Trees fall as Empress Hotel spruces up
Diseased hedges, fences and some structures coming down in bid to open up front lawn
The chainsaws were going full throttle this week at the Empress Hotel in Victoria, as workers felled an enormous but unhealthy arbutus tree as part of a garden revamp.
Also gone are two weeping sequoias that framed the Government Street walkway, a high hedge along Belleville Street and part of the rose garden at the south end of the property.
The changes are part of “a beautification process on our property with the intent of opening up the lawn to the residents and visitors to Victoria,” said hotel spokeswoman Angela Rafuse-Tahir.
Fencing, along with diseased and potentially hazardous hedges, trees and structures on the site are being removed, she said.
Nat and Flora Bosa purchased the 107-year-old National Historic Site last August and have said they expect to spend more than $30 million on the 477room hotel without changing the exterior of the building.
The city of Victoria provided a permit for the removal of the arbutus, which is more than 60 years old, since it had been in decline for many years, said city spokeswoman Katie Hamilton.
Rafuse- Tahir said permits were acquired for the removal of trees. Flower beds will line the wide pathway — also under construction — leading to the Empress sign, she said. The city’s tree preservation bylaw protects trees on private property with trunks more than 80 centimetres in diameter. The sequoias were undersized and do not require replacement, Hamilton said, but two arbutus trees will be planted in place of the arbutus that was removed.
Wood salvaged from all three trees may end up repurposed as furniture or decor in the interior renovation, Rafuse-Tahir said.