I'm happy to hear the owner is determined to save the structure. I'm equally angered to hear of councillors who care little about heritage (I'm pretty sure Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder can sleep at night), and want to see the building knocked down "as soon as possible." This building can be saved, but there has to be a will from all parties involved. It's unlikely the business community would support extension of this process...but a revitalized building such as this could really increase business in the long run - just look at the "Drake Effect" in Toronto. I hope to see people rallying around Mr. Kue...if I knew how to contact him I'd ask him how ordinary citizens could help his cause. More letters to Diane Holmes? The mayor?
Owner gets seven days to save heritage structure
Jake Rupert
The Ottawa Citizen
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The owner of a partially collapsed downtown building has roughly seven days to convince city and provincial officials not to tear down what remains of the structure.
The 110-year-old building at the corner of Somerset and Bank streets used to house the Lockmaster tavern and the Duke of Somerset pub. For two years, owner Tony Kue has been trying to get it renovated.
But on October 19, the structure partially collapsed, injuring one worker. Since then, the area around the building has been closed to vehicles, and a city-provincial safety inspection last week found it to be in imminent danger of collapse.
This led the city's chief building inspector, Arlene Gregoire to issue Mr. Kue an order to knock the building down as soon as possible, but Mr. Kue has instead focused his efforts on saving the structure.
On Tuesday, Ms. Gregoire yinvoked her power to take the demolition into the city's hands.
"We are going to assume responsibility for demolishing the building because it's too dangerous to remain standing, and we are not confident the owner will do this quickly," Ms. Gregoire said in a update to the city's planning committee.
"It's no longer a question of will the building collapse. It's when will it collapse, and we want to control when and how it collapses. Up to this point in time, none of the orders we've issued have been complied with. That's why we are doing this."
She said once the building is down, the city will bill the owner for the cost of demolishing it.
But Mr. Kue isn't giving up on the structure.
His architect, Derek Crain, told committee members that engineers say the building's foundation can be repaired by sending workers into it in a protective cage, and that as soon as that is done, the whole structure can be secured.
"There are options, and if the city over-reacts, and doesn't explore those options, we will lose a heritage building," Mr. Crain said.
Ms. Gregoire said she would examine the suggestions by Mr. Crain to see if her mind can be changed, but that the city is moving ahead with demolition plans.
She estimated it will be done in seven days.
Barrhaven Councillor Jan Harder noted that businesses in the area say they are losing thousands of dollars due to the road closures, and she urged city officials get the building knocked down as soon as possible.
"It's been 40 days since those streets were closed," she said. "This is getting silly and those business owners are suffering. Let's get this thing down and those streets open."
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