The Standard which received a reprieve from the demolition I had previously mentioned, has been saved again. This time from a fire in the early hours (of Friday 30 January 2009) in flats above. Four engines and around 20 firefighters attended and the fire was under control just after midnight. About 70 people were evacuated safely and some of them lived to make a You Tube video about it:
The previous reprieve from destruction was due to the fall in the housing market and an increase in the cost of cement and steel which caused plans to demolish it to be postponed. How much these same factors affect plans to redevelop the other prime pieces of real estate in the neighbourhood still remains to be seen.
[Updated 30 January and 25 March 2009]