Bon Aire section and other exterior changes to Hotel Breakers

As a person that works for a demolition company,I'm not sure why they would stop the demolition and have such a clean break if they wasn't saving the rest of bon air.

I'm sure there was asbestos but they should have removed it before the demolition begun. As long as all asbestos is contained inside the building all they need to plastic off is all the windows (of bon air section) and plastic off between bon air and the tower somewhere. Remove the asbestos then run air cleaning machines. Then once that's done the air in the bon air section would have to be tested and cleared by a inspector.

As for materials, asbestos is in so many things such as tile,pipe wrap,adhesive,plaster,window glazing. The list goes on and on. But on the flip side there may not have been any asbestos in bon air.

So to me, asbestos or not. I would say the rest of bon air is staying. But time will tell. At the end of the day. Cedar point is going the right path and can't wait to see what happens next!

Interestingly, there is precedent for partial wing demolition at Breakers. Bon-Air's "twin" in fact. The wing at the far opposite end of the hotel that was added to the hotel at about the same time as Bon-Air and demolished for Breakers East in 1995 had been truncated at some point way back when, much like Bon-Air appears now.

If you look at any pre-Breakers East photos of the hotel (or the facsimile thereof on the souvenir park maps), you can see that Bon-Air's mirror twin had been cropped. And, if you look at vintage pics from way back when you can see that it once matched the other wings in length.

I've always been curious as to why they removed part of that wing decades ago. Anybody know?

Not saying that I think they are likely to keep part of Bon-Air, but who knows?

I don't know squat about demolition, except for the fact that it can be quite entertaining when done with explosives, but from a layman's logic and common sense perspective I do find the clean cut a little odd. It seems much more a surgical slicing than the Lorena Bobbitt hatchet job I'd have expected to see.

If indeed it was always the plan to interrupt demolition, then the clean cuts make sense. It would be very dangerous to have partial walls and floors dangling everywhere.

Makes complete sense, but I wonder why they would plan to pause a third of the way through the job?

If nothing happens in the next week, I'm sure someone will bring it up at WCO. I may even ask about it if nobody else does.

I have no idea why they'd stop after tearing down only part of the structure. As zdabulls23 mentions, the asbestos angle doesn't make much sense, since any halfway decent contractor would have known about the presence of asbestos long before demo began, and if it were present, they would have taken care of it before opening up the structure.

Everyone keeps declaring things that don't make sense, and yet no one here has the context that the contractors, project managers and park has.

That lack of context is in fact exactly why things don't make sense. And by all means, if you do possess that context, share it with the class. :-)

I know this is really far fetched, but could it be possible they are turning Bon Aire into a haunt for Halloweekends? I know that's alot of space for a haunt and way more than they would need. They could even make it into an upcharge haunt since it's outside the gates and due to it's bigger size. As I said, it's most likely a very far fetched idea.

Jeff said:

Everyone keeps declaring things that don't make sense, and yet no one here has the context that the contractors, project managers and park has.

Isn't that the norm around here? The people that have the most info know to keep it quiet, while those that don't always talk like they do?

djDaemon said:
I have no idea why they'd stop after tearing down only part of the structure. As zdabulls23 mentions, the asbestos angle doesn't make much sense, since any halfway decent contractor would have known about the presence of asbestos long before demo began, and if it were present, they would have taken care of it before opening up the structure.

Yeah before any demolition or remodeling project, multiple samples must be taken from any area that might contain asbestos.

But as I said before, the rest of bon air may or may not be torn down. Just find it odd that they would take to it to make the clean cut if they wasn't saving the rest of the building.

I personally would like to see all of bon air gone and a new section built. Another tower section would be nice.

I doubt they would build a new addition of rooms after this large investment. Is the hotel ever at full occupancy?

Yes, it is at full occupancy during peak summer periods.

Super bonus time at WCO, they'll give you a sledge hammer, hardhat and goggles and let you each tear part of it down.

Or not.

In any case there is clearly working going on inside, I've watched that most of the day.

Take a souvenir asbestos home with you!

Watching this hotel addition happening makes me wonder about year round use of this complex. Might the land under Bonaire become multi use building with night club, indoor pool, dining ?

Living in Colorado now our mountain towns seem to be just fine in there ability to serve folks with snow and ice everywhere.

I grew up with a neighborhood private beach on Lake Erie and it was so nice to be there in the winter as well as summer.

I would think that the hotel could make money if kept open if not year round, then at the very least in a greatly expanded schedule.

But Jo Linn, mountain towns generally cater to snow sports in the winter (which I highly approve of), what would draw people to Hotel Breakers in the winter?

I suppose if they have a first class spa in the hotel, along with a night club and some really fine dining it could attract some weekend getaway stays and maybe some conferences. Some themed events like murder mystery weekends would probably go over well. But, would the amount of business make it worth it?

Unless you can run some serious conference business, I don't think it's worth it. Among other things, you have to compete with Kalahari, which does a serious conference business even in the winter. See also: Cedar Point is brutal in the winter.

As much as I would like to see Cedar Point offer some year-round activities, it's not realistically possible. Since there would be no rides, what could they possibly do that would draw people in? Sure they could put in a night club, casino or some kind of bar, but I got plenty of those options available to me locally. I think Castaway Bay is about the only feasible option.

It's hard to imagine a nightclub or bar sufficiently enticing to draw enough tourists to be viable through the winter months.

While a casino might be enough of a draw -- it would take up a fairly significant amount of space. Every casino I've been to includes entertainment venues (Thunder From Down Under and The Motels have to have someplace to play, after all), which would eat up more space.

The necessary infrastructure to support a viable conference business would also need a fair amount of space.

It just seems to me that year-round operations on the peninsula is unlikely.

Wait... this just in.... DreamVision has just announced it will build a 1,400 acre, $3.2 billion resort on the Cedar Point peninsula, funded by the pot of gold Rick Silanskas found at the end of the rainbow.