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Vancouver police use dog to arrest armed man hiding in dumpster
Police said they received calls around noon on Sunday of reports that a suspicious man was going through people's backyards along the Arbutus Greenway near Maple Street.
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https://globalnews.ca/news/10944429/vancouver-police-dog-arrest-armed-man-hiding-dumpster/

Higher numbers of visitors will place pressure on the streets surrounding The Tower says Councillor Adam Harrison. Photo: Fitzrovia News.

A senior Camden councillor has said the BT Tower conversion will “place pressure” on the local area.

The Tower was sold on Wednesday to US hotel business MCR Hotels for £275mn.

Responding to the Tower’s sale, Councillor Adam Harrison said: “The first thing residents in Fitzrovia will want to know is what the impact of a hotel operation here would be and how this can be managed.

“Higher numbers of visitors will place pressure on the immediately adjacent streets.

“I would hope any development here would contribute to improving the streetscape here, which on the specific block hosting the BT Tower is somewhat bleak and unwelcoming.

“We have made good progress in the Tottenham Court Road area to green our streets and make them more people-friendly — we need to apply that here, too,” he said.

Harrison, who represents Bloomsbury ward and is the cabinet member for a sustainable Camden, raised concerns over the location of the proposed hotel.

“The site is also located at the junction of a major rat run — Clipstone Street and Maple Street.

“This makes for an unpleasant environment and so I hope the new owners will want to address this, too,” he said.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/02/24/bt-tower-hotel-conversion-will-place-pressure-on-the-area-says-councillor/

#AdamHarrison #BTTower #CamdenCouncil #ClevelandStreet #ClipstoneStreet #MapleStreet

View looking up at the BT Tower from the corner of Maple Street and Cleveland Street, Fitzrovia, London.

BT Group has sold its 189m Tower to MCR Hotels. Image: Sue Blundell.

BT Group has agreed to sell its telecommunications tower in Fitzrovia to MCR Hotels for £275mn, after the US company privately approached it with an offer.

The 189 metre tall Tower is no longer essential to BT’s operations as these are now delivered by other methods.

“The Tower’s microwave aerials were removed more than a decade ago, as they were no longer needed to carry telecommunications traffic from London to the rest of the country,” said BT in an announcement on the sale this week.

MCR says it intends to preserve the iconic Tower — which was listed Grade II in 2003 — by “re-purposing it as a hotel and opening it up to the public”.

Payment for the sale will be made over multiple years, while BT carries out the complicated task of removing its telecommunications equipment from the building, with final payment being made on completion of the purchase.

When the sale is finalised MCR will own the freehold of the Tower and the podium it stands upon, plus all the buildings on the site bounded by Howland Street, Cleveland Street, Maple Street and Cleveland Mews.

Those streets were originally laid out in the late 18th century and Maple Street still has a number of original buildings standing from that time across the road from the Tower.

The Museum Telephone Exchange building, built 1939, on Howland Street. Photo: Fitzrovia News.

The site also includes a number of unlisted buildings including the former Museum Telephone Exchange, built in 1939, on Howland Street on the site of a row of Georgian houses. It is these elements of the building — which are substantial — that will be the focus of possible demolition and redevelopment.

MCR says it will partner with London-based architects Heatherwick Studio and there will be significant time for design development and engagement with local communities before proposals are revealed.

“The deal, which came about after the hotel group approached BT with an offer, is not conditional on MCR securing planning approvals to convert the protected historic building,” reported the Financial Times.

The completion of the purchase could take up to six years reported the FT, which means a planning application is likely to be submitted to Camden Council towards the end of the decade.

A large hotel would require daily servicing with frequent vehicle movements to and from the site, and would be a source of noise nuisance to nearby residents unless managed properly.

There is an opportunity to provide some community benefit by providing shops to meet the needs of local residents, and the roof of the buildings surrounding the base of the Tower could be used for much needed public open space and greenery.

The new owners might also consider a mix of affordable housing on the site. However, they are likely to want to introduce cafes, bars and restaurants on the ground floors — something Fitzrovia has enough of already.

View from Howland Street of the BT Tower. Photo: Fitzrovia News.

Brent Mathews, property director, BT Group said: “The BT Tower sits at the heart of London and we’ve been immensely proud to be the owners of this important landmark since 1984.”

Tyler Morse, CEO and owner of MCR Hotels, said: “We are proud to preserve this beloved building and will work to develop proposals to tell its story as an iconic hotel, opening its doors for generations to enjoy.”

MCR Hotels own around 150 hotels, including the Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Hotel in New York City.

The Tower was first proposed in 1954, with construction starting in 1961 to the design of the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works Architect’s Department headed by Eric Bedford. It was opened as the Post Office Tower by prime minister Harold Wilson in 1965 as the tallest structure in London.

Its viewing gallery and revolving restaurant was open to the public until it closed after a bomb was detonated near the top of the Tower in October 1971 — an explosion that was assumed to be the work of the IRA but later thought to have been carried out by the Angry Brigade.

In 1973 Fitzrovia’s first community newspaper, Tower, took its name from the building at the geographical centre of the neighbourhood.

Since 1984, the BT Tower has been owned by British Telecom, later the BT Group, with its top floor regularly hosting corporate and charity events, and its digital screen displaying various messages across London.

https://fitzrovianews.com/2024/02/23/bt-tower-sold-to-us-hotel-group-for-275mn/

#BTTower #ClevelandMews #ClevelandStreet #HowlandStreet #MapleStreet #MuseumTelephoneExchange