Mayor Olivia Chow's Toronto

[Northern Light]

Indeed.

NT correct me if I am wrong but if this was done normally, would the owner not need to apply for a demolition permit among other things?

Having the City of Toronto do this on an emergency basis cuts out all the red tape with regards to permits, crews, etc.

In a non-emergency, yes, demolition requires a permit. There's also paper work and waits for turning off/disconnecting gas and electricity and so on.

The City can either do these things directly or bring in the utilities and authorize/compel the work.

***

In an emergency, private owners do have some defense of 'necessity' for carrying out certain work w/o permits, but on a scale of unauthorized demolition that would be exceedingly rare.

 

[DSC]

Look at streetview I think the storefronts have always been separate, but I don't doubt there have been compromises made to the support structure, the most significant being that of neglect.

TBH, some properties on the fringes of Chinatown are borderline slum properties including that infamous corner on Baldwin and Spadina, and you can tell that little maintenance and investment has gone into those buildings.

Streetview goes back to 2007 (when it looks as though all were stores with residents above, like now), the buildings are far older than that (1920s??) and my suggestion was the they had begun their lives as (attached) houses but whether they began as stores/residential or were converted to this from 100% residential, there is little doubt they have been 'renovated' several times and likely some major beams have been compromised (or simply rotted).

 

[generalcanada]

somone on reddit was saying years ago they had 50 living up there.
That would be crazy

 

[Jonny5]

Thousands of roaches are gonna be looking for new homes when that thing comes down.