Demolition of Vancouver heritage building delayed by tenants trying to collect possessions

The demolition of a fire-damaged heritage hotel in downtown Vancouver was delayed several hours Wednesday, but those behind the project still expect to finish it on time.

The four-storey mixed-use building was deemed unsafe after a fire tore through the residential units on its top floors last week, displacing dozens of low-income residents of the Winters Hotel.

The old brick building in Vancouver's Gastown neighbourhood was being operated as a single-room-occupancy hotel prior to the fire, which was sparked on one of the residential floors.

Since that time, it's been a challenging week-and-a-half for those who called 203 Abbott St. home. Speaking to CTV News outside the building on Wednesday, some said they felt distressed, having been stripped from their homes and their personal belongings.

Some were so desperate to access those belongings on Wednesday morning that they pushed through the barricade and climbed inside the hotel before being kicked out by police.

The site was blocked off by fencing and signs as crews prepared to tear down the building, a process which was initially scheduled to begin early Wednesday.

The interruptions of former residents, some of whom crossed the barriers and climbed to the upper floors in an attempt to get inside, temporarily halted work at the site.

The demolition did not start in the morning as planned, and was delayed further when WorkSafeBC declined to approve the city's demolition plan, officials said late Wednesday afternoon.

Despite this setback, the City of Vancouver still expects to meet its original timeline for the project.

A representative from the city said he expected WorkSafeBC to issue its approval Wednesday night and demolition to begin at 7 a.m. Thursday.

The goal, he said, is to finish the tear down and reopen roads by Friday night. 

Former resident Brendy Mingo shed tears from the other side of those fences ahead of the demolition work, demanding to gather her belongings. Her efforts were quickly stopped by police who said it was too dangerous for anyone to enter.

"All I had left were those bins. All I had left were my pictures and my memories, right? Now I'm going to lose it to a fire, but not even to a fire because my stuff is not burned," she said, adding that she lives on the first residential floor, where damage was minimal.

"We've just got to watch our stuff here get smashed into pieces and get thrown in the dumpster. It's not right. Not fair," she continued.

Mingo wasn't the only one who felt helpless. Many of her neighbours also attempted to access the building but were met with defeat.

"It's terrible. I was hoping we could come out here and make a change and hopefully stop it from being taken down and everybody could get what they could, but they're not going to let us," said Alex Sayers, another former resident.

In a statement to CTV News, the City of Vancouver confirmed, "the building is unsafe for anyone to enter prior to the demolition process starting."

"The City is meeting with each ground floor business in 203 Abbott to discuss how the demolition contractor can attempt to retrieve items from their units, such as safes, during or after the demolition," the statement read.

"Given the unstable condition of the building and significant damage to all floors from the fire, the City is unable to attempt to collect the personal possessions of residential tenants on the upper floors."

Last Monday's devastating fire destroyed much of the heritage building, causing irreparable damage, sending five people to hospital and displacing dozens of residents.

The fire started on the second floor of the building, but the cause is still unknown.