Police deem massive downtown Hamilton blaze suspicious
The huge fire that caused a historic downtown Hamilton building to collapse over the weekend is being investigated as suspicious.
Const. Indy Bharaj said the Hamilton police arson unit continued to actively probe the blaze Monday as a demolition company began to clear the remnants of the century-old warehouse at 206 King St. W.
Police are reviewing surveillance footage and have some leads, but no arrests yet," he told The Spectator.
Once famous for its unsightly brown metal cladding, the iconic Hamilton Store Fixtures building is now a mere pit of rubble after a massive blaze early Saturday.
At least 45 firefighters responded to the former kitchen supply store at the corner of King and Caroline streets around 6 a.m. for what quickly turned into a three-alarm structure fire.
For hours, the vacant, four-storey commercial building cooked in an intense inferno that spurred damage to city infrastructure and clouded neighbouring streets in blankets of thick smoke visible from as far away as the Mountain.
At 114 years old, the U-shaped structure - around since the 1920s and made largely of timber - was highly susceptible to rapidly changing fire and smoke conditions, a development that prompted Chief Dave Cunliffe to yank out Hamilton fire crews for their own safety.
Within an hour, all four walls of the building had collapsed, leaving nothing but mounds of rubble and debris in its place.
A total loss," Cunliffe later said at a news conference.
The blaze also resulted in collateral damage. Bharaj said a portion of the building's eastern wall tumbled onto the adjacent 24-hour A&W outlet, heavily damaging its sign but not its structural integrity. Meanwhile, a vehicle parked behind 206 King was also damaged, he added, as were street lights, traffic lights and a bus shelter. Even a 24th-floor balcony - located 100 metres away at a highrise condo on George Street - was left charred due to large embers carried on the back of high winds.
Cunliffe said the small condo blaze was limited to a single unit. There were no injuries.
There were also no injuries at the fire on King.
Crews remained on scene dousing deep-seated hot spots and flare-ups until Saturday evening, when an excavator was brought in to demolish the remaining parts of the crumbling structure.
Bharaj said the Ontario Fire Marshal was notified of the incident, but did not attend because of safety concerns and the absence of injuries.
If the circumstances were different, if someone sustained bodily harm or death from the collapsing building, they would've attended," he explained.
Bharaj said damages from the fire are projected to be significant.
The blaze marked an unfitting end to the life of a building long lamented as an eyesore - but its death was on a fast-approaching horizon.
Toronto-based developer Vernon Shaw was in the final stages of obtaining a demolition permit from the city to build a 13-storey, 122-unit condo tower at the site.
Dubbed the Radio Arts" condos - a name invoking the building's former life as a radio station in the 1960s - Shaw plans to erect a brick-and-beam residential highrise marketed toward young professionals. He purchased the 9,000-square-foot property for $1.8 million in 2018, according to property records obtained by The Spectator.
Last April, the city's building department conditionally approved a site plan for the project. The plan, reviewed by The Spec, did not propose to retain any part of the iconic property.
But that would have been unlikely even if the developer had a change of heart before the fire.
Documents show city staff determined in February 2021 that the building could not be preserved as part of any redevelopment," or restored to its original condition, because it was not structurally sound.
Downtown councillor Jason Farr said Sunday the developer planned to begin building in the fall.
In a statement, Shaw said his team is continuing to work on moving their development as planned. He said they are devastated" by the fire and grateful no one was injured.
Our design team will also continue to seek opportunities to incorporate elements that celebrate the original building's brick-and-beam architecture and life as a former Hamilton broadcasting station," Shaw, president of Canlight Realty and Radio Arts, said late Monday.
Steve Robichaud, the city's director of planning, said advancing the project may be delayed due to the ongoing police investigation and pending removal of debris.
A bylaw order was plastered on the fence bordering the derelict property Monday afternoon, requiring Radio Arts to immediately" secure the building and make it safe.
Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com