Why Didn't The City Buy The Chances Bingo Building

Tuesday, September 01, 2009 03:45 AM

The deal put together by some local investors to buy the old Chances Bingo Hall downtown should show that someone had their ear to the ground.

If the group paid less than $4 million they got a deal and with a promise to add another floor that will make a new building available about three times the size that the RCMP needed in the city.

Consider this; $4 mill for the existing structure with about 150 parking stalls, three times what is proposed in undercover in the new proposed cop shop.

A million to put a second floor on the building, and let’s say for sake of argument you spent even 10 million in renovations to turn it into a first class police building with more than enough room for our future needs you would have saved the taxpayers and easy $20-$25 million dollars. Bearing in mind that the land proposed for the new police station could have been sold along with any property proposed to add more parking.

Was Chances ever looked at? If it wasn’t, it certainly should have been, because when the final bills are tallied for the new building we will see a $40 million dollar price tag hanging on it.

A saving of $20 million doesn’t seem much when you say it fast but it would give the taxpayers of this city a break and they so richly deserve it. Instead we will be saddled with an ever increasing debt for a new building that will not have all the trappings that could have been incorporated in the existing Chances building for less than half the cost.

Now let’s sit back and watch this one play out.

I’m Meisner and that’s one man’s opinion.

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Posted on Tuesday, September 01, 2009 03:45 AM in Views by Ben Meisner

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Comments

Posted by: Eagleone on September 1 2009 4:24 AM

Well said Ben.

Posted by: palomino on September 1 2009 6:39 AM

Absolutely right on Ben, IMO, but -- did you think of this before the fact, or just now? If you've been thinking this would be the way to go for some time now, did you mention it to someone on city council, and if you did -- then it looks like our leaders at city hall did indeed drop the ball on this one, again "in my opinion".

Maybe we (the city of PG) don't have any money right now, and can't afford a "deal" even when its right under our noses?

I remember a very vital bridge we apparently couldn't afford either, that took years to "raise" enough funds for !

Posted by: red2b on September 1 2009 7:15 AM

"Posted by: cobrasnake on March 5 2009 6:28 AM
How about converting it to an RCMP building,it has underground parking and all the up to date communication devices not to mention it's right downtown.
It would probably cost the taxpayers 3-6 million to convert the building."

It's been suggested by many.

Posted by: giterdun on September 1 2009 7:56 AM

They should still try to buy it ... Offer the Commonwealth Boys a million $$ profit. It would still be a helluva deal for the taxpayers of P.G. Come on Council WAKE UP!!!!

Posted by: MiddleGround on September 1 2009 8:18 AM

hrmm...

If I recall right, in May? there was a vote at council to proceed with the RCMP building as envisioned at 4th and Victoria. There were four councillors who voted AGAINST that.

Frizzell, Munoz and Stolz and Wilbur.

Seems to me they were thinking the same thing as Ben.

Glad to see some of council is worried about how much the RCMP building will cost us.

Posted by: gus on September 1 2009 9:07 AM

Since the new RCMP building is a public building, the city will have to show why it is not using wood for ever single part of the building, not just pretty wood for decoration.

Wood structure, wood partitions, wood for interior wall finishes, wood for exterior finishes, wood floor and roof trusses, wood flooring, wood ceilings, wood built in furnishing, etc. etc. In fact, they might even have to show why they are not using wood shingles/shakes for roofing.

We will go back to wood lath and plaster walls, with wood fibres in the plaster instead of horse hair .... LOL.

The casino could not fill that requirement. It would have to be torn down.

Posted by: Wolfie on September 1 2009 9:35 AM

I'm pretty sure the wood rules only apply to public buildings that are built new, not existing buildings that are bought for public use.

A better question would be why there isn't more wood in the new Duchess Park?

Posted by: gus on September 1 2009 11:50 AM

The answer to the Duchess Park one is very simple.

The building has to meet the Provincial Building Code.

It is classified as an assembly building which, after jails and hospitals, is the strictest with respect to fire safety.

The size of the building requires it to be of non-combustible construction. That means only minor components, such as wall finishes, flooring, etc. are allowed to be wood and that wood has to be special kind of wood that has low flame spread ratings. Local wood, other than birch, does not meet that requirement.

The building codes have been developed over a long time based on actual experience of buildings under fire conditions. Building codes throughout the industrialized world are amazingly similar when it comes to fire safety for some very good reasons.

For instance, the government is pronoucing that wood residential construction can now go up to 6 stories. What they are not saying is that the total floor area of the buildings are not allowed to increase. The effect is a taller building but not a larger building. An increase in height is not an increase in size. The six story high building will have to be half the size on the ground as the present 3 story high buildings.

Fire and life safety is still more important than selling a few more pieces of wood. When that changes, I will become rather concerned as should everyone else.

Posted by: Chester on September 3 2009 8:29 PM

Does anyone remember the original location of the RCMP? It was in the exact location that the Chances Bingo Location is. How ironic.

Sure would have been an item that should have been up for discussion in my opinion.

Why use another prime piece of choice real estate for the cop shop?