Today's windstorm peeled the side of a building half off in downtown Rochester this afternoon. Fire Crews were forced to block off Chestnut Street at Broad Street when the north side of the old Hotel Richford began to come off. Battalion Chief David Compton said debris landed in the street next to the building, damaging two cars parked in the alley on the north side. He called it a very unsafe situation, but says nobody was hurt.
The building owner was on the scene this afternoon and has hired a company to remove and secure the rest of the building facade. They won't start work until tomorrow, because the high winds make the scene too unsafe.
The Richford at 65 Chestnut Street was a long-term residential hotel in the 1950s, later converted into an office building. It has sat vacant since the late 1990s and was to be the next project for the Cambria Hotel chain after their planned renovation of the former Hotel Cadillac just up the street.
1 of 3 Photo by Ray Noone
2 of 3 Photo by Ray Noone
3 of 3 Photo by Ray Noone