The Bohn Building and the once empty lot next to it are being built together as a 35,000 square feet structure and are collectively referred to as 114 S. Main St., Scranton said, adding the project broke ground in October.
Kelly Ziad, town planner and Main Street manager for Mount Airy, works next door to the site in Town Hall. ‘‘First there was nothing there and now there’s a structure there.”
The rebuilt building includes an additional level, bringing the total to four. The lowest level will most likely be used for storage and the level above for office space with retail space on the ground level and a combination of mixed-use office space on the top level, Scranton said.
From the street, the front of the Bohn Building will look similar to what was there before the fire, he said.
The same colored bricks will be used as before as well as similar placement and architecture of windows and storefronts, Scranton said.
The Bohn Building portion of the structure will be set back 20 feet from the sidewalk and the other portion, back 30 feet to form a plaza area, Scranton said. ‘‘The façade is designed to look like it’s not one building.”
Ziad looks forward to the plaza.
‘‘[The] outdoor seating area that they proposed is really going to add to that downtown area,” she said. ‘‘Having people out there adds to the vibrancy – having the clamor and noise.”
Olde Town Restaurant,a month later
A block south of where the Bohn Building is going up, Olde Town Restaurant is settling in.
The first of the businesses to return to its Main Street location since the fire, Olde Town re-opened at 206 S. Main St. on March 25.
‘‘Things have been going absolutely great,” said Dan Caiola, who owns the restaurant with his wife, Staci and took over its ownership just two months before the fire.
They have ‘‘worked out a lot of the kinks” during the four weeks since Olde Town’s reopening, Caiola said.
He estimates the restaurant has been getting between 300 and 500 customers daily, a mix of regulars, local business and community people, and others who are curious to have a peek inside.
‘‘Everything is kind of how we envisioned it,” he said. The new layout of the restaurant and the square tables allow for configuring the dining area to fit the needs of the clientele and recently, Olde Town staff was able to comfortably sit a party of 20 which the restaurant was not able to accommodate prior to remodeling after the fire.
Harry Gosnell, who owns the building which sustained heavy water and smoke damage, said now ‘‘things are going pretty well.”
The entire building, which also houses a residential apartment, was overhauled after the fire.
A central heating and air conditioning system was installed, a handicap accessible bathroom put in the restaurant, and asbestos was removed from the basement.
The two-bedroom apartment has the same layout as before with the addition of a closet that was discovered when a wall was demolished due to mold.
The building was extended to provide space for the bathroom and for more room in the kitchen and each appliance in the restaurant is on its own circuit, Gosnell said. ‘‘I didn’t want any extension cords anywhere,” he said.
‘‘We had to tear it totally apart,” Gosnell said. ‘‘But it’s a better building for it.”
