[Edward Skira]

You can view the page at http://urbantoronto.ca/content.php?1626-Down-Market-Hotel-At-650-Bay-Street-To-Get-Boutique-Makeover

 

[Edward]

What a dump. They are seriously trying to save that?

 

[Morgan Edge]

Awesome! So glad to hear someone is doing the right thing with this old hotel... exactly what I've hoped would happen for years.

 

[Red October]

It looks like a dump now, but when it is fully restored it will be fantastic! Very glad they're saving it.

 

[Redroom Studios]

yep, this building has some great bones... a bit of TLC and modernizing the interior sounds great! One of the very last holdouts of this era on Bay St.

 

[HHC]

It looks like a "dump" because it's entirety is covered in ugly stripped white paint (or is that adhesive from the wood siding?), genius. That's why they're restoring it in the first place.

 

[DTowner]

Good. Now, what about the parking lot across the street? A waste of space if there ever was one. Above ground, one-storey parking lots should be banned downtown.

 

[street meet]

It would be nice if they restored the row houses to the west of this project as well. Maybe even incorporate them into the hotel some how.

 

[TJ O'Pootertoot]

I don't know about "recently started" unless it's a second round. I heard about renos going on here probably close to a year ago.

IIRC they were running into issues with the "bones" of the building being not in as good shape as they hoped (and that's acknowledging it's roughly 100 years old, give or take). I gather it was one of those things were you patch some brick in one area and a pipe bursts in another but that might be ironed out by now.

It does look like it has some nice potential, however.

 

[4pook]

Any old building is going to have issues. This building was not built by amateurs. It has very nice proportions, with most of its original brick openings intact. It would be great if the patched over areas on the ground floor facing Bay Street were restored. The interior would be likely pretty grim given this building's history, but there could be some usable fragments. Good luck to whoever is working on reworking this, stick with it. If you do it right, it will be immensely satisfying when you are done.

 

[Mustapha]

Good luck to the new owners. This was long overdue.

 

[hwy7]

I stayed at this hotel once a few years back. It was hilariously bad, but I have fond memories of the whole thing.

Can't wait to see what happens. I'm glad they're not tearing it down.