A long-empty landmark building in Victoria, ravaged by fire several times over decades, is a public danger and will be torn down.
Colloquially dubbed the Turner building, the iconic structure at 2002 Richmond St. once housed a coffee shop, convenience store, flower shop and apartments on the second level. The building was shuttered in 2001 and has faced the wrecking ball since it first suffered significant damage in 2013.
It’s been behind caution tape, with the adjacent sidewalk and traffic lane closed for safety reasons since a Jan. 15 fire.
That morning and into the next day, Victoria fire crews faced a significant blaze, forced to take a defensive approach – cutting holes in the building’s exterior to access the fire.
The site sustained more fire damage in recent days, and Victoria Fire Department Chief Dan Atkinson said these incidents were likely human caused.
“All evidence is that humans were able to make access to the building and that contributed to the start of the fire," he told the Victoria News. "Because of the condition of the building, we’re not comfortable putting our crews inside to do a more thorough investigation of how that fire may have started, so we have to go on the assumption that it was human caused, but it remains undetermined with respect to an exact cause.”
In a statement, the city said a controlled collapse is planned for this week. But before that can happen, important work needs to be done.
"We need to make sure that we’re assessing the risk level with contaminated water, so we need to make sure we’re not discharging any contaminated water into potentially sensitive ecosystems," said Atkinson. "We’re going to make sure there’s a dust and asbestos control plan in place to make sure we’re not contaminating the air getting into the intakes of the surrounding buildings and the residences."
The chief added he expects heavy equipment will be on the building site in the coming days and that demolition will begin within a week. Demolition should only last two days. Once the collapse hazard has been removed, the sidewalk and closed lane can reopen. It might be several weeks, however, before the site is fully remediated and cleaned up.
This follows the chief's coordination with the building's owner, which he says began after the January fire.
"The owner was provided an opportunity to either provide the city with a certificate from an engineering professional that said the building is professionally sound or to commence demolition of the property," said Atkinson. "The timeline expired on Feb. 21, and on Feb. 26 we provided written notification to the owner that the city was going to be proceeding with a controlled demolition of the property.”
Once the Turner building is demolished, a new structure could rise in its place. Potential purchasers Empresa Properties Ltd. successfully pitched a proposal to Victoria council in 2023 for a six-storey building with a village node at the base and 55 purpose-built rental homes on the other five floors.
Pending final approval, Empresa anticipates starting construction later this summer, according to president Karl Robertson.
"The existing building and property ownership are not part of our redevelopment plans and are not under our control. However, we’ve been in discussions with the current owners, assisting them where possible," Robertson told the Victoria News. "I expect we’ll see significant changes in the coming week to ensure the property remains secure and safe for the public."
With file from Christine van Reeuwyk.
