When historic preservation goes terribly wrong. . .

This is very unwelcome news about historic preservation from reporter Larry Barszewski at the Sun Sentinel; here is an excerpt:

     Broward County thought it had a permanent home for its historical collections when it paid $3.75 million for a 39-year lease at the renovated West Side Grade School, but it has had to move out after only six years because of water intrusion and buckling floors in the historic structure.
     County commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to sue the landlord of the 1923 Sailboat Bend school, now called the Historical Commission Building, which officials say is unusable in its current state.
     The problems started a couple of years after the county occupied the building in 2009. It stopped staffing the building in 2014 and removed all furniture and remaining archives in September.

Historic preservation is a painstaking and expensive process. When it's done wrong the costs to repair the mistakes are mind numbing and the public takes notice. It's understandable why many in the public are reluctant to go down that road to restore a structure when there are so many other less expensive and quicker options.

Not to say there haven't been many historic preservation victories. A recent one is the Loews Don CeSar in St. Pete Beach which was named the best historic hotel in the country.