As the demolition of the Winters Hotel in Vancouver’s Gastown district began on Thursday, companies with shop windows in the centuries-old heritage building are disappointed to be denied access to their premises.
More than 70 residents living in single-room dwellings (SROs) on the upper floors of the Winters Hotel lost their homes and all belongings after the flames blew up the building earlier this month.
On Tuesday, the city announced that demolition would begin this week, saying the building could not be saved.
Jason Gallop, managing director of the Roldorf and Co. watch repair shop, said he was in his shop when the building burst into flames last week.
The remains of the Winters Hotel are pictured on April 19, 2022 after a fire eight days earlier. Business owners in the century-old heritage building have been denied access to their homes. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
He grabbed as many things as he could, but he had little hope that he would be able to enter his store to gain access to his customers’ other watches and valuable tools.
“All retailers are struggling to get back to their stores to save what they can,” Gallop said.
“My tools, which I have been collecting since I was 17, and now we are in a moment where I can’t go in there to get these things.”
Gallop said city officials said the building was too dangerous to enter, but he had “invaluable” goods for customers in his store.
“I’m here watching the building be torn down on top of all the other customers’ goods … and that’s traumatic,” he said.
Teams were due to begin demolishing the building early Wednesday, but work was halted to allow police to ensure the building was clean after receiving reports that someone may have entered the building at night.
Remains of the Winters Hotel in Gastown, which is being destroyed by fire. According to the Vancouver City Hall, the demolition will continue until Friday, followed by cleaning and reopening of roads on Friday night. (Ben Nelms / CBC)
Eliz Jurkowski of the Gastown Business Improvement Society said about seven businesses had essentially lost everything in the fire, and the other three in the building had been forced to close in the past week and a half.
She said approximately 300 companies in Gastown are also concerned about the timing of the project and how road closures and possible power outages will affect their business.
“These businesses have just emerged from a global pandemic, and now they are,” Yukovsky added. “There are concerns about the weather for everything, but we are confident that the city is doing everything possible to make this process as fast as possible.”
Saul Schub, Vancouver’s chief construction officer, said teams would demolish the building on Thursday and Friday and then begin cleaning and reopening roads Friday night.
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