Businesses worried about prolonged Magee House dilemma

Businesses in Hintonburg are concerned it'll be a drawn-out process to decide the fate of the partially-collapsed Magee House, and that the neighbourhood will suffer.

One of theheritage building's walls crumbled earlier this weekand officials are trying to determinewhether it needs to be torn down entirelyor if any of it can be salvaged.

Until a decision is made, the area near the building onWellington StreetW. is partially blockedto vehicles.

The executive director of the Wellington West business improvement areasaid he's hoping fora quick resolution to bring back easy access for deliveries and customers.

"As long as that one block is closedand that building sort of teeters on the edgein this limbo state, those things are just not going to be happening,"said Dennis Van Staalduinen on CBC Radio'sAll In A DayThursday.

Just the one blockbeing closedoff is enough to affect businesses all along Wellington Street W.,Van Staalduinen said.

But whiledemolishing the building would bea quick solution, Van Staalduinen said most businesses aretorn on whether Magee House should be salvaged or not.

"The road will open up more quickly if they determine it's going to come down, but of course we also love that building and we want to see it saved," he said.

What Van Staalduinen does not want to see is another repeat of the Somerset House debacle on Bank Street.

"That seems to be the worst-case scenario that the street is closed down for months at a timeand there's limbo and court casesand lawsuits firing back and forth," he said.

Somerset House is another heritage building that has been sitting vacantfor more thana decade due to legal issues and various redesign plans.

Building partially collapses in Hintonburg

6 years ago

Duration 0:34

art of a building collapsed on Wellington Street W. near Rosemount Avenue Tuesday evening.

After it was revealed that the city believedMagee House had been vacant the owner,Ovidio Sbrissa, had been living therefor 17 years Van Staalduinenis also questioning the city's commitment to heritage sites.

"Ovidio is a local character," he said,adding that all it would have taken is a knock on the dooror contacting anyone in the neighbourhood to find out he was living there.

"The fact that they come by and couldn't tell that someone was living there,that makes me wonder if they even got out of the car?"