UPDATE: This ceremonial event has been cancelled due to concerns about gathering at the site.
Original story posted below:
A date has been set for a “ceremonial demo event” at the old Stardust building in Surrey.
Development company reps and news media will gather for a “Saying Goodbye” event there on Wednesday (Feb. 10).
WestStone Group and CIBT Education Group plan to build a tower on the landmark site, at 10240 City Parkway.
“The beloved Whalley rink was the last of three locations that operated in the Lower Mainland for decades, playing host to guests of all types and inspiring fond memories for over 30 years before officially closing its doors in 2005,” says a media advisory.
Wednesday’s event will conclude with a commemorative presentation to Bonnie Burnside, manager of Downtown Surrey Business Improvement Association (DSBIA), who has long been an integral figure in the story of Stardust.
• RELATED STORY: Old Stardust building will soon bite the dust to make way for tall tower.
The vacant building that once housed the roller rink will be torn down to make way for a 49-storey tower focused mostly on student housing and post-secondary education, more than four years after plans for the GEC Education Mega Center were announced in 2016.
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 has been 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.
Today, the building is boarded up and surrounded by a red metal fence.
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