Panel Drops Opposition to Hotel's Demolition

A national historic preservation council ended an effort to save an 89-year-old downtown hotel that is scheduled to be demolished to make way for a new federal courthouse.

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation of Washington, D.C., had been working with local groups to preserve the Hotel San Diego.

But the council notified the General Services Administration this month that it will not stand in the way of demolition.

The GSA has said the 1914 hotel on Broadway is structurally unsound and vulnerable to terrorist attack.

It said the hotel does not meet new government security standards.