The old Peterborough ‘Y’ revived as loft spaces

I don’t have hard numbers, but my suspicion is this: point a heritage building out to two groups of people – one has been on a tour and the other has only passed it on the sidewalk – and ask if it’s worthy of preservation. The group who has been inside will overwhelmingly vote to save it. Close the Taj Mahal off to the public and, eventually, support for it will fade.

Speaking of which, when developer Hans Jain began poking around heritage buildings in Peterborough, Ont., a few years ago, some thought he was off his rocker. “When we bought the building, I was told 20 developers prior to us had come here and looked at it and said ‘We’re done,’” he says with a handwashing motion. “And then I had a lot of them say, ‘You’re crazy, you’re going to go to Peterborough? There’s no market there, you’re going to build this Taj Mahal thing … who’s going to give you the money?’”