Stan Pottie’s demolition crew continues to dismantle the old Arrowview Hotel on Second Avenue in Port Alberni.
The Arrowview is almost half gone now. A WorkSafeBC stop work order stalled demolition in October, but Pottie said he has a crew and a foreman working on it steadily now.
“They thought it wasn’t coming down, but it’s coming down,” said Pottie, owner of DJ Excavating and the Arrowview Hotel.
Pottie was frustrated in October after the stop work order, which WorkSafeBC noted was for asbestos contamination. Pottie told the AV News in an earlier interview that he was having independent testing done, and the stop work order was eventually lifted. Pottie’s crew has been working on demolition off and on for several weeks.
READ: New owner ‘walking away’ from derelict Arrowview Hotel after one week
Although Pottie hasn’t been on the site himself, “My crew is up there and I have a foreman looking out for things for us. Another month and we will have it down to the first floor.”
Once the contaminated material was removed it was discarded. Pottie’s crew has been salvaging whatever it can from the building, and storing it on the second floor to keep the material dry—the roof and third floor have already been removed.
“We’ve salvaged quite a bit of it—we haven’t wasted much of it,” he noted. “We’ve got it all sold.
“Now the guys are working on taking the main structure apart.”
After Pottie bought the Arrowview in early October, he was issued a demolition permit and given 60 days to take the building down to the first floor. The permit expired on Dec. 6, but City of Port Alberni CAO Tim Pley said council is satisfied that Pottie is following through on the work. He has kept in regular contact with the city regarding the demolition work, and council is satisfied, Pley said.
READ: Derelict hotel in Port Alberni sold
“Given that we’re seeing progress we’re giving him the time and space to continue with the progress,” Pley said. “The city is in a legal position now to go in and take it over. We won’t do that if he continues making progress.
“He’s kept us updated on his progress, which the city appreciates.”
Pottie said he intends to take down the whole building.
“We’re going to take it all down, clean the lot up and start getting our paperwork together to start doing our condos.”
Pottie said he still intends to build a condominium block on the land: three storeys and 30 condo units on top of 5,000 to 8,000 square feet of commercial space including a pub/ bistro with a glassed-in patio.
“It’s up to council of course how many floors we will be allowed to put in. I’m hoping to have three floors above the main area” with underground parking, he said. If council allows three floors, he would be looking at 28–30 units of private condos. If two floors, then 15–18 units.
He said he will put together a presentation for council with architectural drawings and apply for building permits in early April or May “give or take.”