By Ian Holmes

Downtown Nanaimo’s burned-out Acme building brought down

Nov 5, 2017 | 1:53 PM

NANAIMO — The entire Jean Burns building has finally been torn down more than a year-and-a-half after the 62-year-old landmark was dismantled by fire.

Rick Hyne of Crankshaw Holdings, the building’s owner, told NanaimoNewsNOW the big pile of wood, steel and concrete rubble sitting at the site will likely be trucked away over the next week.

“I’m glad that we have reached this stage, we entered our final phase where we demolished the Acme building structure…it went down as planned and as expected.”

He said the Victoria Cres. building was imploded onto itself early Sunday (Nov. 5) morning.

Hyne said the largest part of the building that caught fire was brought down earlier this year, followed by another portion last week.

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The Jean Burns building was comprised of three adjoining structures amounting to nearly 29,000 sq/ft in size. It was home to 15 businesses until a huge March 30, 2016 fire hit the downtown structure. Nanaimo Fire Rescue ruled an electrical malfunction in a ceiling fan was the cause.

Building owner Jack Ball told NanaimoNewsNOW on scene he’s unsure what the future holds for the site.

“I’d like to get somebody to build on it, or sell it, I really don’t know what to do,” Ball said.

Hyne said “all options are on the table” for the building, but stressed a redevelopment timeline is impossible to predict because their insurance company needs to issue a ruling.

“We can’t sell the site if we choose to do so, we can’t rebuild, we can’t do anything without them (insurer) making a decision and us or either challenging it or accepting it.”

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes.