Preston Springs Hotel Redevelopment

[Acitta]

Preston Springs comes down

Demolition could begin Thursday on Preston Springs Hotel

[KevinL]

Historic Preston Springs hotel loses its tower as building is torn down

[Acitta]

YouTube: Preston Springs Hotel - Demolition - 01

[EdM]

And now demolition is paused for a week

https://twitter.com/CTVKitchener/status/...6257221639

[KevinL]

Wow, did not expect that result from the court. This is quite the development.

[Acitta]

And now demolition is paused for a week

https://twitter.com/CTVKitchener/status/...6257221639

It is a bit late now that they have destroyed part of it already. I found this video from 2019 of the inside of the hotel. The outside may look nice, but the inside has turned to crap. https://youtu.be/DJBNirAOVIE

[Bob_McBob]

Presumably a meaningless delay since they've already torn down one of the main heritage features and they're obviously not going to recover anything at this point. It's no coincidence the emergency order was issued over the holidays during a pandemic lockdown so ACO Cambridge couldn't get in front of a judge in time, or even that they started with the heritage designated section of the building. There has never been any doubt in my mind this building would eventually be demolished, but the latest owner put the final nails in the coffin and the city was eager to provide the hammer.

[Bob_McBob]

Demolition has now resumed.

https://twitter.com/vidman/status/1344721405859028992

[mastermind]

Oh the suspense

[Acitta]

Concerns over demolition of Preston Spring Hotel

[ijmorlan]

Concerns over demolition of Preston Spring Hotel

That link is to the wrong clip. This one seems to be working for me right now:

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipI...tPageNum=1

I don’t know in detail what is wrong, but I do know with professional certainty that the underlying problem is that the CTV website works incorrectly — you can’t do what you are supposed to be able to do to get a link, which is copy it from the URL bar at the top of the window. This has worked since the late 80s but CTV’s Web geniuses have managed to break it.

The following URL also seems to work and has less gunk in it:

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2110755

[Acitta]

Concerns over demolition of Preston Spring Hotel

That link is to the wrong clip. This one seems to be working for me right now:

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipI...tPageNum=1

I don’t know in detail what is wrong, but I do know with professional certainty that the underlying problem is that the CTV website works incorrectly — you can’t do what you are supposed to be able to do to get a link, which is copy it from the URL bar at the top of the window. This has worked since the late 80s but CTV’s Web geniuses have managed to break it.

The following URL also seems to work and has less gunk in it:

https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=2110755

The clip URL changes some time after it is broadcast on the evening news. I have made this mistake before. It is necessary to wait till the change is made before trying to link to the clip.

[ijmorlan]

The clip URL changes some time after it is broadcast on the evening news. I have made this mistake before. It is necessary to wait till the change is made before trying to link to the clip.

Good to know. Thanks for keeping us all updated on the progress of the demolition. I also watched the “urban exploration” video you posted — fascinating to see the inside. Definitely true there isn’t (wasn’t) much left of interest inside; also interesting to see how much somebody spent on work before giving up.

[Acitta]

Preston Springs hotel was beyond saving

[ac3r]

Here's an Outline version of the previous link...that paywall is infuriating: https://outline.com/UeNsVt

There’s really no way anyone could have forced this private owner to invest the millions it would have cost to redevelop the hotel into something useful and that could turn a profit. Nor should the City of Cambridge have committed taxpayers’ money to purchase the hotel and do the job itself.

This is pretty much all that needs to be said at this point. No developer was willing to sink the amount of money needed to save this and the city should never be expected to handle the costs either unless it was a truly significant building. I don't get why people were so attached to this place anyway...it looks like it was made out of EIFS and the metal roof looked so unusual on this. The interior was completely gutted and most of it was re-drywalled years ago - so there wasn't even a whole lot of original architecture left to the place.