Vancouver city councillors are set to receive a report on Wednesday that could lead to the demolition of a 115-year-old heritage building that engineers say has become dangerously unstable.
The historic former Dunsmuir Hotel was built at 500 Dunsmuir Street in 1909, but has sat vacant since 2013.
The report to council warns that the structure has become dilapidated and dangerous, with rotting wood framing, broken windows, water dripping through structurally compromised areas and inoperable sprinkler and fire alarm systems.
While the building is listed on Vancouver’s Heritage Registry, it is not protected under heritage designation laws.
Vancouver City Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung said the report had left her “angry” and “disappointed.”
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“We’re going to be asking a lot of questions on Wednesday and that’s one that I have — how do we have protections in place that there are penalties here?”
The building is owned by Holborn Properties, through a company called “500 Dunsmuir Property Ltd.”
City staff say the company failed to adequately maintain the building’s roof, deal wit water damage and conduct basic structural and safety upkeep.
The ground floor of the building has collapsed in one corner, and further collapses in that part of the building could lead to a “catastrophic, cascading collapse,” according to the report.
Hazardous materials like asbestos, lead, mould and bird droppings are also widespread, the report states.
Holborn submitted a letter to council on Wednesday, saying it had always intended to develop the land.
The company said it bought the building in 2006 and operated it as a rooming house until 2009. Between 2009 and 2013, it leased the building to BC Housing amid “political pressure” from the province and city to reduce street homelessness during the 2010 Olympics, it said.
“Holborn complied with this request, and at the end of the lease, the building was in such a dilapidated state that it would require approximately $2.6 million in remediation cost to bring the building into a livable/leasable condition,” it said.
Holborn said it took “considerable action to secure the building after it was vacated, but that homeless people continued to break in and strip it of valuable components, bringing the cost of repairs to between $10 million and $15 million by 2019.
“Holborin was put in a situation where it made no financial sense to reinvest money into the building, rather wanting to put the money towards a new development that would be of greater benefit to the neighbourhood and community,” it said, adding it submitted initial plans to the city in 2017.
The company said despite regular correspondence with the city, it did not learn of the collapsed areas until August 2024.
Staff have recommended the building be torn down at the expense of its owners.
–with files from Alissa Thibault
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