Surrey’s former Stardust building was torn down on Saturday, Feb. 13.
An excavator ripped through the City Parkway structure as part of site preparation for a 49-storey tower.
“Almost gone,” Bill Lions Duncan posted to the “We Grew Up In Surrey BC so we remember” page on Facebook, with photos of the demolition work.
Days earlier, a “ceremonial demo event” at the landmark site was cancelled due to concerns about gathering there during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wednesday’s “Saying Goodbye” media event was originally planned by WestStone Group and CIBT Education Group, who aim to build a tower focused mostly on student housing and post-secondary education.
The Stardust sign was removed from the 18,000-square-foot building when the rink closed in 2005, after 34 years of operation in that area of Whalley.
In the years since 2005, the single-storey cinder-block building was home to a Liquidation World store, Central City Arena (for eight years, from 2010 to early 2018), Integrity Now’s headquarters during the 2018 civic election campaign and, most recently, Surrey Christmas Bureau’s seasonal toy depot.
In recent months, the building was boarded up and surrounded by a red metal fence.
• READ MORE in story from Jan. 11: Old Stardust building will soon bite the dust to make way for tall tower
An excavator demolishes Surrey’s old Stardust roller rink building on Saturday, Feb. 13. (Photo: Facebook/Bill Lions Duncan)
