Months after its residents were quickly evacuated on a November evening, plans are in the works to demolish the now-empty Kensington Manor.
Wayne Brown, the coordinator of the safety response unit for the City of Calgary, announced Tuesday the building’s owner submitted an application to demolish the building.
“It’s a very difficult building to fix at this point in time, so they’ve found the best solution to this was to demolish the current structure and then rebuild,” Brown said.
As of June 12, the owners of Kensington Manor had until June 30 to decide if they wanted to tear down the building or make necessary repairs.
According to Brown, that deadline was missed by one day but no penalties will be put in place due to the complex circumstances surrounding the building and the fact that it was a long weekend.
“In a situation like this, I think we can allow that,” Brown said.
Brown confirmed the building is structurally unstable, adding he expects asbestos will be found inside.
It has been just over seven months since residents were forced to evacuate the apartment building in the middle of the night after officials warned of “possible imminent collapse” of the building. The city said the building must be demolished by December 30, 2018.
According to Brown, security teams periodically check on the vacant building and an engineer makes monthly visits to the site to ensure the safety of the surrounding community.
All future construction at the site including asbestos removal, demolition and rebuilding costs will be done on behalf of the owners. The city is asking anyone who has concerns about the building in the meantime to contact 311.
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