228 King Street, home of the Shanghai Restaurant and the Robert/Coronation block
The owners of the block want to close their business, sell it to Chinatown Development Corp. and bulldoze the block and create a surface parking lot. At some point they might want to put up housing but there is no plan for it yet.
The Free Press reports:
Winnipeg's mayor and city council occupied the main floor from 1883 to 1886, when the first city hall was under construction. Shanghai Restaurant was established on the main floor in the 1940s and still sports some of its vintage decor.
The stone and brick building was rated a Grade III heritage structure -- the lowest form of heritage status -- by the city's historical buildings committee following an assessment in December 2009.
City Planners are saying that the council should ignore the suggestion that demolition not take place before a plan for development is in place.
No.
No, no, no.
I don't trust and no one else should trust the future plans that may or may not happen for the site. It is put up or shut up time.
Here is another property left to deteriorate and we're told the only plan for the short term is a gravel parking lot?
This full city block should not be torn down unless this is a plan other than parking.
I suspect there might be others who might be interested in development or buying the site a restoring it. This can't be the only choice contemplated.
Is the goal to tear down ever greater number of buildings with the hope that one day someone might have a plan?
At least the City had the good sense to say no to demolishing the building until a formal plan is in place. Things are slowly starting to change in that respect.
ReplyDelete(But what are the odds that Chinatown Development gets a plan together and gets the green light to demolish, only to have some aspect of the plan "fall through" once the building has already been reduced to rubble?)
The city did the same with an old building on Notre Dame last week.
ReplyDeleteRequest was to demo it for a temp parking lot then at some point redevelopment. The city recommended, and the Community Committee concurred, that when you have your plan you get your permit. Until then, the building remains.
I hope that the city sticks to its guns.
ReplyDeleteI think council has to to indicate not allow owners to let their buildings to the point that they are only fit for a bulldozer.