Businesses work to find new homes after fire destroys Norwich building

Jan. 01--NORWICH -- Economic development and business agencies are working to help several businesses displaced after a Saturday morning fire destroyed a West Main Street building complex.

While the Norwich police department, the city's fire marshal and State Police continue to investigate the cause of Saturday's fire, several businesses are scrambling to relocate from their offices at 598 West Main Street.

The building caught fire at about 3:30 a.m. Saturday and burned for several hours. No one was inside, but the building sustained extensive damage, East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Department Chief Keith Milton said Sunday.

The building's roof almost completely collapsed, Milton said. Firefighters worked most of Saturday to fully extinguish several hot spots that the fire left and to help the city fire marshal begin an investigation.

"It took a little longer to get those out, but eventually we got them," Milton said.

Police helped seal the building Sunday, covering the first-floor windows with plywood and locking all the doors.

Robert Mills, the president of the Norwich Community Development Corp., met briefly on Sunday with representatives of some of the businesses who had offices in the building as they attempted to salvage paperwork and supplies.

The building is expected to be demolished by mid-week, Mills said.

"We're trying to find places for several of the businesses," Mills said. "We won't be able to help all of them."

Norwich Rotary and the Greater Norwich Area Chamber of Commerce are also helping the businesses find new locations, and Mills said he has asked some commercial landlords in Norwich if they have available space.

One of the businesses, Access to Health Chiropractic Center, plans to relocate to a building on Lafayette Street and has asked Norwich Public Utilities to expedite turning on natural gas service to that building, Mills said.

The other businesses are State Farm Insurance, HI Dental Care, Dawn Mastriano Studio Salon, Taxpayers Assistance, Ideal Weight Loss, and Sure Bright Commercial Cleaning.

Other city agencies will be involved in processing permits if the owner plans to rebuild the plaza.

The plaza is owned by 598 West Main St. LLC. Michael Allard of Pawcatuck is listed as a member of the LLC on the Secretary of the State's website.

Mills has personal experience with recovering from fire damage. NCDC had just opened its Foundry 66 shared workspace complex for start-up businesses at 66 Franklin St. on Oct. 14, when an accidental fire the next day caused significant damage and displaced several tenants who had just moved into the complex. Mills said the recovery is nearly complete, and NCDC now might be able to offer space to some of the businesses displaced from the West Main Street building.

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