It’s a game of push and pull.
City council will lease the Capitol Theatre building from the Farhi Developments and convert the interiors into civic offices, yet three London council members and the city’s planning department suggested Dan Dencev seek a demolition permit for the Brunswick Hotel.
He didn’t ask for a demolition permit until that possibility was suggested to him. Dencev wanted the hotel removed from a list of buildings considered priorities for heritage designation – which cost him a sale to someone who wanted to redevelop the site.
The hotel and bar is basically London’s performing arts centre and cultural incubator. Bands rent rehearsal space in the upstairs rooms. That musical role gives the building cultural value, one of four criteria used to designate heritage properties.