Gore Park building collapses lead to urgent demolition of remaining units

Another historic building in Gore Park was torn down today, a week after two units in the same row collapsed. The city says the emergency demolition was necessary, as the building was in “imminent danger” of crumbling. This is the fourth and final unit in a row of historic buildings next to Gore Park to be demolished.

This comes after the collapse of 24 and 28 King Street, which sent rubble onto the sidewalk next to the park on Remembrance Day. Thankfully, no one was hurt.

Next door, 22 King Street was demolished last week following a report from an engineer, who said the structure was compromised after the initial collapse.

Similarly, the engineer recommended that units 18-20 were in “imminent danger” of crumbling, as they share a number of support beams and open spaces with the other units.

The owner, development consortium *Hughson Business Space Corporation*, is footing the bill and says they will preserve the heritage elements of the buildings, which date back to the mid-1800s, where possible. The city says that stone features from the facade of one building have been placed on skids at the site.

The buildings had been boarded up for several years, and the company says scheduling the demolition had been “complex” due to the city’s heritage designation.

In a statement last week, the company told CHCH News that its “regular engineering reports” on the property showed “no signs of imminent collapse.”

We made several requests today for an interview with city staff, but they were unable to accommodate us. In a statement, the city wrote: “While efforts will be made to salvage heritage aspects where possible, there is an immediate need to demolish the building due to public safety reasons.”

Meanwhile, the city is working to prevent this from happening again. Mayor Andrea Horwath will introduce a motion at tomorrow’s General Issues Committee meeting that asks city staff to study recent building collapses, compile an inventory of buildings with safety-related concerns, and review the current enforcement process.