Victoria firefighters fought a blaze Wednesday morning in the Turner building, a long-abandoned, boarded-up former eatery slated for redevelopment.
There were no injuries and no one was inside the building.
Victoria Fire received a report just after 4 a.m. of a possible structure fire at 2002 Richmond Ave. near Royal Jubilee Hospital. Five fire trucks and a 13-member crew arrived to find smoke coming through the building’s roof.
The two-storey 1946 building, with its distinctive rounded frontage, once housed the popular Ian’s Jubilee Coffee Shop but has been vacant for more than two decades. At various times, it also housed a convenience store and a flower shop and had apartments on the second floor.
Steve Serbic, the Victoria Fire Department’s deputy chief of operations, said crews took a “defensive attack,” tackling most of the flames from the outside. He said there were several safety concerns, including the instability of the building’s interior.
The boarded-up building was then opened up, and the blaze was under control in about an hour, he said.
No one was inside the building, though it was clear people had entered at some point, Serbic said.
Fire crews were at the scene for several hours, with one truck remaining after 8 a.m.
A fire inspector is on the scene mostly to document specifics of the incident, Serbic said. Given the number of previous fires in that location, it is not expected the cause will be found, he said.
The City of Victoria plans to board the building back up once it’s safe to do so.
Victoria city councillors voted unanimously in October to move forward a proposal to replace the Turner building with a six-storey rental project that includes a new public plaza.
The project, proposed by Empresa Properties, would have a rounded end and art-deco style, with amenity space on the roof and three commercial units on the ground floor. The project is to be built over three lots, creating a parcel bordered by Richmond Road and Birch and Pembroke streets.
The proposed public plaza would require the closure of a portion of Birch Street at the intersection with Richmond Road, and would feature trees, patios and seating areas and space to support the commercial businesses inside the new building.
There was an earlier attempt to redevelop in 2015, but a plan drawn up by architect and former Victoria mayor Alan Lowe did not proceed and the building was boarded up.
ceharnett@timescolonist
— With a file from Andrew Duffy
