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By popular demand
Oct. 3rd, 2007 12:11 pmOur three raccoon siblings or, as my mother calls them, the coonskin caps:
Oct. 3rd, 2007
About time!
Oct. 3rd, 2007 02:35 pmThere is a vacant lot about five minutes from my house, right at the edge of the town of Preston (part of Cambridge). it has been vacant since 1989, when the hotel standing on it, an old sulphur springs spa that had seen better days, was demolished. Since then, it's been surrounded by a fence and allowed to go wild. If you look at the satellite photos, you can even see the foundations.
Not any more!
http://news.therecord.com/News/article/250941
Within two years, according to Cambridge mayor Doug Craig, a brand-new convention centre will be standing in its place. And I have to say it's about time! Preston and Hespeler, two of the three towns lumped together to form Cambridge, have gone consistently ignored compared to the dominant town, Galt. Now we're getting a bit of development brought in, and the location couldn't be better. Across King Street from the lot is a banqueting hall that used to be a restaurant. Its view of the intersection is blocked by a garage, but that could easily be relocated. Across Fountain Street is the small parking lot of the old Preston Springs Hotel (built as the Del Monte).
In the heyday of the healing spa craze, both the Preston Springs and the Kress Hotel were hot locations for tourists seeking cures for their ails in Preston's sulphur springs. As the 20th century continued, the craze died out and both hotels went into decline. The Kress Hotel became the haunt of drug addicts and prostitutes, changing names before being shuttered under the name Dorchester Hotel and being demolished. Next to the lot is a long driveway to a condo building called the Kressview Springs that honours the old hotel's name. The Preston Springs, which underwent several changes of ownership even in the good days, became a senior's home under the management of a thieving chiseler (think Harvey Baines in Waiting for God; that's him). My grandfather stayed there until the money ran out, the owner bolted, and the place had to be shut down because of no food, no heat (except for what the employees paid for from their own pockets) and non-compliance to countless safety standards. That was in 1991, and it's been empty ever since. Two attempts have been made to resurrect it, but without success.
With this new conference centre, there's hope for the whole intersection. One of the problems with reopening Preston Springs has been the lack of parking; with a conference centre across the street, there's going to have to be parking anyway, so problem solved. The hotel can probably be connected to both the new centre and the restaurant with an underground passageway or a skywalk to the side (can't do it to the front; sacrilege!) and reopened as a hotel. There might even be room for a day spa or medical centre in the basement; the springs are still there, and were reconnected by the last developers--you can even smell the sulphur in the air as you go by.
There's hope yet! I just hope the developers realize the full potential. I'll find out tomorrow when the complete article is printed. Even if they don't, the announcement that something is going to be in Preston for once just made my day!
Not any more!
http://news.therecord.com/News/article/250941
Within two years, according to Cambridge mayor Doug Craig, a brand-new convention centre will be standing in its place. And I have to say it's about time! Preston and Hespeler, two of the three towns lumped together to form Cambridge, have gone consistently ignored compared to the dominant town, Galt. Now we're getting a bit of development brought in, and the location couldn't be better. Across King Street from the lot is a banqueting hall that used to be a restaurant. Its view of the intersection is blocked by a garage, but that could easily be relocated. Across Fountain Street is the small parking lot of the old Preston Springs Hotel (built as the Del Monte).
In the heyday of the healing spa craze, both the Preston Springs and the Kress Hotel were hot locations for tourists seeking cures for their ails in Preston's sulphur springs. As the 20th century continued, the craze died out and both hotels went into decline. The Kress Hotel became the haunt of drug addicts and prostitutes, changing names before being shuttered under the name Dorchester Hotel and being demolished. Next to the lot is a long driveway to a condo building called the Kressview Springs that honours the old hotel's name. The Preston Springs, which underwent several changes of ownership even in the good days, became a senior's home under the management of a thieving chiseler (think Harvey Baines in Waiting for God; that's him). My grandfather stayed there until the money ran out, the owner bolted, and the place had to be shut down because of no food, no heat (except for what the employees paid for from their own pockets) and non-compliance to countless safety standards. That was in 1991, and it's been empty ever since. Two attempts have been made to resurrect it, but without success.
With this new conference centre, there's hope for the whole intersection. One of the problems with reopening Preston Springs has been the lack of parking; with a conference centre across the street, there's going to have to be parking anyway, so problem solved. The hotel can probably be connected to both the new centre and the restaurant with an underground passageway or a skywalk to the side (can't do it to the front; sacrilege!) and reopened as a hotel. There might even be room for a day spa or medical centre in the basement; the springs are still there, and were reconnected by the last developers--you can even smell the sulphur in the air as you go by.
There's hope yet! I just hope the developers realize the full potential. I'll find out tomorrow when the complete article is printed. Even if they don't, the announcement that something is going to be in Preston for once just made my day!
