A piece of Windsor's history which had turned into an eyesore along Riverside Dr. east is coming down.
Demolition crews have begun tearing down the Riverside Brewery building which was built in 1923
The demolition work is expected to take six to eight weeks to complete.
Once it's finished, there will be some restoration work on the property with the addition of visual screening and landscaping along the property boundary. All the work is expected to be completed by the end of September.
Speaking on AM800's the Morning Drive, Mayor Drew Dilkens says the building was simply beyond repair.
"Some places make a lot of sense when you see the University of Windsor tearing down the old bowling alley where it had its school of music," says Mayor Dilkens. "That doesn't seem like a big loss, but places like the Riverside Brewery, you know there was history, some significant history there."
Riverside Brewery on Riverside Dr. East. April 2018 (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
He says it is unfortunate the city can't save all historic buildings.
"The condition of the building certainly, no reasonable investor would walk in and put that amount of money to restore that type of building in that location because it would be far far less expensive to build something brand new, so it is unfortunate."
Dilkens says city council has a 'hawk eye' on heritage and making sure buildings that can be saved, are saved.