VIDEO: Outrage over dismantling of heritage brick structure in Kelowna's downtown

It's on the city of Kelowna's Heritage Registry, and it's on a federal list of Canada's Historic Places, but it's coming down.

The brick façade that has been held up by scaffolding on the 1500 block of Water Street for the last four years is being dismantled with the local heritage society watching in dismay.

"We are heartbroken," said COHS Director Shona Harrison. "We were not consulted at all."

The owner and developer of the property, the Mark Anthony Group isn't saying much.

"We are committed to preserving the heritage aesthetic of this site and continue to work closely with the City of Kelowna," said the company's vice president of communications, Ian Galbraith in an email to KelownaNow.

However, the heritage society doesn't see how taking down the brick structure can be described as preserving the heritage aesthetic.

"I think there's probably some responsibility on the developers when they purchase a heritage building," said Harrison, "that they need to respect that history."

Scaffolding has held the brick façade in place while plans for the property have come and gone.

Kelowna City Planning Managre Nola Kilmartin said the wall has been assessed and it's not feasible to stabilize it in place.

She suggested some of the brick may be preserved for future use on the site.

The Mark Anthony Group's original plan for the site was a 625-seat wine education and sampling centre, but it ran into liquor licensing issues.

A boutique hotel proposal then emerged, but that also failed to come to fruition.

The dismantling of the brickwork is seen as a signal that Kelowna's heritage protection efforts need to be backed up with enforceable bylaws.

Harrison said groups like hers need to come together and find a way to become more involved in the development process.

"Working collaboratively with the city and with the developers to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again."

In this case, the city was notified of the plan to dismantle the structure and didn't oppose it.

It's been publicly reported that the bricks are being individually labelled so the structure could be fully rebuilt, but the city said that's not the case.

Harrison issued a plea to the Mark Anthony Group to stop and reconsider.

"if you could please, please, please just leave it," she said, "preserve it until something can be done with it."