Owners Planning To Rebuild Structure Damaged By Fire

Thu., Aug. 13, 1998

By Pat Sciuchetti pats@spokesman.com

Owners of a fire-damaged office building on East Nora Avenue plan to have it rebuilt by early next year, and they expect all of the displaced tenants to return.

Most of the tenants displaced by the July 8 fire have secured temporary homes in the same three-building Main Center complex, located just south of Interstate 90 in the 12700 block of East Nora.

Castlewood Homes, Cascade Earth Sciences, Dahm Development, Washington Inventory Services and GE Industrial Systems and Services remain in the complex.

Advanced Building Design and Thompson Homes have relocated elsewhere.

The blaze destroyed the upstairs portion of the building, causing an estimated $500,000 in damage. The fire filled the Valley sky with billowing black smoke, drawing spectators and slowing traffic on the nearby freeway.

It gutted several second-story offices, destroying hundreds of irreplaceable hand-drawn plans belonging to designers and custom home builders. The downstairs businesses were spared, except for water damage.

Investigators have concluded the fire started in the wiring of a ceiling florescent light fixture.

“It was just one of those things,” said Bill Main Sr., part-owner of the building.

The rebuilding project will begin sometime in the next two months, Main said. It will take about four months to complete.

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