Thursday, April 28, 2011

Can Do or Cannot?

The old Niagara Hotel, has been the subject of a auction, after falling prey to foreclosure. The hotel,  is historic and is ideally situated in Niagara Falls New York, with a view of the falls. The auction was won by Jamil Kara, who turned The  Spectator's former downtown printing plant into 50 condo lofts . Developer Harry Stinson placed second in the bid for the Niagara.


The Connaught, in its prime
Beyond the demonstrated commitment of Kara, Stinson and others to breath new life into old buildings that have otherwise been forsaken, the question of the Royal Connaught Hotel continues to hover.  Still left "as is", the Connaught has always had historic and iconic value. From The Spec article (see it here), it seems that its potential restoration to something other than what it now is, comes down to finances and purchase price along with the appetite to plug one's nose and suffer a significant lose from the initial investment made. 


With respect to the Connaught, Kara said to the Spec "“If they’d sell it to me for $4 million I’d take it tomorrow. The owners say they want $4 million or $5 million more and that’s just too much.” “It would take $20 million to revive it,” he said. “There’s pigeons all over the place in there.”You may recall that Harry Stinson also had expressed an interest in the past as well. Kara concedes that he (Kara)  has never made a formal offer on the building, but had a general discussion with a representative of its owners. 


Do you see an end to all of this, short of a wrecking ball?


4 comments:

  1. There are only 2 ways to save this thing. Either you come up with a really creative solution, or the owners have to practically give it away. Otherwise, it will just rot. The City should also start putting pressure to get this done. You can't turn a corner while you have these eyesores hanging around.

    Severn

    ReplyDelete
  2. David BurlaApril 28, 2011

    I can hear the Eagles singing a sequel for the
    Connaught, Sing along... "Welcome to Hotel Can't Afford Ya, It's a lovely place, pigeon poop throughout the place,..." :-) db

    ReplyDelete

  3. It's like an old car. you don't maintain it, it becomes unfeasible to fix.

    ReplyDelete

  4. It's a bloody shame really. A good place to start is for the city to start enforcing property standards and fine owners that allow their property to rot away. Especially buildings like the Royal Connaught. How are we ever going to revitalize the downtown when we do nothing about abandonment? The city is becoming a boarded up pigeon coop.

    Norelle

    ReplyDelete

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