December 2002 - January 2003 Edition

"We Will Rebuild" The owner of the Plaza Building told Fair Lawn News that he is committed to "rebuilding the building back to its original exterior form". He said "I'm still not sure if the insurance will cover the complete lost. Nevertheless, we will rebuild. And, the new part will match the old part. It has to match." Work has already begun on the remaining structure. Workers are installing new electrical service, air conditioning and plumbing. The Ives Group, an architectural firm whose offices were destroyed in the Plaza Building fire, has been hired to restore the Plaza Building. The owner said "when the building is rebuilt, it will be completely upgraded. It will have sprinklers and fireproofing. It will meet all modern safety codes (the building had been grandfathered)." The building owner expects the intact part of the building will be ready for tenants in the Summer of 2003 and that the portion to be rebuilt will be ready in late 2003. But, Ives said " it always takes longer than you hope -- like trying to renovate your kitchen before Thanksgiving." The owner said "we want the exterior to be identical but with modern non-combustible materials on the interior". Ives told Fair Lawn News that "although the building had a brick façade with a steel frame, it had wood studs, wood rafters and wood beams." Ives said the damaged portion of the building had to be demolished. "The steel was compromised. Once steel reaches a certain temperature, it loses its strength. There was so much deterioration. If we had tried to save pieces of the building, the demolishment would have been much more dangerous, and we would have had to cover parts of the building during the winter. The damaged brick would have caused more problems. It made sense from a safety, cost and schedule perspective to knock down the damaged portion of the building. Ives said "it is a unique situation. You could recreate the building from photos and drawings, but you can also just walk to the other side. It can be done without a lot of difficulty." He said that most of the tenants want to come back. Strehl's, which was under intense competitive pressure from Eckerd's and CVS across the street, will not return. Columbia Bank will move into Strehl's old space on the northern side of the building, and then they will move back to the Fair Lawn Avenue side when that portion of the building is complete. The owner hasn't heard back from Fair Lawn Tae Kwon Doe. He knows that the Radburn Deli, Russian food store and Piccola Italia (where the fire apparently started) all want to move back in. He is interested in ideas that can improve the area. "I would like to see the whole area become more pedestrian friendly. I would like to see it become more like Glen Rock, where they are widening the sidewalks and encouraging restaurants to set up tables outside. To attract businesses to town, you need to offer people a pleasant place to walk. I would like to see the area become a place where people like to go for a walk, meet their neighbors, shop, sit down and eat." The owner said "I put my heart and a lot of money into the building. It was a symbol and I was devastated. But it was just a thing, it will be there after we're all gone. It's not a life; we can get it back." Historic photo provided by Joel Ives