It was 7:30 am and my first alarm had just gone off and been snoozed. The theme song to Austin Powers came through my phone speakers, meaning someone was calling me. I squinted to see my boss’s name, and instantly jumped to the next level of coherence. I tried my best to disguise the sleepiness in my voice, but it was readily apparent that I was still horizontal.
“Get up big boy, I’ve got a job for you. Smitty’s is on fire, so get up there see what’s going on.” my boss said as I scrambled around looking for jeans and a shirt to throw on.
I grabbed my cameras (still and Flip) and ran down to the garage to get my hard hat and safety glasses out of my car. I walked a few blocks north to see a plethora of pump and ladder tracks dousing 1425-35 Vine with water.
Sheets of water poured over the top of 1425, evidence that there were even more trucks on Republic dumping water forward.
Next the fire department turned a couple of hoses on 1433 Vine, essentially using the water pressure to knock down the second story masonry wall.
The poor tile work on 1431 didn’t stand a chance.
Parvis Lofts (the apartments NorthPointe Group [my company] and HGC are building from 1401-1423 Vine) took on water in the basement as it came pouring through the foundation wall between our building and Smitty’s. 1419, 21, and 23 all took on about 3 feet of water, although thanks to the new drainage system that was put in all of the water was out before we even got pumps down there.
We sustained a little damage to the top of 1423, and we won’t know about smoke damage until we can get in the building, which will be tomorrow at the earliest.
Smitty’s storefront and signage looked depressing covered in debris and dripping with water.
One of the biggest tragedies is the loss of the four story building 1429 vine.
The three story to the south was also badly damaged.
We got up on a lift to check out the roof of the building.
While the buildings may have appeared salvagable from the front, the view from the rear shows the extent of the fire and water damage. The demolition contractor was moving piles of debris while the fire department hosed down the still smoldering wreckage.
By the time I left they had demolished the smaller buildings and were evaluating the situation at 1425-29.
Here are some other shots from the scene. I also took about 45 minutes of video with the Flip cam and I’ll edit that together for another post. In the end it’s just a sad day for some great OTR properties.
Looks pretty grim down there. Thats about the same time, 7:30, that I went past on the bus. Lots of steam and water, not too much smoke.
The back of the buildings were still smoking, and the FD told me there was still furniture and clothes on fire. Every time they moved rubble around something would start smoking and they’d douse it real quick. It’s a mess.
I found out about this on Twitter– I live (as you know) about 2 blocks away and didn’t hear a thing. So sad–for the store owner and the surrounding historic properties.
Gotta say though, that’s one way around Cinci’s limitations on tearing down the old buildings. I see this as a great opportunity for some new construction, tragic as it is. I would imagine the value of the lot just jumped quite a bit…
True enough, and there are certainly buildings I wish would catch on fire and burn because they are so far gone. These weren’t that bad, all things considered. That four story building was one of the coolest in the neighborhood.
I kept going in and out of sleep hearing the firetrucks. Very sad to see.
1429, the beautiful 4-story building, can still be saved. Call Amit Ghosh at the City at 352-3433 to let him know your desire to see the building remain standing. We need people to call to pressure the city to do the right thing — the city has an obligation to use demo funds for stabilization wherever possible in OTR. Thanks!
I agree demo funds should be used for stabilization wherever possible (Meiners Flats being a prime example). After seeing the damage yesterday I’m not sure it is possible to save this one/that would be the right thing. I just hope either way there isn’t some long drawn out fight over it.