Maureen Arvanitidis, president of the New Westminster Heritage Preservation Society, says the old CPR station, which housed The Keg restaurant for 40 years before it closed in January, is at the top of the organization's Top 10 most endangered list - Date unknown Grant Granger.

2 August 2013

CPR Station Tops Endangered List

New Westminster British Columbia - The former Canadian Pacific Railway station sits regally next to Hyack Square in Downtown New Westminster, but its cracks are beginning to show and that's causing concern amongst those who hold its historical value to the city near and dear.
 
For the last 40 years, The Keg at the Station restaurant has occupied the iconic brick structure at the west entrance to Downtown.
 
It was built in 1899 to replace the wood station that burned to the ground during the Great Fire of 1898.
 
As stately as it might be, these days it's getting a little forlorn without anyone coming around, or receiving any TLC for that matter.
 
The restaurant chain closed it due to structural issues in January. In the seven months since, no substantial renovation work has been carried out.
 
"We are very concerned. We're in the process of writing a top 10 most endangered building list and it's right there at No. 1," said Maureen Arvanitidis, president of the New Westminster Historical Preservation Society (NWHPS). "It's a huge concern because it seems kind of strange for them to let it sit there and not use it."
 
The society wanted to get inside to take photos in conjunction with the Top 10 it's putting together but weren't successful in gaining access. From the outside, Arvanitidis points out cracks in the structure, crumbling bricks, water damage, and moss on the roof.
 
"That's expensive business," said Arvanitidis as she looked at a large horizontal crack in the front brick work.
 
"It's important to get on that as soon as possible."
 
If not, she said, it could get a lot worse because empty buildings are vulnerable to vandalism and decay.
 
"It is a concern it could be demolition by neglect," she said. "The one thing it has going for it is it's pretty."
 
Local architect Eric Pattison, who specializes in historical buildings, has his office in the nearby River Market and frequently walks by the building and can see what's happening to it. The wood, he said, needs to be repaired and painted, which is easy enough to do. Sandblasting the brick in the 1970s has meant it needs to be re-pointed and repaired, while the sandstone at the base of the building is flaking and needs to be re-sealed. In addition, the roof and grounds are in poor shape and have been neglected.
 
"It doesn't take long for deferred maintenance to pile up to the point where serious structural issues start happening, and of course, for a heritage building for deterioration of character-defining elements," said Pattison.
 
Local historian Archie Miller of A Sense of History Research Services is surprised a building of such significance to the overall history of the city and its Downtown is being allowed to deteriorate. He noted it's not only on a prominent corner, but it was a place many Canadians departed to war.
 
"It's one of those things where you do see it happen once in a while, but you probably wouldn't have guessed it would happen to this building because you see so many Kegs and they're doing well, seemingly," said Miller. "I can connect that site and that building to so many events in the city."
 
Pattison pointed out the building sits on timbers and fill reclaimed from the Great Fire, making its structure vulnerable to all the truck and train traffic that rumbles by. It's an important building, he said, architecturally because it links New Westminster to the CPR's chateau hotels of the era and is a landmark in the city. "It sets a tone for past and present."
 
That's why he's disheartened because it has been ignored while The Keg expands and puts money into events like the Celebration of Lights fireworks display in Vancouver.
 
"For them to walk away from it and meanwhile opening fancy new restaurants downtown and sponsoring festivals and abandoning this one, it's somewhat disappointing," said Pattison.
 
The building is owned by Westminster Station Brewing Co., which signed a 15-year lease with The Keg that expires in the summer of 2017. Westminster co-owner Brock Rodgers said the deal allowed The Keg to pay a below-market rate in exchange for maintaining and renovating the building for the first 10 years of the lease with the rent rising for the final five years. Before those 10 years were up, Rodgers said a structural engineer hired by Westminster found several structural problems that hadn't been dealt with.
 
When The Keg closed, a spokeswoman said the situation was being assessed and an operations plan developed. NewsLeader attempts to reach her this week were unsuccessful. A Keg Royalty Income Fund quarterly report said the New Westminster location had been closed temporarily for substantial renovations, but none have been carried out.
 
"Financially it doesn't impact me at all because at this point The Keg is paying the rent. The building's condition will get exponentially worse if it doesn't get fixed," said Rodgers. "Their mindset seems quite illogical sitting there paying rent for a building."
 
Rodgers said The Keg has indicated to him they're looking for a tenant to sublease the building, "but nobody is going to move in there the way it is."
 
He pointed out if The Keg continues to pay the $20,000 a month rent until the end of the lease it will have forked over about $1 million, which is what the repairs are estimated at. If The Keg wants out of the lease after it meets its contractual commitments, said Rodgers, Westminster would be willing to open an establishment of their own. Rodgers and his partner also own and operate Mission Springs brew pub in Mission and the Billy Miner Pub in Maple Ridge.
 
"We've had some conversations. They said they would live up to the responsibilities, and nothing happens," said Rodgers, who endorsed the NWHPS's listing the station at the top of its endangered buildings list.
 
"I've never seen a vacant building improve. It just doesn't happen. Four-legged creatures start moving in, if you're lucky, and if you're unlucky you're going to have two-legged creatures moving in."
 
Grant Granger.

A drawing of the New Westminster ex-Canadian Pacific Railway station - Date/Artist unknown.

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