The city closed the intersection
on Oct. 19 after the
building, called Somerset
House, partially collapsed.
The building’s owner has
since obtained a court order
permitting time to try to fix
the heritage building, rather
than tear it down.
There’s little to be done to
speed a court ruling on the
building’s fate, but LePage
wants the city poised to act
once the decision comes
down.
“If they get an order to demolish,
then demolish immediately
… Make sure the
mechanisms are in place to
demolish in a very quick
order of time.”

Somerset House narrowly avoided being razed last week, but there's still no guarantee that the heritage building will be saved.

"There's great potential, but if anyone lets up or loses track, we still could lose this building," says architect Derek Crain, who has been involved in renovating the 1896 structure.

Somerset House is a key landmark at the corner of Bank and Somerset West streets that owner Tony Shahrasebi, city heritage staff, the community and Bank Street businesses all think should be preserved.

...

the project has been plagued with safety violations -- more than 50 since 2005.

"Someone at the city has clearly dropped the ball on this," says Jay Baltz, chair of the local architectural conservation committee, which advises city council on heritage matters.

"There has been ample opportunity for the city to have inspected the site before the building started falling down," he says.

"The owner -- again, in my opinion -- cut corners and caused this problem by trying to do the renovations without having people with the necessary expertise in renovating heritage structures involved."

For his part, Mr. Shahrasebi says he has lavished money and sincere effort on the project.

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