Let me get this straight.
The city bought a property from an "investment" firm after they acquired it in a distressed sale.
The investment firm gets to keep the liquor license for that premises. They have promised to "maintain" that license. I read that as Commonwealth Financial are now bar stool operators.

So the tax payers bought a pub and 1 hour hotel that is to be operated by a finance house.
All this without a planned disposition?
Say it out loud a few times to see how it sounds.

Falls right in line with dressing up the downtown to make it nicer for the homeless shelter and soup kitchen mere blocks away.

IMO The only involvement the city should have with this or most other land deals is permitting the land reclamation process. The city is far to involved with these real estate transactions. Let the owner default on his taxes or whatever, then appropriate and level. A heritage building is supposed to have a history worthy of note. A low dive bar with a marginalized client base does not meet that criteria just because it is one of the oldest in town.

How much did Commonwealth Financial profit from this deal? How much did the city lose? This smells bad to me.

If it was an issue with the quality of the clientele, a stroke of the pen to repeal the business license or liquor license, and problem solved at a lot less cost to you and me.

Your tax dollars at work. Who is responsible for tnis no brainer? Perhaps we sould level City Hall and start over.
Cheers

I am just happy to see it shut down and can hardly wait for them to start tearing it down!!! WOOHOO

Why?
Are you a patron?
Do you attend other drinking establishments?
Are you simply a prohibitionist that deems these as something to be closed?
Do you frequent that area of town on weekend evenings?
Has your quality of life been affected by the presence of this legitimate business?
Has your personal safety been compromised by its patrons?
Were you unsuccessful at the last chance corral?

and I would need to tell you why I am happy to see the sh!thole shut/torn down why??

who are you that I need to answer to you??

sounds like you were one to the special ones that hung out there!!

just can hardly wait till they start tearing it down!! will be there with coffee in hand to watch!! ya right!! I will just sit in my office and watch!!! woohoo!!!

wow! touched a nerve I see.
Thank you for clearing up your personal interest.

I am not a patron of that place in many years, and even when I did go there, it was infrequent. It was fun to go and dance and drink a little. Sort of reminded me of the community dances in rural areas when I was young.
I highly doubt "one to the special ones that hung out there" could conceive an original thought, compose it in a sentence and post online.

Not to single you out at all, but this is an attitude that really annoys me. The colloquial "you" insist that no one is permitted to have any fun. We used to proudly proclaim PG as having the most bar stools per capita in BC if not Canada. Now we are hard pressed to find a decent place to go blow off steam because the teetotalers are winning (whining). If you do not participate in that activity that is fine, just don't tell me that I cannot.

This is still a matter of choice. You choose not to, others choice to.

So you sit there grousing about how other folks spend their time and dollars. And you cheer the demise of a long standing business and significant employer. That speaks to the heart of nosy busybodies.

Are you the bear today?
Let 'er rip!

So we own the hotel.... We cant fix our roads but we can buy hotels.... if this council was less secretive about there plans on these property deals we would likely feel less aggression. They bought a hotel with NO plans but dont share the reasoning with the owners which in this case be.. us!!

no nerve touched here, just wondering who you think you are that I have to answer anything to you,that is all.

I would really enjoy having a nice place to go for a few with friends and to do a little dancing, shoot some stick, however, the Cooles made sure their place of business cater to people that had problems as it kept the money flowing into their bar. and I remember the days of having lots of choices of where I wanted to go and spend my money drinking!! ah the days of old!! LOL

It is just that over the years the PG hotel has gone down hill badly, and I am not sad to see it going away!!

and I could care less how other people want to spend their money!!

wow it sure must be nice to be so high and mighty that you can comment on how others feel and think!!

Good job Opinion250. Nice picture of the PG Hotel!

Maybe we should keep it open!

Kidding aside, there is actually a plan for the PG Hotel and the surrounding properties.

Maybe people should wait for the rest of the announcements!

Maybe the city should provide the 'plan' to its citizens so we can stop our complaining.

As the story sits, there is no plan in place for the building or lot. Is this plan mentioned by Mr. PG going to happen soon, or do we get to look at a rather large empty building for quite some time?

didnt dan maclaren and commonwealth finance the campaigns of a number of the new council members last election?!?!

The same Dan McLaren who likes to have golf tournaments inviting the likes of Bond and Bell to come out and do their Gordo dance..

Loki, your one to call the kettle black!

You say, "Not to single you out at all, but this is an attitude that really annoys me. The colloquial "you" insist that no one is permitted to have any fun. We used to proudly proclaim PG as having the most bar stools per capita in BC if not Canada. Now we are hard pressed to find a decent place to go blow off steam because the teetotalers are winning (whining). If you do not participate in that activity that is fine, just don't tell me that I cannot.

This is still a matter of choice. You choose not to, others choice to.

So you sit there grousing about how other folks spend their time and dollars. And you cheer the demise of a long standing business and significant employer. That speaks to the heart of nosy busybodies"


"Posted by: Loki on March 23 2010 9:51 AM
ban heli-skiing.
This gets people into areas nor5mally not accessible. IMO, These areas need to be left pristine. Anyone that wants to go there can walk in and out.

plus, helicopters are very fuel expensive, and are anything but a green solution.

This is just more of affluent people raping the world. Both the wilderness and our dwindling petroleum resources, for what?

I know that a couple skiers o not really impact the environment that much. Multiply by the thousands that access this recreation and we start to get impacted"

Your way or the highway hey Loki?

Loki, I think you've missed the point. Nobody is saying that nobody shouldn't be able to have a drink. The PG Hotel was a dive bar, plain and simple. I'm not unhappy to see it go either.

Why does it matter so much to you if someone has the opinion that they're pleased to see the old building come down? If you're so put out by others opinions, this isn't the site for you.

I do not have a problem with city hall purchasing the property. I am not sure if they got the best deal but I think we will find out in the coming weeks when more information on the transaction and the future of the property is released.

No one is investing in downtown. City Hall needed to do something to raise the value/interest in downtown. Perhaps putting something of value at this location can spur some private investment. I think downtown is heading in the right direction. By getting rid of a few liquor establishment(licenses) has made downtown a little bit more desirable to visit.

Thats a nice sized lot, should be able to plant one hell of a veggie garden there.

Might not be a bad location to put a year-round farmers market.

I thought it was already decided and leased to or sold to the Ramada for their new parkade, which rumor has it, is going to be connected to the Ramada with a above street corridor connecting them together.

but like I said RUMOR HAS IT!! LOL

Loki posted; "Let me get this straight.
The city bought a property from an "investment" firm after they acquired it in a distressed sale."

What makes you think it was a distress sale? Never read that anywhere.

DM:
Main Entry: sar·casm
Pronunciation: \ˈsär-ˌka-zəm\
Function: noun
Etymology: French or Late Latin; French sarcasme, from Late Latin sarcasmos, from Greek sarkasmos, from sarkazein to tear flesh, bite the lips in rage, sneer, from sark-, sarx flesh; probably akin to Avestan thwarəs- to cut
Date: 1550

1 : a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
2 a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual b : the use or language of sarcasm
synonyms see wit

Main Entry: fa·ce·tious
Pronunciation: \fə-ˈsē-shəs\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle French facetieux, from facetie jest, from Latin facetia
Date: 1599

1 : joking or jesting often inappropriately : waggish
2 : meant to be humorous or funny : not serious
synonyms see witty

— fa·ce·tious·ly adverb

— fa·ce·tious·ness noun

A couple of new words for the day.
If you have followed many of my postings, I have been very consistent in championing the right to choice and true free will. That helo post was a last ditch expression of frustration at the absurdity modern affluent recreationists go to tank our limited resources to the very last drop in the name of fun. It is one thing to rip up the mountain on a sled, quite another to burn how many gallons of jet fuel for a ski run. That sounds pretty absurd to me.

You see the DBIA has a plan on what they should do. The CoPG has a plan on what they are going to do.

What about the Performing Arts Center??

Would it fit at this location??

"Perhaps putting something of value at this location can spur some private investment"

Hey, they said that when they knowcked down the old shacks that sat where the Plaza400 and Ramada stand today and the PG Hotel was still a hotel that no one would say the types of things about that they say today and the Holliday Inn was not a chain that was afraid to build accross the street from and the Ramada was not afraid to acquire the property from.

AND!!! they said it again when they built the Courthouse after raizing another block of derelict hotels and shacks.

Here we find outselves again with the provincial government, in conjucntions with, or through the City (as is speculted in the paper today) "investing" in the downtown to turn thingsw around .....

Will it work this time?

Let us hear from some of you why it will.

And let us hear from others why it will not.

What will it take for this one to succeed where two other projects have not been the success they were supposed to be?

BTW, the Plaza 400 porperty was assembled by an independent party for the City and the Province as well. It is not an uncommon process. .... just to keep people gossiping on the streets and on the blogs of today busy ... :-)

Remember, the City tabled the report to make this and a few other hotels a heritage building.

I think those heritage people and the City struck a deal to keep the PG Hotel as a heritage building, in return from dropping the Croft off the list, refurbish the older part of it as a boutique, build a BC Housing project adjacent to it, along with the wellness centre and call the whole complex PG Hotel Place.

"The city bought this property for 2.5 million. Speculation is that once the building is torn down, the city will be gifting the land to the province of BC as the future home of the wood innovation centre.

W
T
F
!
WE THE CITIZENS OF PG PAID 2.5 MILLION TO GIFT TO THE PROVINCE. A single city added to the coffers of the province? The provincial government grows its assets on the backs of a small segment of the provincial population?

recall the mayor and council! municipal election time is now!

is the Croft next? I hope so.

If you demolish the buildings on either side of the Croft, it will fall down all by itself.

The Mayor on the news this morning said not to worry, and that the $2.5 Million came from the City's 'reserve fund'. What? We have a reserve fund? If there's that much money in it, why isn't it going into fixing our infrastructure?