and the Metro Vancouver dumps are not accepting the drywall without it being tested first. The gypsum board/drywall was before 1984. Anything else after that is supposed to be free of asbestos. One way to check when removing is many boards have a year it was manufactured on the back apparently.
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