A DECADES-OLD hotel in Nanshan District was dismantled by the government Wednesday, the Daily Sunshine reported Thursday.

    The condemned Nanyou Hotel, on Dongbin Road in Nanshan District, was once a landmark building in Nanshan District when it started business in 1987.

    “In the early 1990s, those who stayed in Nanyou Hotel were considered to have high social status,” said Nie, a resident from a nearby neighborhood.

    Everything changed in 2005 when Dongbin Road was sealed off for construction, and the businesses along the road began struggling. The hotel operator decided to renovate the hotel, but renovations were suspended and remained unfinished for 11 years, leaving the hotel uninhabitable.

    “When I passed by the hotel on rainy days, I always worried that the steel tower on its roof would fall down. I also wondered if its walls would collapse in a typhoon,” said Liu, who lives near the hotel.

    Many residents in Nanshan District started to write letters to the district government in 2013, sharing their concerns about the hotel’s safety issues. The district government’s leadership visited the hotel Jan. 19 for a safety inspection.

    After a dozen meetings with the hotel owner, the Yuehai Subdistrict Office convinced the hotel owner to dismantle the building with government support.

    The subdistrict office hosted a ceremony for the dismantlement work Wednesday morning. Huang Hongxin, head of the subdistrict office, said a new landmark building would be constructed on the same site after the hotel was gone.

    (Zhang Yang)