VIDEO: Kelowna mayor says it's time for the brick façade to come down

After looking at scaffolding and an idle crane for four years around Kelowna's most infamous piece of heritage, Kelowna mayor Tom Dyas believes it's time for it to come down.

Dyas says the Mark Anthony Group, which owns the property, has determined the wall can't be saved.

"They had an engineer look at the wall," said Dyas, "And there was concern with regards to its stability and it being safe."

But the Central Okanagan Heritage Society tells KelownaNow that they would like to have an independent heritage engineer evaluate the wall before it comes down.

The Mark Anthony Group has made three separate proposals to develop the property and all of them have received city approval, but none of them proceeded, and Dyas appears unwilling to drag it out any longer.

"The scaffolding structure and the crane have been set up now for four years and it cannot continue to stay there without something actually happening."

What appears to be happening at the property is preparation to bring the structure down.

"At this point in time, the Mark Anthony Group has no plans to look at advancing a build," the mayor said.

"My understanding is if there will be the opportunity to look at using some of that façade into a future reconstruction and if the strength of the brick is able to do it, then they will look at doing that."

The property is on Kelowna's heritage registry, but Dyas points out that it's not a protected or designated site.

"They made the choice to re-purpose as much as they can, the brick into the future and for safety reasons and also from a standpoint as there's no plans anything at this point in time, to clean up the site."

Dyas says it's Mark Anthony Group's decision to take down the wall but he is not criticizing them for it either.

"We need to clean that up," he said.

"We would have been grateful if they would have advanced the project, that's why council approved that project, it just wasn't right timing for them."

In a last-ditch effort to save the structure, the heritage society has arranged a meeting with city officials and a representative of the crew working on the site.

For the moment, the wall still stands.