What comes next for Elkhart’s Main Street after devastating blaze?

July 21--ELKHART -- A day after the Main Street fire that leveled one of his downtown properties, Jim Wagner struggled to take it all in.

"I've never gone through this before. Just a little shell-shocked right now, but we carry on," he said.

A fierce blaze Tuesday completely destroyed the two-story structure Wagner owned in the city center at 612 S. Main St., across the street from the downtown post office, leaving behind a charred pile of rubble blocked off by a temporarly plywood barrier. But Wagner wasn't the only one left reeling.

Though the buildings immediately abutting Wagner's to the north and south remain standing, they suffered water and smoke damage and the tenants, like Wagner, wonder what comes next.

Jan Hardy, owner of Hardy's Bar at 610 N. Main St., visited his establishment Wednesday afternoon to assess the situation and said he is awaiting word from a city code inspector to determine what exactly he'll have to do to reopen. The bar -- intact but smelling strongly of torched wood -- is closed, though he hopes to eventually reopen.

"Just hoping for the best," said Hardy, who was joined at the darkened bar, still lacking electricity, by nephew Mike Hardy and others. "I'm glad it's still standing because I don't have insurance."

Risa Silas, case manager at the AIDS Ministries-AIDS Assist of Northern Indiana office south of Wagner's building at 614 and 616 S. Main St., said smoke and water damage will keep that building and the agency's office closed for now. Four apartments that house five clients from the agency on the second floor of of the adjacent buildings south of the fire have been rendered uninhabitable for now, so the tenants are in the process of finding alternate housing.

How quickly insurance adjusters act will bear on when agency workers return to the Main Street offices. For now, day-to-day operations will move to South Bend, where AIDS Ministries-AIDS Assist is headquartered.

"Our mission doesn't stop just because the building is uninhabitable," Silas said.

Officials on Wednesday weren't yet providing information on the possible cause of the fire, though a post on the Hardy's Bar Facebook page said an electrical short may have sparked it. But Tony Balzano, an inspector/investigator with the Elkhart Fire Department, praised the action of firefighters for containing the fire to one structure.

"A fire can jump from one building to the next one. We were able to stop that from happening," Balzano said, citing the quick response of firefighters and their strong initial attack.

Mike Hardy, who was sitting at the bar at Hardy's Bar, cited the durability of the brick wall separating 612 N. Main St. and 610 N. Main St.

"It must be one hell of a wall right there," Hardy said. It's "practically a miracle" Hardy's Bar survived given the devastation on the other side of the wall where Wagner's building once stood.

Lori Harris, operator of a fitness center at 622 S. Main St., was relieved the fire didn't spread further and destroy the entire block.

"Yesterday afternoon, I was freaking out. I was really afraid the fire was going to spread," she said Wednesday.

Five firefighters were taken to the hospital after suffering heat-related ailments, but Balzano said they are all fine and should be able to cover their next shifts.

WHAT NEXT?

The destruction of 612 S. Main St. leaves a noticeable gap like a hockey player's missing tooth in the row of seven tightly clustered buildings in the 600 block of South Main Street. The building's two apartments were occupied, but the storefront was vacant at the time of the blaze. The main floor at most recently housed a barber shop.

"Now the question is, how do we fill that spot?" said Kyle Hannon, president of the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce. Chamber employees are investigating possible programs that may be able to be tapped to help with rebuilding.

Asked if he plans to rebuild, Wagner, the owner, said he's not sure. "I doubt it. I don't know," he said.

A report on the blaze from the Elkhart Fire Department said the structure was not insured.

Jan Hardy hopes the space, which measures 22 feet wide and 156 feet long, is converted into parking lot. Harris suggested turning it into some sort of public green space.

As for removal of the rubble, Wagner didn't have details and city officials didn't immediately respond to questions about the city ordinances governing how long Wagner has to clear the site. Hannon, though, suspects it will be taken out in short order.

"Nobody likes to look at charred material," he said.

The 612 S. Main St. building was built around 1905, according to Elkhart historian Paul Thomas, operator of the Time Was Museum. It's served as a theater and clothing stores over the years and, on the second floor, housed fraternal and social clubs. Phil Stiver, owner of the building in the 1970s and 1980s, said it even housed a speakeasy during the Prohibition era.

"There was just so much history in this building," he said while visiting the charred remains of the structure on Wednesday. "It was a landmark here on Main Street."

The structure isn't the first downtown building to go up in flames.

A building burned down years ago where the Greater Elkhart Chamber of Commerce now sits on Main Street, Thomas said. Likewise, the grassy area just to the south of the chamber at the northeast corner of Main and Marion streets once housed three structures, all burned down, among several others over the years.

Firefighters battled the blaze, which forced the closure of Main Street south from Marion Street to Middlebury Street, for more than two-and-a-half hours on Tuesday. Firefighters remained on the scene well into the night dousing hotspots and making the area safe again.

Elkhart Truth reporter Ben Quiggle contributed to this report.

Follow reporter Tim Vandenack on Twitter at @timvandenack or contact him at [email protected].

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