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Cory Monteith Waldorf Hotel Tweets Ask Fans For Hometown Help

'Glee' Star Outs Waldorf Hotel Love
SANTA MONICA, CA - JANUARY 10: Presenters Cory Monteith (L) and Emmy Rossum speak onstage at the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held at Barker Hangar on January 10, 2013 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
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SANTA MONICA, CA - JANUARY 10: Presenters Cory Monteith (L) and Emmy Rossum speak onstage at the 18th Annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards held at Barker Hangar on January 10, 2013 in Santa Monica, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Turns out Canadian actor Cory Monteith has a thing for Vancouver's Waldorf Hotel.

The Victoria-raised "Glee" star took to Twitter during Sunday's Golden Globes broadcast, urging his followers to sign a petition to save the East Vancouver "cultural bastion."

Monteith addressed the city's condominium culture in another tweet:

The petition asks Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson to "exercise [his] authority" to protect the site, which has been sold to Delta, B.C.-based developer Solterra.

Since Jan. 9, the "Save the Waldorf Hotel" Change.org petition has collected over 16,000 signatures.

Robertson has asked city manager Penny Ballem to prepare a report to protect the hotel from demolition. The report will be presented during a Tuesday council meeting.

"I'm hopeful we can find a new solution," Robertson said in a statement.

Former Vancouver city planner Brent Toderian isn't as optimistic. He doubts the mayor will be able to exert any power over the private sale.

"Cities don't have the power to prevent demolition even if there are important heritage features," Toderian told Business In Vancouver. "Because of the weak heritage designation, the most powerful tool the city has to prevent demolition and facilitate reuses is density bonusing," he explained.

Density bonusing is an urban planning tool that allows municipalities to green-light construction to increase the height or number of units in a private building in exchange for public benefits like green space, community retail or affordable housing.

Current leaseholder Ernesto Gomez, a partner in Waldorf Productions Inc., confirmed to the Georgia Straight that he contacted developers and architects in 2012 in an effort to increase density on the site with extra housing.

Gomez told the Straight he did not take any meetings with Solterra.

Story continues after slideshow:

Waldorf Hotel, Vancouver

The building was completed in 1947 and run as a motor hotel by owner Bob Mills. However, it wasn't until 1953, after Mills returned to Vancouver with a set of decorative black velvet Polynesian paintings, when the hotel gained its tiki-lounge reputation, according to B.C. Living.

The tiki theme tapped into "nostalgic tropical memories of returned soldiers" as well as the "erotic fantasies of a middle class fascinated by the exotic and forbidden," says the hotel's website.

Mills sold the property in the '70s to the hotel's cook, Frank Puharich. Ownership has remained in the Puharich family until the site's sale earlier this month.

Solterra CEO Gerry Nichele has since stated that the company has "no intention" to demolish the building.

The Waldorf Hotel is set to close Jan. 20.

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