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In Response to Hr. Laikve’s Article Concerning Esto House Demolition

Hr. Laikve is a well-known architect in the Estonian community. The Estonian House Board (the Board) personally invited him to submit a financially viable proposal detailing a future Estonian House. The Board is thankful for the ideas and opinions Hr. Laikve has contributed to date.

The Board passed Hr. Laikve's proposed solutions on to expert consultants, the same consultants he suggests hiring in his recently published article.
Toronto Eesti Maja

The consultants analyzed Hr. Laikve's proposal and unfortunately concluded that the proposed ideas would bankrupt the Estonian community.

Laikve's article states: “with a request for the Board to stop further work on the proposed new Estonian House-2018 until all the questions have been answered, and a detailed technical and financial study of existing Estonian House, by architects, engineers and other qualified building professionals”

As presented at the 2011 Eesti Maja Annual General Meeting (AGM), the Board and Estonian Toronto Credit Union commissioned a detailed technical and financial study to understand the cost of repairing the building's electrical and mechanical systems in addition to basic repairs required to bring the building up to standard. Turner and Townsend, a leading global consultancy, completed this analysis without adding any cost for what was behind the walls. The findings reported that the cost to maintain the building's mechanical, electrical and structural integrity is nearly $2,000,000. They also noted these repairs are likely unachievable to fix on their own (without substantial renovations or tear-down) and would put the Eesti Maja at risk for closure due to safety and hazardous materials concerns of doing renovations within an older house. (Read more from Estonian Life No. 11 2014)

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